Coral Growth

Shredded

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My tank is just over 2 years old. I still consider myself a beginner even though i have had a marine tank for over 30 years because when I left the hobby the first time, SPS were just starting to be kept and they were just brown sticks. So for 2 years I have been reading and listening and learning what it takes to keep these alive. At first I was an utter failure. My fish do wonderful which I attribute to attribute to trying to keep my water quality pristine for the coral and their diet. Everything else, coral wise, died and pretty quickly. I have tried many different methodologies. Right now, because of the difference that I have experienced, I am using ATI. I am having an ATI analysis done on the tank tested every 2 months and dosing the suggested supplements to bring my water into spec. I didn't understand that It took time for the tank to mature and stabilize. Now, 2 years later, and I shouldn't complain, but nothing dies, but they just don't grow. Not like I see in everyone else's tank that i see in all the pictures anyway. My corals spread across the rock, encrusting and sending up little off shoots, but nothing substantial. The white growth tips that I see in my dealers tanks don't happen. (It happened once but never again, don't know why). For the most part my corals are bright and colorful. As an exception, my bubblegum Digitata has grown so much that I have 5 colonies that have been transplanted across the tank as I bumped it and broke a piece off. Each has bright green or white growth tips with the green showing the best growth. I had a green Pocillopora that I had to remove because it was spreading so fast that it threatened to take over my tank. I am still fighting that. The small colonies pop up all over. I probably have 20 small colonies. My other colonies, "Walt Disney", my only coral with an actual name, grows, but slowly. My Milliporas, grow, but again, they keep encrusting and actually the existing branches thicken, but do not grow in length. My Staghorns show good polyp extension and color, but no growth. Corals that have died, with just a little bit of life have now re-encrusted their plug but no upward growth. After every ATI test, and supplementation to bring into specs, I do a 50 gallon water change with fresh ESV Sea Water. Obviously I am missing a piece to the puzzle. I run 4, Hydra 52 HD's over the tank. Below are my settings....

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Running 7AM to 9PM, ramping up and ramping down. I only get up to a max of about 80 percent on my blues. I have used a PAR meter but have been told the readings with LEDs are not accurate. I have zero nuisance algae growth. What am i missing? I have considered tweaking the color spectrum but when listening to BRS videos, they say to pick something and leave it alone and the corals will adapt. Not sure what I am missing. Any suggestions? I feel that i am very close to being successful but the actual solution eludes me.
Thanks in advance.
Jeff
 
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ycnibrc

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Growth is not only base on light. Your water chemistry is far more important than light. The 1st year normally is for the tank to get the water parameters stable and then the growth spurt start to kick in. Some corals will grow fast but some will be slow but water chemistry play a bigger part of growing acopora than light schedule.
 

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Speaking of water quality, over a week ago I sent in water to Triton and have not heard back . Anyone have contact email for me to reach them. This will be the 2nd time ive had water results not sent to me in over a week
 

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Speaking of water quality, over a week ago I sent in water to Triton and have not heard back . Anyone have contact email for me to reach them. This will be the 2nd time ive had water results not sent to me in over a week

It usually takes over a week for me to get my results back as well. I figure it's because the sample is sent to LA, then shipped to Germany for analysis.
 

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I’m curious to know what your parameters are, including no3/po4. I’m a fellow 52 HD user so I’ll show what has been working for me. All of my acros started as small frags less than 15 months ago. Most have grown very well with a couple that grown very little to almost zero. I keep my alk around 8.5, cal +450, mg +1350, ph ?, no3 +10, po4 0.10-0.25

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Growth is not only base on light. Your water chemistry is far more important than light. The 1st year normally is for the tank to get the water parameters stable and then the growth spurt start to kick in. Some corals will grow fast but some will be slow but water chemistry play a bigger part of growing acopora than light schedule.
This is perfect. Stability wins the game when it comes to SPS. I would place lighting 3rd. Correct water chemistry, Stability, lighting. 1 & 2 are kinda the same but not. You can have good water chemistry but it may not be stable and vice versa
 

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If all of your water parameters check out ok and have been stable, then I’d assume it’s your lighting. I’ve noticed with my tank that increasing the white, red, and green has resulted in better growth and overall color (duh). At my peak I’m running 50% w/r/g for two hours with ramps, and those levels don’t drop below 30% during my core 8 hours. I’m thinking of going even higher. My blues stay at 90% during the core 8 hours. I’m using a different LED than you, but more light def helps.

I guess we can all reevaluate when you post your numbers?
 
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Sorry for the delay, our little Shih tzu died yesterday. She was 16. Miss her. Bad day!
These were posted on my ATI site today. Take a look. The first .pdf is my RO/DI water. As usual, it is perfect, no issues. The second .pdf is my tank. Pretty typical since I changed over to dosing with the ATI Essentials Pro (complete two part with all major and minor trace elements) The one thing that sticks out is that my tank appears to be an Iodine sink. Even though i make the necessary adjustments based on the analysis (they tell you exactly what supplement, how much and over how many days to adjust, by the next time I test, which at this rate looks like it will have to be every month, the Iodine is very low again. When I do adjust, it is obvious by my corals coloration and growth burst that this was an issue. I need to contact ATI to see if I can supplement daily/weekly based on my usage to keep an normal level. So, check these out and then let's attack my lighting.
Jeff
 

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vetteguy53081

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Sorry to hear about dog. Readings overall look great.
 
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Sorry to hear about dog. Readings overall look great.
Thank you!
FYI, on my ATI samples, they go to California and then get shipped in bulk to Germany, it typically takes me 10 days to see my results on line. Not sure if that is in line with Triton or not. (ATI does offer the option of sending directly to Germany, but this shipping is free and I know its going to get to the right place so its worth the extra day or two)
 

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Sorry for the delay, our little Shih tzu died yesterday. She was 16. Miss her. Bad day!
These were posted on my ATI site today. Take a look. The first .pdf is my RO/DI water. As usual, it is perfect, no issues. The second .pdf is my tank. Pretty typical since I changed over to dosing with the ATI Essentials Pro (complete two part with all major and minor trace elements) The one thing that sticks out is that my tank appears to be an Iodine sink. Even though i make the necessary adjustments based on the analysis (they tell you exactly what supplement, how much and over how many days to adjust, by the next time I test, which at this rate looks like it will have to be every month, the Iodine is very low again. When I do adjust, it is obvious by my corals coloration and growth burst that this was an issue. I need to contact ATI to see if I can supplement daily/weekly based on my usage to keep an normal level. So, check these out and then let's attack my lighting.
Jeff
Sorry for your loss.

I don’t see any glaring chemistry issue. What size is your tank, how high are your hydras mounted and what is your max settings?

Btw I hate those respiration peak programs. The spectrum is constantly changing. If you want respiration the best thing to do is activate your weather feature. The intensities will change but not the spectrum. I myself and any t5 or metal halide user don’t use any respiration. It’s not needed IMO. I have a feeling your par is going to be on the low side and even lower in the valleys.
 

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Thank you!
FYI, on my ATI samples, they go to California and then get shipped in bulk to Germany, it typically takes me 10 days to see my results on line. Not sure if that is in line with Triton or not. (ATI does offer the option of sending directly to Germany, but this shipping is free and I know its going to get to the right place so its worth the extra day or two)
Triton appears to be the same time line.
I think im going to try ATI as, I a week and half ago sent in a sample to triton,and from their communication last night, it appears for the second time They have lost my tubes of water and is VERY Inexcusable.
 

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Do you have any idea of par values you're getting? Kind of useless to tell us your light schedule. Rent a par meter, borrow one , or for 199 buy one. If you're trying to grow SPS its a SUPER worthy investment. Most SPS will do well in 250-350 par (or more), but you'll never know.

The other thing I believe is important, isn't necessarily nutrients themselves, is heavy feedings and also fast nutrient export -- COUPLED with the fact they love flow, flow flow.
 
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@Chaswood79 - Thank you!. The tank is 300 gallons and with tank and sump with rock and sand displacement worked out to exactly 300 gallons of water, not planned, just happened.

I had read up and tried the respiration program and then after the fact read that it is pretty much a waste of time. The boat I find myself in is that I would like to change things, but now I'm half afraid to as I from what I am hearing is set it, leave them alone and the corals will adjust. I do like your idea of getting rid of the respiration and using the weather settings. I have no tried playing with those yet but that's a great idea. Actually, jumping ahead to PAR, the center of my tank at the top of the rock is around 550. To the left and to the right sides of the tank I am looking at 350ish. Now, this is with a cheap par meter. I was thinking of renting one from BRS to get more accurate readings. Here are some screen snips of my current settings....


The first is a normal "high peak".
The second is a normal "low valley".
The third is my 2:00 mid afternoon peak.
The fourth is my spectrum at the 2:00 peak.
and lastly, the fifth is what I would like to try but am afraid to just change it.
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Do you have any idea of par values you're getting? Kind of useless to tell us your light schedule. Rent a par meter, borrow one , or for 199 buy one. If you're trying to grow SPS its a SUPER worthy investment. Most SPS will do well in 250-350 par (or more), but you'll never know.

The other thing I believe is important, isn't necessarily nutrients themselves, is heavy feedings and also fast nutrient export -- COUPLED with the fact they love flow, flow flow.
I have 4 XF 250 Gyres, 2 on each side of the tank. I actually keep them turned down so that it doesn't turn the tank into a sand storm. I do have a PAR meter, and posted some of my PAR above but not sure i trust it.
 

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