I am completey stumped. Nobody local has the answer and Ive researched online without finding the answer to why my sps will not grow vertical. It encrusts and it puts on girth but never grows vertical. None of it. Not Monti's or acro's. My monti cap cannot be broken by hand it is so thick but it plates out at a crawl. Doesn't matter if the coral is in high light, low light, high flow, low flow it just does not matter. Here are a few things I can think of about my tank. Please feel free to ask any other questions. This is beyond driving me to drink.
Setup has been up and running for 3 years and some of the sps is that old.
180 DT, 75 sump, 40 ft all plumbed in together. I had the same problems with a 40 gallon breeder for a sump and no ft though.
ATI 8x80. 5 blue plus, 2 coral plus and 1 purple plus bulbs swapped every 12 months.
Params are tested weekly and water change is 15 gallons weekly as of right now. I've done larger changes less frequent but my tank has held color and polyp extension at this current rate. These are param averages and they stay more or less pretty steady.
Salt - Red Sea Coral Pro
Temp runs an average of 78, Ca 420, Mg 1290, dkh, 7.5, as per Salifert tests. Nitrates 0 as per API test. Phosphates .04 as per Hannah Checker.
Dose 50 ml Ak per day, 200 ml Mg weekly, 7 drops lugals weekly.
I have vodka dosed since Feb of last year and my maintanence dose is 4ml daily.
Left return mag 9.5, Right return mag 12. 2 Koralia 6's and one 5 on a smartwave. No coral is getting blasted with flow. That is the only possible solution to my problem I could find online but I have moved flow and corals and am positive this is no the case.
Somebody has to have a solution to this problem. For the most part everything in my tank grows very well including the sps. It just will not put on any growth where it would make it a more appealing tank.
I would LOVE to figure this out. I have been asking for years now with now solution.
Thanks!!!!!
Setup has been up and running for 3 years and some of the sps is that old.
180 DT, 75 sump, 40 ft all plumbed in together. I had the same problems with a 40 gallon breeder for a sump and no ft though.
ATI 8x80. 5 blue plus, 2 coral plus and 1 purple plus bulbs swapped every 12 months.
Params are tested weekly and water change is 15 gallons weekly as of right now. I've done larger changes less frequent but my tank has held color and polyp extension at this current rate. These are param averages and they stay more or less pretty steady.
Salt - Red Sea Coral Pro
Temp runs an average of 78, Ca 420, Mg 1290, dkh, 7.5, as per Salifert tests. Nitrates 0 as per API test. Phosphates .04 as per Hannah Checker.
Dose 50 ml Ak per day, 200 ml Mg weekly, 7 drops lugals weekly.
I have vodka dosed since Feb of last year and my maintanence dose is 4ml daily.
Left return mag 9.5, Right return mag 12. 2 Koralia 6's and one 5 on a smartwave. No coral is getting blasted with flow. That is the only possible solution to my problem I could find online but I have moved flow and corals and am positive this is no the case.
Somebody has to have a solution to this problem. For the most part everything in my tank grows very well including the sps. It just will not put on any growth where it would make it a more appealing tank.
I would LOVE to figure this out. I have been asking for years now with now solution.
Thanks!!!!!