Coral growth advice

[drknudsenx2]

Hi all, tank has been up for a year and a few months, and overall doing well. My parameters are stable, but I recently started dosing Reef Fusion and buffer to try to increase my DKh and pH. I currently am running a Kessil 160 and 150, which are not programmable so they turn on in the morning and run for about 12 hours and turn off. My skimmer works pretty well in my sump when my tunze ATO decides to work properly (it was used, so I may need to replace it). Despite my stability of parameters, and the corals and fish all appearing healthy, I’m not seeing much coral growth. Any advice?

75 gallon tank w 20 gallon sump
78 F
1.025
Ph 8
DKh 8
Ca 480
10 gallon water change every 3-5 days
Coral feast supplement

I am thinking I may be due for a light change, these lights were used with the tank, probably 5 years of life.

 

[mdb_talon]

Can be many things, but in my opinion the most likely are lights and/or starvation. I dont know enough about those lights to give an educated opinion. Your nutrient levels are not listed but i see a lot of lps in there and if they are not getting food(either from fish food/fish waste/coral food/etc) they may get enough nutrients to survive but not enough to thrive

I dont really see much algae in there and personally i dont trust a tank without some algae popping up

 

[drknudsenx2]

Can be many things, but in my opinion the most likely are lights and/or starvation. I dont know enough about those lights to give an educated opinion. Your nutrient levels are not listed but i see a lot of lps in there and if they are not getting food(either from fish food/fish waste/coral food/etc) they may get enough nutrients to survive but not enough to thrive

I dont really see much algae in there and personally i dont trust a tank without some algae popping up

I had a major hair outbreak a few months back, got that under control and then started having some Cyanobacteria on my sand bed. I treated that as well and since then have been working meticulously to keep that under control. Are you asking for nitrate/nitrite measurements? I will measure those. I don’t have any other measuring kits.

 

[drknudsenx2]

It looks like my nitrates are 10 and nitrites are 0.

 

[mdb_talon]

I had a major hair outbreak a few months back, got that under control and then started having some Cyanobacteria on my sand bed. I treated that as well and since then have been working meticulously to keep that under control. Are you asking for nitrate/nitrite measurements? I will measure those. I don’t have any other measuring kits.

It looks like my nitrates are 10 and nitrites are 0.

Thanks. That does not sound like a tank that has been starving so i would say that is not a likely issue bit figured was worth asking about.

Maybe someone who knows more about those lights can help as that would bey second guess for coral not growing mich at all over a one year period. It does sometimes take a few to several months before coral takes off in a new tank, but should be seeing decent growth on some of that by now i would think.

 

[drknudsenx2]

Thanks for your input! Is it worth getting additional testing kits? Phosphorous, magnesium? Should I consider feeding more?

 

[Lavey29]

Why are you doing a 10g water change every 3 days? LPS prefer slightly dirty water. I do 10g every other week on my 80g. Now going longer necessitates some alk and cal dosing and I also dose red sea trace once every 2 weeks.

 

[mdb_talon]

I would always suggest phosphate test especially if you had been having algae and/or cyano tests. Magnesium is also worth testing for sure especially with some LPS. I am doubtful that either of those will turn out as the reason you are not seeing growth, but again it is worthwhile to check both.

 

[mdb_talon]

Thanks for your input! Is it worth getting additional testing kits? Phosphorous, magnesium? Should I consider feeding more?

As for feeding more i would say only if you have enough export mechanisms to not have big spikes in nitrates/phosphates. I am huge believer in very heavy feeding, but dont want to end up with skyhigh nutrients to do it.

 

[drknudsenx2]

Why are you doing a 10g water change every 3 days? LPS prefer slightly dirty water. I do 10g every other week on my 80g. Now going longer necessitates some alk and cal dosing and I also dose red sea trace once every 2 weeks.

Recommended by my LFS 20% water changes weekly. So I divided that to make it a little easier

I would always suggest phosphate test especially if you had been having algae and/or cyano tests. Magnesium is also worth testing for sure especially with some LPS. I am doubtful that either of those will turn out as the reason you are not seeing growth, but again it is worthwhile to check both.

I will plan on picking up some
Additional testing this week!

 

[Lavey29]

Recommended by my LFS 20% water changes weekly. So I divided that to make it a little easier

I will plan on picking up some
Additional testing this week!

Perhaps your tank is to clean then and lacking biodiversity. You might want to research water changes pros and cons of frequent changes versus once or twice monthly. I was doing weekly about the first 8 months when the tank was new and not stabil but once you start seeing stability 20% water changes multiple times during the week will destabilize things in my opinion unless there is specific need for it like bad bacteria or algae or something.