Kicking that one acro into gear

[Brandon McHenry]

So I know we’ve all had that one acro that seems to sit frozen in time while everything else around it grows. Without doing anything crazy, does anyone have any tips on getting that one acro to start growing?

 

[Daddy-o]

Cut the tip off the stick

 

[SeaDweller]

Buy a new one. Seriously!


Clipping tips never really did anything for me.


Sometimes they just stall and stall. I have a few milles that really haven’t done anything.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Cut the tip off the stick

I’ve heard that. It’s usually just like 1/8 of and inch or something right?

Buy a new one. Seriously!


Clipping tips never really did anything for me.


Sometimes they just stall and stall. I have a few milles that really haven’t done anything.

Lol! Don’t tempt me! I’m almost out of room. I’ve never tried the clipping before but I’ve heard sometimes it works and sometimes doesn’t. Seems like luck of the draw. This one has definitely stalled, it encrusted and then hasn’t budged in like 8 months. I think mine may be a mille too.

 

[X-37B]

I have broken off tips when working in the tank by accident.
That has always produced new growth but they were growing well before.
Sometimes corals grow slow for no real reason.
I have 2 green slimmer frags that are just now, after a year, taking off vertically as they based out forever.
Other stags have grown 8" vertically in the same time frame.

 

[Daddy-o]

I’ve heard that. It’s usually just like 1/8 of and inch or something right?



Lol! Don’t tempt me! I’m almost out of room. I’ve never tried the clipping before but I’ve heard sometimes it works and sometimes doesn’t. Seems like luck of the draw. This one has definitely stalled, it encrusted and then hasn’t budged in like 8 months. I think mine may be a mille too.

Got a pic.? We cut the whole stick off this one

 

[Brandon McHenry]

I have broken off tips when working in the tank by accident.
That has always produced new growth but they were growing well before.
Sometimes corals grow slow for no real reason.
I have 2 green slimmer frags that are just now, after a year, taking off vertically as they based out forever.
Other stags have grown 8" vertically in the same time frame.

Yeah I’ve noticed that on occasion. Just never done it on purpose. And that’s about where I’m at too. The frag encrusted shortly after I bought it and then hasn’t budged in over 8 or so months.

Got a pic.? We cut the whole stick off this one

Very nice! And do you mean the frag in question?

 

[Daddy-o]

Yeah I’ve noticed that on occasion. Just never done it on purpose. And that’s about where I’m at too. The frag encrusted shortly after I bought it and then hasn’t budged in over 8 or so months.



Very nice! And do you mean the frag in question?

Yes, in a lot of ways a coral is similar to a fir tree. When you cut the dominant tip off, other tips will compete.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Daddy-o]

GARF did a lot of research on fragging

 

[Daddy-o]

https://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2697124Not sure if the link will work

 

[Daddy-o]

This pic should be in between the other 2. After it grew, we cut all the sticks off. and it grew back.

 

[Brandon McHenry]

Yes, in a lot of ways a coral is similar to a fir tree. When you cut the dominant tip off, other tips will compete.
Cheers! Mark

GARF did a lot of research on fragging

https://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2697124Not sure if the link will work

This pic should be in between the other 2. After it grew, we cut all the sticks off. and it grew back.

Interesting stuff! The link works but the pictures don’t. Pretty impressive!

 

[Brandon McHenry]

This is the acro in question

 

[stephj03]

If that's what "stalled out" looks like I would say the only thing you can do is forget about it for a few more mo. That thing looks pretty happy so it's prob not slow bc of a deficit.

Take a pic today and another one on Xmas and ignore it in between.

There's a few things you can do to accelerate but they bring risk and inconvenience.

1. Add additional MH or T5 lighting
2. Boost PH with a CO2 scrubber or kalk
3. Increase nutrient throughout and or residuals

Hard to justify IMO if most of your sticks are happy like this one.

 

[Daddy-o]

If that's what "stalled out" looks like I would say the only thing you can do is forget about it for a few more mo. That thing looks pretty happy so it's prob not slow bc of a deficit.

Take a pic today and another one on Xmas and ignore it in between.

There's a few things you can do to accelerate but they bring risk and inconvenience.

1. Add additional MH or T5 lighting
2. Boost PH with a CO2 scrubber or kalk
3. Increase nutrient throughout and or residuals

Hard to justify IMO if most of your sticks are happy like this one.

I would agree, it has polyp extention

 

[sunnysidecorals]

I agree with trimming. I’ve had better luck cutting a full 3/4-1” frag. It’s nice because you can try the new frag in a different spot.

If it’s still a frag and I’ve tried some of the other stuff mentioned (small trim, nutrients... ) then sometimes I’ll just move it to a new spot. Probably not as patient as I should be but normally this is after 6mon - 1year of waiting.

Sweet piece BTW!

 

[terraincognita]

Yes, in a lot of ways a coral is similar to a fir tree. When you cut the dominant tip off, other tips will compete.
Cheers! Mark

Interesting how this works like this huh? I love it, in bonsai it's the same thing, if stuff's not growing right just CUT IT OFF!

 

[lemonade]

This is the acro in question

Looks like a spath potentially, they are known to go dormant. Where do you keep your alk and PH at?

 

[Brandon McHenry]

If that's what "stalled out" looks like I would say the only thing you can do is forget about it for a few more mo. That thing looks pretty happy so it's prob not slow bc of a deficit.

Take a pic today and another one on Xmas and ignore it in between.

There's a few things you can do to accelerate but they bring risk and inconvenience.

1. Add additional MH or T5 lighting
2. Boost PH with a CO2 scrubber or kalk
3. Increase nutrient throughout and or residuals

Hard to justify IMO if most of your sticks are happy like this one.

I would agree, it has polyp extention

I agree with trimming. I’ve had better luck cutting a full 3/4-1” frag. It’s nice because you can try the new frag in a different spot.

If it’s still a frag and I’ve tried some of the other stuff mentioned (small trim, nutrients... ) then sometimes I’ll just move it to a new spot. Probably not as patient as I should be but normally this is after 6mon - 1year of waiting.

Sweet piece BTW!

Interesting how this works like this huh? I love it, in bonsai it's the same thing, if stuff's not growing right just CUT IT OFF!

Looks like a spath potentially, they are known to go dormant. Where do you keep your alk and PH at?

For sure, the frag is happy and has always had good polyp extension, and the rest of the tank is pretty happy as well. I’ve had the frag for almost 10 months now and all it’s done is encrust and change color and then stop. Since everything else is doing well I know I won’t do anything crazy just for one piece. I’m interested in the small snipping since I’ve never tried it and this acro could be a good chance since it’s not doing anything anyways. To answer the questions, the tank is lit by a 6x24w ATI Sunpower, I run my Alk at 7.5, NO3 at 0.2ppm, PO4 at 0.03ppm and pH varies from 7.8-8.2. I have 7 fish that are fed 4 times with pellets and once with a mix of frozen and powdered food, I also use aminos since my tank runs ver low detectable N and P. So I feel like I have good throughput. As for pH that is a battle I’ve been fighting with a sealed up house with people and dogs in Florida where we can’t really open the windows yet. I use kalk in my ATO and have a CO2 scrubber running but still can’t really minimize the swing. And suggestions on that would be appreciated as well!

Here is the frag on February 1st

 

[lemonade]

How much Kalk are you adding per gallon?