How to get coral growth?

[hailey1423]

I've had some coral that have died but am getting better with keeping them. Not sure how come my corals haven't been growing too much, even GSP! My Duncan coral is doing great, not much growth (new heads) but doubled in size when it comes to the actual head. On the other hand my GSP i've had since March has grown maybe 2 or 3 cm and has only started attaching itself to the rock. I have a hammer coral that I let almost die too, but its been hanging on for the past 3 months, I can see skeleton so I expected it to die, but its just been sitting in the tank half gone, it won't die yet won't come back either!? I also have a pipe organ that opens every one to 3 days. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. Parameters seem good as far as i'm concerned, I've been thinking about maybe a new light? I've bought mine off of amazon, around $60 LED reef light; might that be the issue, should I get a different one? Also was thinking maybe something to do with my filter. I am using an aqua clear 20 with red sea reef carbon and a sponge. (Although those are normally freshwater my local fish store guy said it works great for him.) No skimmer either. Any suggestions to what I could do to improve this tank?

 

[A;exr54]

We need water parameters.
How old is the tank?
Tank size?
What type of light is it?

Could be sooo many things. Impossible to tell with the information given.

 

[shadow_k]

We need water parameters.
How old is the tank?
Tank size?
What type of light is it?

Could be sooo many things. Impossible to tell with the information given.

I agree with ^ we need to know a bit more to see what’s going on in your tank

 

[hailey1423]

We need water parameters.
How old is the tank?
Tank size?
What type of light is it?

Could be sooo many things. Impossible to tell with the information given.

Don't have any testing kits, what are some good ones to get?
I keep my salinity at around 1.023-1.026
Tank is about now 10 months old and is an 11g cube
Light is the Lominie LED Aquarium light, Nano Asta 20 full spectrum.

 

[A;exr54]

For in home test kits for a reef aquarium I would say Hanna test kits are good.
Better then API, salifert, and red sea IMO.
Best way is to get a professional ICP test done.
That’s what I am doing now.

I really don’t know that light. But for your size tank I would imagine it’s ok.
Salinity should be more stable IMO. Corals and fish like stability.
I know that’s hard with a small tank tho.

I don’t have experience with nano tanks like yours. Smallest tank I have ever had was 40g. And that was like 15 years ago.

What temp do you keep it?
What are you doing for filtration?

 

[Pistondog]

Get an ato to keep salinity stable

 

[hailey1423]

For in home test kits for a reef aquarium I would say Hanna test kits are good.
Better then API, salifert, and red sea IMO.
Best way is to get a professional ICP test done.
That’s what I am doing now.

I really don’t know that light. But for your size tank I would imagine it’s ok.
Salinity should be more stable IMO. Corals and fish like stability.
I know that’s hard with a small tank tho.

I don’t have experience with nano tanks like yours. Smallest tank I have ever had was 40g. And that was like 15 years ago.

What temp do you keep it?
What are you doing for filtration?

Great, i'll look into getting some test kits and try and keep the salinity a bit more stable.

The temp is kept at 78 degrees F
I'm currently using an aqua clear 20 with aqua clear foam, red sea carbon (switched it from the original carbon), and some BioMax.

 

[A;exr54]

Great!
Your water tests should help point you in the right direction.

 

[hailey1423]

Great!
Your water tests should help point you in the right direction.

Perfect, thank you so much for the help

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Don't have any testing kits, what are some good ones to get?
I keep my salinity at around 1.023-1.026
Tank is about now 10 months old and is an 11g cube
Light is the Lominie LED Aquarium light, Nano Asta 20 full spectrum.

For test kits i would recommend the brand api, api is the brand I have had the most success with

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If they are doing well, but not growing, then feed them. I didnt believe in feeding corals at first and I didnt feed for a year, they would always do well, but growth is very slow. When you start to feed, you see results almost immediately, its incredible. Your Duncan has no new heads? Feed it, next week you will see 4 new heads growing.
(assuming of course that you have good water quality)

 

[hailey1423]

If they are doing well, but not growing, then feed them. I didnt believe in feeding corals at first and I didnt feed for a year, they would always do well, but growth is very slow. When you start to feed, you see results almost immediately, its incredible. Your Duncan has no new heads? Feed it, next week you will see 4 new heads growing.
(assuming of course that you have good water quality)

Okay i”ll try that, I have some reef roids and mysis shrimp but never feed the duncan them, i’ll try that out, thanks for the advice!

 

[MaxTremors]

How can you say your parameters are good if you don’t test your water?!? IMO, test kits are not optional if you want to keep corals, especially stony corals, and especially when you are inexperienced with growing corals. I would imagine you have some parameters that are unstable and/or out of range. You should be testing Alk, phosphates, nitrates, calcium, PH, and magnesium (avoid API test kits, if you don’t want to spring for Hanna checkers, Salifert or Red Sea are fairly accurate). Your salinity shouldn’t vary that greatly, you want it to be stable, so either get an ATO, a non-mesh lid, or top off every day. How often do you do water changes? What other tank inhabitants do you have.

In the meantime, you can try feeding your corals and stepping up water changes (20% a week).

 

[hailey1423]

How can you say your parameters are good if you don’t test your water?!? IMO, test kits are not optional if you want to keep corals, especially stony corals, and especially when you are inexperienced with growing corals. I would imagine you have some parameters that are unstable and/or out of range. You should be testing Alk, phosphates, nitrates, calcium, PH, and magnesium (avoid API test kits, if you don’t want to spring for Hanna checkers, Salifert or Red Sea are fairly accurate). Your salinity shouldn’t vary that greatly, you want it to be stable, so either get an ATO, a non-mesh lid, or top off every day. How often do you do water changes? What other tank inhabitants do you have.

In the meantime, you can try feeding your corals and stepping up water changes (20% a week).

Got some tests today, results are:

Phosphate: .25ppm (which is supposed to be at 0 if I am correct?)
Calcium: 470 (aware I need to get that lower)
Magnesium: 1500 (also think it needs to be lowered)
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 9
The test kits I got were all Salifert except for phosphate which was API because the store was sold out in all the other kits for individual phosphate kits.

I do small water changes every 3 days, just for some background. I have no idea how to lower alkalinity, but might go back to be local fish store to look at some of the chemicals I saw today for adding and lowering things.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Got some tests today, results are:

Phosphate: .25ppm (which is supposed to be at 0 if I am correct?)
Calcium: 470 (aware I need to get that lower)
Magnesium: 1500 (also think it needs to be lowered)
PH: 8.2
Alkalinity: 9
The test kits I got were all Salifert except for phosphate which was API because the store was sold out in all the other kits for individual phosphate kits.

I do small water changes every 3 days, just for some background. I have no idea how to lower alkalinity, but might go back to be local fish store to look at some of the chemicals I saw today for adding and lowering things.

Alk at 9 is fine , it’s what I run my tank at. You just want to be in the range of 7-11 dkh. Phosphate should not be 0 , everything needs some phosphate but api is so hard to read I use Hanna tester for phosphate

 

[hailey1423]

Alk at 9 is fine , it’s what I run my tank at. You just want to be in the range of 7-11 dkh. Phosphate should not be 0 , everything needs some phosphate but api is so hard to read I use Hanna tester for phosphate

Okay, maybe calcium and mag are effecting the corals?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Okay, maybe calcium and mag are effecting the corals?

Possibly but I doubt it would make a big difference your levels are not super elevated I would let them fall naturally , what is your nitrate at?

 

[Reefbuds]

Test kits are a must have. Gotta know what's going on in there before you can even think of fixing it

 

[hailey1423]

Possibly but I doubt it would make a big difference your levels are not super elevated I would let them fall naturally , what is your nitrate at?

Was not able to get a nitrate test kit, I am assuming they would be fine as I only have 1 fish with lots of scavengers to pick up any uneaten food. Is a nitrate testing kit something I should be using?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Was not able to get a nitrate test kit, I am assuming they would be fine as I only have 1 fish with lots of scavengers to pick up any uneaten food. Is a nitrate testing kit something I should be using?

A 100%, nitrate is something I test the most next to alkalinity. You could potentially be starving yr corals due to having low/ zero nitrate level