Am I being impatient? 6 month old reef struggles

Hemmbone20

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I’m having issues keeping SPS alive. I have almost zero growth on any of LPS. My Zoas are taking off and thriving, but that’s about it.
I’m frustrated and wondering… do I need to keep investigating ways to improve coral health and growth? Or do I just need to keep waiting around for this unmeasurable maturity people talk about.

I’ll start by giving a brief summary of where I am at in my new tank journey since I never did a tank built thread…

90 gallon tank started 6 months ago.
Mostly dry rock but seeded with some live Florida rock. Tank was cycled fairly quickly and I’ve slowly been adding fish and inverts.
I’ve been through the ugly stage. I never really had a major algae issue because the nutrients stayed so low during the whole process. In fact, I was dosing PO4 for quite some time to prevent bottoming out.
I have quality test kits and I test regularly.
My water parameters are fairly stable at the following numbers…
ALK: 9.5 (Hanna)
Cal: 450 (Red Sea)
Mag: 1400 (Red Sea)
PO4: 0.11 (Hanna)
NO3: 28ppm (Hanna)
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F

I was dosing using the Red Sea foundation supplements at the beginning, but have since switched to using Kalkwasser in my ATO water. I have it dialed in and am only needing 3 tablespoons for 5 gals of water to maintain my levels. I assume most of the consumption of Alk and Calcium are due to Coralline algae which is currently exploding in my tank.

I do water changes every 2 weeks, 15 gallons at a time. All my ATO water is RODI from my LFS.

My lights are 2 Red Sea 90’s, and I have borrowed a Par meter from my LFS and mapped out the Par. I average 200/250 on the top of the scape, and 100 on the sand bed. Some spots have more shadowing than others, but I don’t believe the lights are too strong, nor too weak.

For flow I have 2 gyre pumps on the top. Pulsing and creating good surface agitation. Again, I don’t think flow is the problem.. not to say it is perfect, but it is certainly adequate for the current stage of my reef.

My hammer coral has been in there for about 3 months and I’ve seen zero growth. Duncan has been in for 2.5 months and I've seen zero growth.
Over the past few weeks I’ve tried a bird nest (died within a week), a stylo (died within 2 weeks), and a Monti Digitata (currently alive but doesn’t look happy).
If my parameters are steady, my lights and flow are good, why do these corals not stay alive?

I’d love to hear you all’s thoughts.
I’ll attach some pictures. For reference, these rocks were white when I bought them.
IMG_0547.jpeg
IMG_0549.jpeg
IMG_0548.jpeg
IMG_0545.jpeg
 

Lavey29

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6 month tank is unstable and biome is still developing so SPS and euphyllia will struggle. Very experienced reefers get better results but most of us waste money. The first year is filled with ugly stages and instability. After a year my tank became much more stable and predictable and everything started thriving. If you have coralline at 6 months that is a good indicator that you are heading in the right direction.
 
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Hemmbone20

Hemmbone20

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6 month tank is unstable and biome is still developing so SPS and euphyllia will struggle. Very experienced reefers get better results but most of us waste money. The first year is filled with ugly stages and instability. After a year my tank became much more stable and predictable and everything started thriving.
So even with stable water parameters it’s not worth attempting to keep hardy SPS corals at this point?

I figured the stylo and monti would be fine…
 

Lavey29

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So even with stable water parameters it’s not worth attempting to keep hardy SPS corals at this point?

I figured the stylo and monti would be fine…
I tried at 8 months and got the same results as you. After a year, 38 SPS frags became colonies and mini colonies with no losses.
 

bakbay

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I’m in the same boat at 4mos. My LPS corals are not growing and SPS would die in 2-3 weeks. I’m BB vs yours, which can be very challenging. I have no nuisance algae and coralline algae is growing.

Parameters look inline with my SPS tank but we’re comparing a new tank at 4mos to 4yrs! Anyway, I think it’s just TIME - no clue what to dose. lol
 

Rhetoric

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I feel like nobody talks about how slowly corals grow. I know that some people have it down and grow coral "fast"

In my opinion, even those people aren't acknowledging that coral grow slower than all of us hobbyists would want.

It's the best kept secret in this hobby.

That word "Patience" is used to cover a lot in marine care. I would say "corals grow slow"

We're all inpatient
 

bakbay

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I tried at 8 months and got the same results as you. After a year, 38 SPS frags became colonies and mini colonies with no losses.
Agreed. Similar to being discussed in another thread — I suspect that there is something that ICP cannot test - biome and various critters? That would be a breakthrough in this hobby if we can easily identify it. Right now, it’s time & patience. For SPS — seems to be around a year mark.
 
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Hemmbone20

Hemmbone20

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I feel like nobody talks about how slowly corals grow. I know that some people have it down and grow coral "fast"

In my opinion, even those people aren't acknowledging that coral grow slower than all of us hobbyists would want.

It's the best kept secret in this hobby.

That word "Patience" is used to cover a lot in marine care. I would say "corals grow slow"

We're all inpatient
Of course they grow slow… I totally understand that.. but it’s easy to tell when I coral is growing ZERO. I attached that pic of a Favia frag to show how the edges are slowly dying.
I figured after a few months I would be able to notice tiny improvements but it seems stagnant.
 

Lavey29

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Agreed. Similar to being discussed in another thread — I suspect that there is something that ICP cannot test - biome and various critters? They would be a breakthrough in this hobby if we can readily identify it. Right now, it’s time & patience. For SPS — seems to be around a year mark.
Yes, the biome in our tanks is very complex and just needs time to mature and sustain everything we add to it.
 

Mr. Mojo Rising

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it sounds like most corals have been with you only 2-3 months, I think its unrealistic to expect to see "growth" in that time even in the best conditions, and your tank is still very new. I think this is mainly impatience. We can only test for 5 or 6 parameters, but there is a lot more going on that we can't see.
 

Reefer Matt

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Reefing is one of the worst hobbies for instant gratification, that is why many Reefers leave after a year or so, imo. I’d focus on your wins, and be happy with what you have. If you stick with it long enough, your wins will keep happening. Even the “pros” have problems with coral. We are not in control of our tanks, we are just the goalies. FWIW, your tank looks very nice, and you have a good maintenance routine and parameters.
 

bakbay

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Of course they grow slow… I totally understand that.. but it’s easy to tell when I coral is growing ZERO. I attached that pic of a Favia frag to show how the edges are slowly dying.
I figured after a few months I would be able to notice tiny improvements but it seems stagnant.
Patience is a virtue in this hobby. I had a few SPS frags that didn’t grow for almost 3 YEARS! Other frags around them grew into massive colonies! lol (shrugs)
 

josh57

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I am 5 - 6 months in. I havent lost any sps. Got close though at about month 3. Really ramped up adding sps at month 4 when things stabilized more. And they have really started coloring up and starting to take off growth in the past two weeks. But that is only some of the frags. And after a few months of absolutely nothing. Some are still just existing. I think it just takes a long time for some of them to get comfortable to start encrusting or growing. The biggest changes so far I have seen in roughly 3 months has just been color not so much growth. I don’t think age of tank matters much as long as parameters are stable. Your parameters all look similar as long as they are stable.

Three of my struggles were:
Flow being too low (sps) or two high in the case of the lps. Had to play with placement on corals and gyres both.

Having my lights be turned down way way too low. Have been slowly ramping up over like two months. They were horribly too dim.

And My phosphate constantly being bottomed out. I have started dosing straight phosphate and I am up to .04. Shooting for anything from .05-.1
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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This concurrent thread is right on point, and gives no clear answer.

 
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Hemmbone20

Hemmbone20

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it sounds like most corals have been with you only 2-3 months, I think its unrealistic to expect to see "growth" in that time even in the best conditions, and your tank is still very new. I think this is mainly impatience. We can only test for 5 or 6 parameters, but there is a lot more going on that we can't see.
My zoas have been in there about 4 months. And my richordias about the same.
I started trying hardy LPS at the 3 month mark. And SPS shortly after that.
The frustrating part is they’ll look fantastic for a few days then just start RTNing.

Guess I’ll just try again in the spring… lol
 

bakbay

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Yes, the biome in our tanks is very complex and just needs time to mature and sustain everything we add to it.
So the next logical question for me — how can one detect / test for that? In the past, I thought that once coralline algae takes off, it’s a good “indicator” that SPS can be sustained. It seems like more anecdotally that it’s the magical “one year” mark; however, each tank is different.
 
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Hemmbone20

Hemmbone20

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This concurrent thread is right on point, and gives no clear answer.

… this post is what prompted me to write my post this morning haha

I’ve read tons of your threads so thank you for all the info you provide!
 

Northern Flicker

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So even with stable water parameters it’s not worth attempting to keep hardy SPS corals at this point?

I figured the stylo and monti would be fine…
There is nothing wrong with trying SPS in a 6 month old tank.

1st thing I would do is stop buying LFS RO water. Get your own system; you can get systems which hook up directly to your sink faucet so no plumbing required. This will allow you so do weekly water changes.

Your params look good, so my next thought would be lighting. For SPS, I would CRANK those bad boys up so you are getting 350-400 at the top. If you can’t achieve this, consider adding some T5 supplementation.

Add in some white.

Seriatopora and Montipora digitata will be your easiest SPS to start with. Get as big of a frag or colony as you can. Grown is exponential if they have the space.

LPS just grow very slowly in general. That is why so often they are fragged from wild colonies unlike SPs and softies.
 
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PotatoPig

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6 months is about the absolute minimum recommended for Stoney corals, and growth is often slow while they get used to the system.

Of your soft corals are doing well then that’s a good start, as is your LPS not keeling over. They’ll probably start to do a bit better soon.

It’s a little surprising the SPS you tried just flat died within days of adding them. Even if the tank wasn’t ready for them I’d expect them to struggle for a bit before dying, especially these somewhat harder ones you’ve started with.

Suggestions:

1. Wait a few weeks before adding any more stony corals and monitor how the LPS are doing. Take a photo and note the zoom setting, then a couple weeks later on the same zoom do this again and see if there’s growth. Best done when polyps are retracted.

2. Try testing the water the coals come in. It’s possible you and the vendor are running really different Alk levels and the sudden shock is killing the frags.
 

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