Corals not growing

[K1ng]

Ive had my 220 gallon system for almost 2 years now and there has basically been little to no growth what so ever. Its so bad I managed to kill my green star polyps which people claim to be a pest lol. On a more serious note I cannot keep zoanthids, they always die for some reason or at least have a prolonged death (lasting a few months before dying) but have never grown any new polyps. Originally I only had 5 fish and ran into hair algae and cyano problems with 0 nitrates and phophates but after adding fish and cutting back the light cycle on the refugium I believe I have solved that problem. After adding the fish and more coral I made my own seafood for the fish and have had quite a bit of coraline algae growth and what seems like a little bit more coral growth but still very slow.

Tank details: I have a 220 gallon with an 80 gallon sump (roughly 45 of those gallons are refugium growing calurpa). MH/T5 combo which has 3 150W 14k bulbs and 2 actinic t5's.

Livestock: Blue hippo tang, kole tang, maroon clown, 2 whyoming white clowns, magnificent foxface, puple tang, yellow tang, cleaner wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp and a few snails.

Corals: Anemones, cyphastrea, acans, lobos, leptastrea, duncan, hammer, gorgonian, mushrooms, zoa, chalice, war coral, bubble coral, leathers and open brain

Parameters:
Salinity 1.025-26
Temp 77-79
Ph 7.8
Alk 6.4
Cal 480
Nitrates 5-10
P04 0.1-0.25

 

[GooseCommander]

Your alk is quite low, most people will tell you to be between 8-10. What is your magnesium level? And how consistent are your numbers? Do you have good polyp extension? My zoas struggled with my tank running low nitrates when hair algae got ahead of me.

Also, have you checked your par level? Your lighting seems fairly low and might not be enough to give the corals enough energy to grow.

 

[K1ng]

Thank you for the quick response!

Ill be honest never even purchased a magnesium test kit. Figured the alk was too low and could be the main cause of the problem. As for polyp extension, everything seems to have great extension. Only thing I have noticed is my lobo losing colouration.

I had never really considered my lighting being insufficient due to them being MH's so I have no clue what the par is. I have read a few other threads similar to mine with people suggested lighting may be the problem so good to know mine might not be good enough.

 

[Pistondog]

Ive had my 220 gallon system for almost 2 years now and there has basically been little to no growth what so ever. Its so bad I managed to kill my green star polyps which people claim to be a pest lol. On a more serious note I cannot keep zoanthids, they always die for some reason or at least have a prolonged death (lasting a few months before dying) but have never grown any new polyps. Originally I only had 5 fish and ran into hair algae and cyano problems with 0 nitrates and phophates but after adding fish and cutting back the light cycle on the refugium I believe I have solved that problem. After adding the fish and more coral I made my own seafood for the fish and have had quite a bit of coraline algae growth and what seems like a little bit more coral growth but still very slow.

Tank details: I have a 220 gallon with an 80 gallon sump (roughly 45 of those gallons are refugium growing calurpa). MH/T5 combo which has 3 150W 14k bulbs and 2 actinic t5's.

Livestock: Blue hippo tang, kole tang, maroon clown, 2 whyoming white clowns, magnificent foxface, puple tang, yellow tang, cleaner wrasse, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 blood shrimp and a few snails.

Corals: Anemones, cyphastrea, acans, lobos, leptastrea, duncan, hammer, gorgonian, mushrooms, zoa, chalice, war coral, bubble coral, leathers and open brain

Parameters:
Salinity 1.025-26
Temp 77-79
Ph 7.8
Alk 6.4
Cal 480
Nitrates 5-10
P04 0.1-0.25

Fix the alk 1st, some of those corals can grow in shadows.
Also the leafher might be throwing toxins.
Sniff test: with all pumps and pheads off for 15 minutes, sniff the water above the leather, smell anything?
Touch the leather and see if thats the same smell.

 

[Hemmdog]

Raise alk, check mag, check phosphate

 

[tankstudy]

Most species of zoas & paly I keep do very poorly below 7 dkh. Some of the hardier specimens in this hobby can tough it out in 6.4 dkh but most will slowly melt in those conditions.

 

[John08007]

I'd suggest getting an icp test, i think they're $25-30, well worth the money when problem solving your issue.

 

[mikereefing]

I agree with everyone that Alk should be raised. All the corals in my tank (hammers, Digi, Monti, octos, blastos, Duncan's, zoa's, etc) had no growth back when I had low alk (less than 7). I decided to start dosing alk because I got some Hanna test kits and realized that water changes weren't enough for my nano to sustain the levels. In literally 1 month, my hammers grew new heads, Duncan grew huge and added 4 new heads, my Rasta and purple monster zoa's blew up in growth, and my sps grew massively. I attribute this to increasing my alk/pH

 

[K1ng]

Thanks for your input everyone!

I will start by increasing my alk and give an update on how that goes. I have already purchased alk and calcium for dosing so I will take a look on how to do that properly.

Does anyone else think my lighting may not be sufficient enough?

I can't wait to see that kind of growth someday, would finally see some change in the tank.

 

[Copperjot]

If your alk and PH really are always at those parameters then im fairly confident raising those and keeping it stable will solve your problems. Your water is simply too acidic and very much so.

 

[tankstudy]

Your lights appear to be more than plenty.

Just get your alk, cal and magnesium in the recommended ranges and assuming you have no other issues, you'll see drastic changes in a few months. It won't occur in a few days or weeks as your corals will need time to recover first and than actually move forward from there.

 

[mikereefing]

Thanks for your input everyone!

I will start by increasing my alk and give an update on how that goes. I have already purchased alk and calcium for dosing so I will take a look on how to do that properly.

Does anyone else think my lighting may not be sufficient enough?

I can't wait to see that kind of growth someday, would finally see some change in the tank.

I think your lights are adequate enough. For reference, my nano has the stock fluval light and 3 cheap led bars from Amazon. Adding those LEDs didn't do much for growth, but boosting my Alk/pH did WONDERS