Feel like quitting 2 years almost no growth please help sps dominate

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Interesting , never thought I could over par it with the set up I have I was thinking my lights where not power full enough , I did par the tank out middle of the scape I was hitting 500 seemed okay to me 220-250 sand bed 450-500 mid

I'd say 350 max par is what you would need.

 

[Ryan Mansa]

Very nice tank. I dont think I would change a thing imo.
In my 11 month old 120 some corals grow fast others are still nubs.
I have 2 green slimers that have done nothing but plate out with no vertical growth in 9 months of being in my tank. Only now they are sporting several vertical branches.
I have a purple stag that has gone from 2" to 8"+ in the same time frame.
Removed a elkhorn monti as it became the coral weed in my tank.
So some just grow faster than others.
As long as you are getting color and growth like you have enjoy your reef.
Many people would love a reef like yours and never come close.

Thank you , maybe I’m having unrealistic expectations, my acros are a mix from basic sps to yes there are some baller ones in there that I did only get a “nub” off maybe they are just too tiny and they are ticked off for longer then easier ones ? But I have a mix of everything and sometimes the things I think should grow easy they don’t do anything that’s why I’m concerned

 

[X-37B]

the thick growth in monti's,the concentrated base growth,??? too much flow??? i don't think possible,thowing it out there,for expert opinions??

I was just going to say cut back on your flow.

 

[Ryan Mansa]

the thick growth in monti's,the concentrated base growth,??? too much flow??? i don't think possible,throwing it out there,for expert opinions??

I actually though that , I was wondering if I’m over flowing the tank , the left gyre is a gyre for 800 gallons at max 100 percent but it’s point at the surface and no power heads are every hitting the corals directly , but some other guys said they have seen sps tanks where fish can barely swim in them there’s so much flow

 

[tehmadreefer]

Wow beautiful tank! They seem pretty crowded. Do they possibly give off some sort of hormone to tell the other corals that they are encroaching on their territory therefore causing a stunt in growth?

yup this most likely. Way too many frags crammed in one time little area. They can’t grow anywhere.

 

[Billldg]

Interesting , never thought I could over par it with the set up I have I was thinking my lights where not power full enough , I did par the tank out middle of the scape I was hitting 500 seemed okay to me 220-250 sand bed 450-500 mid

I try for 350 par and have had great growth once the tank hit actual maturity.

 

[X-37B]

I actually though that , I was wondering if I’m over flowing the tank , the left gyre is a gyre for 800 gallons at max 100 percent but it’s point at the surface and no power heads are every hitting the corals directly , but some other guys said they have seen sps tanks where fish can barely swim in them there’s so much flow

I would cut flow back to 50% on all units. You can alway turn them up and it wont hurt.

 

[Bpp124987]

Thank you very much salanity is checked daily with Hannah pen always 1.026 temp is 78-79 ph is pegged I have a co2 scrubber and I open cracked window

Wow. You’ve really nailed everything then. I’d say just chill because it’s still really a nice tank. Maybe give it six months then check in. Also recommend tanking photos an measurement so you don’t miss real growth

And forget bs Instagram!

 

[Ryan Mansa]

yup this most likely. Way too many frags crammed in one time little area. They can’t grow anywhere.

You guys really think they can sense this !?!? What about wall to wall frag tanks with 100s 1 inch apart from each other hmm interesting

 

[Ryan Mansa]

Wow. You’ve really nailed everything then. I’d say just chill because it’s still really a nice tank. Maybe give it six months then check in. Also recommend tanking photos an measurement so you don’t miss real growth

And forget crap Instagram!

Haha thanks that’s why I’m here because I feel like I’ve covered all my bases and waited to post here because I’m just wondering if I’m missing something

 

[tehmadreefer]

You guys really think they can sense this !?!? What about wall to wall frag tanks with 100s 1 inch apart from each other hmm interesting

where are these wall to wall sps tanks? They are few and far between and are typically large systems.

 

[Stoney]

Most of my acros refuse to branch until they put down a nice base. Mounting them with the stem like that forces them to base in the dark which probably isn't sustainable with such small frags. You've got good growth on certain colonies and good pe on the others so it seems unlikely that it has anything to do with water parameters or allelopathy.

 

[Dipan Desai]

Your tank looks good. Every system is different. Like some else mentioned are these frags from other reefers or wild? I know for me wild corals take soooo long to do anything. Also A lot of my corals base out for 6-12 months before they sticks start to grow. Add to that out of all my acros I think one started to grow from the original frag. All others base out and start new branches. Its super weird.

Now I tried something new about a month ago. All my frags that have had 0 growth at the original tips I chopped off about 1/4 - 1/2 in piece and oddly enough the tips started to grow. I would try that with a few sticks. Your systems is more than stable to experiment.

 

[Ryan Avery]

I would echo the others in not enough space for the frags. Acros IMO like to base out to be very stable before growing upwards. Also, have you checked your par? I only have two Red Sea LED’s on my reefer 250 and they are growing like weeds.

 

[Flippers4pups]

@Ryan Mansa, Have you seen Dana's presentation on growth?



I'd say your corals are in photoinhibition for too long. Too much par for too long. 200-250 par is more than enough. 8 hours total blues, 5-6 hours whites.

 

[Ryan Mansa]

I would echo the others in not enough space for the frags. Acros IMO like to base out to be very stable before growing upwards. Also, have you checked your par? I only have two Red Sea LED’s on my reefer 250 and they are growing like weeds.

I have pared my tank 220-250 sand bed 4-500 middle 700 at the water line

 

[ThePurple12]

A couple thoughts. One your corals are beautiful and highly colored. Your sand appears to be immaculately clean. I would say you are doing way better than average at keeping your nutrients just right, but often that means the corals don't get a lot of "food" in the form of fish waste. Also, todays world of half inch frags for high prices makes growing coral colonies VERY difficult as few corals like to start life so small. Another consideration is that you do have an awful lot of frags concentrated in a small area all of which appear to be working hard at basing out instead of growing up. I'm no biologist, but I just wonder if they don't sense the competition for space. If it were me, I'd say you've got really nice purple and green colonies growing so the pink, yellow, and oranges really jump out at me, and the pink with 3 pieces growing out of the base looks about ready to start "taking off".

I wouldn't give up just yet as it looks like you will end up with some spectacular colonies in just 6-9 months more. Are you dosing live food of copepods and phyto from someplace like AlgaeBarn? You might try that plus Reef-roids which is a very popular coral food. Also what do you feed your fish and how often? I am a HUGE fan of Hikari Mega Marine Algae for all my fish. Next, and this is just me, but I believe in keeping parameters as close to natural sea water as possible. I've not seen scientific research showing that slightly higher calc and alk is of any benefit. I know some very successful reef keepers are doing that just not sure it's helpful and for sure I know it's not necessary as I have never done so. Lastly I do not think 2 years is a long time. It usually takes me about 3 years to grow my tank back to a full reef when I start over, and I have started over several times in the last 20 years.

Bottom line: one guys advice - keep going - you're SOOO close to seeing an explosion of beautiful SPS in your tank ( but maybe sell a couple of frags )

I would also try coral food such as Reef Chili. Target feed every single polyp (ok maybe not) every few nights. This could make up for the low nutrients.

 

[Ryan Mansa]

@Ryan Mansa, Have you seen Dana's presentation on growth?



I'd say your corals are in photoinhibition. Too much par for too long. 200-250 par is more than enough. 8 hours total blues, 5-6 hours whites.

I have seen that video , I was wondering if that was true as in “does that go for all acros “ “even 2-3 color tenuis “

 

[X-37B]

What and how are you dosing?
My tank did well for 6 months dosing 2 part and trace elements by hand. At 6 months I setup my carx and everthing went into overdrive. Still have some wild nubs that are starting to grow now but still very slow.

 

[Ryan Mansa]

@Ryan Mansa, Have you seen Dana's presentation on growth?



I'd say your corals are in photoinhibition for too long. Too much par for too long. 200-250 par is more than enough. 8 hours total blues, 5-6 hours whites.

I would also try coral food such as Reef Chili. Target feed every single polyp (ok maybe not) every few nights. This could make up for the low nutrients.

I do feed oyster feast and bright well liquid foods pytho and zoo plankton , I stopped because it didn’t seem to do anything but maybe I should start again