Sps not growing as quick as they should

[Crustaceon]

I’m also running the blue bucket and have pretty much the same issue. My coralline algae is taking off but something is missing and seems to be holding up just the acros. Trace is the only thing I’m not dosing right now and I have plenty of flow and have had great water parameters for months on end otherwise. I’ll pick some up tomorrow and post the results over the next few weeks.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I don’t see much wrong in those pictures either. Nothing is taking off so colors are not great because there is no new growth. I would start with weekly 15% water changes and make sure your feeding a good frozen food and keep the skimmer running well. I would not care about those nutrient numbers but would prefer nitrate a little lower personally but that doesn’t matter at all until things start growing. Keep it simple and do the basics.
I like to baste my corals with a turkey baster even when I don’t have pests. It keeps things from settling on them and keeps the rocks clean near them so they can encrust easier. If you don’t have much detritus come up when you baste your rocks and corals then it’s not really needed but I find most of the time even when the tank looks clean basting pulls out a lot of detritus and can help corals start new growth after doing it for a few weeks straight. The goal for you is to get things to start growing it looks like.

 

[Robinson]

Your reactor is providing elements, that is one of the advantage of having a CaRx. Not trying to say that you should not dosing others additives, but to do that slowly if your going to do it. also an ICP test will help to identify probably underlying issues that you cant identify right now.

Just one question, do you started all dry rock?

Regards!

 

[Milldozer]

Your reactor is providing elements, that is one of the advantage of having a CaRx. Not trying to say that you should not dosing others additives, but to do that slowly if your going to do it. also an ICP test will help to identify probably underlying issues that you cant identify right now.

Just one question, do you started all dry rock?

Regards!

I'm thinking I'm going to buy an icp test, the price just stops me every time lol. 70 dollars seems like alot but I would also pay 70 for a frag HAHA!

The tank was started with dry rock and then I transfered my 90 gallon into it. I upgrade from a 90 to a 225.

 

[Milldozer]

I don’t see much wrong in those pictures either. Nothing is taking off so colors are not great because there is no new growth. I would start with weekly 15% water changes and make sure your feeding a good frozen food and keep the skimmer running well. I would not care about those nutrient numbers but would prefer nitrate a little lower personally but that doesn’t matter at all until things start growing. Keep it simple and do the basics.
I like to baste my corals with a turkey baster even when I don’t have pests. It keeps things from settling on them and keeps the rocks clean near them so they can encrust easier. If you don’t have much detritus come up when you baste your rocks and corals then it’s not really needed but I find most of the time even when the tank looks clean basting pulls out a lot of detritus and can help corals start new growth after doing it for a few weeks straight. The goal for you is to get things to start growing it looks like.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to do a water change today and I'll also try cleaning off all the corals.

 

[trido]

Lots of great advice here. Great flow, more trace minerals, feed coral food, feed the fish heavier just shy of growing algea on the rocks. Not one mention of your lights. What lighting schedule are you using on the radions? The more white light, the faster acros will grow.

 

[Milldozer]

Lots of great advice here. Great flow, more trace minerals, feed coral food, feed the fish heavier just shy of growing algea on the rocks. Not one mention of your lights. What lighting schedule are you using on the radions? The more white light, the faster acros will grow.

I'm using the ab+ preset. 9 am- 10 pm with a 1 hour ramp up and down.

 

[Crustaceon]

Even I’m getting really good info from this. Proof that we’re always learning no matter where we think we are in the hobby. What I’m trying to do is rediscover the accidental success I had with my first tank. I had an acro that grew like crazy in that tank (1/4” vertical growth per month) and I’ve been trying to figure out what I did back then that I don’t do now. One thing that I remember is that I used to use reef crystals and since then I’ve used IO blue bucket because I went to 2-part dosing and now kalk (+mag dosing) and my big three have been spot on for some time now. Nitrates are always around 2ppm. Po4 is always around .03ppm. Everything for that matter is where it should be. I also heavily stocked my tank back then (10 fish in a 29g!) and now I just have two clowns, a mandarin and a bunch of trochus snails in my 55g. I have tried fuel and other coral foods too, so maybe the lack of fish poo isn’t the problem. Frustrating, lol. I know I’m close to cracking this nut.

 

[trido]

If you can, I'd recommend bringing the spectrum up to the 12K setting for a few hours a day while you're at work. Then your corals can get the white spectrum to increase growth rates and it doesnt have to bother you to look at it. I have Gen4 Non-pro radions on my grow tanks and run T-5 AB+ along side them to make up for the lack of spectrum. I know the big trend is a real blue spectrum and it looks great, but take a look at Sanjay's tank, or Melev's reef, or mine. Like Sanjay, I run all channels at 100% on my radions. 12K spectrum for about four hours a day at peak. Melev'sreef uses twin arc MH bulbs and runs a 10K spectrum for four hours a day. Sure WWC uses a very blue spectrum, but is it working for you?

 

[trido]

Oh, also, in a healthy reef a lower pH will not slow growth rates enough to notice. I've had a pH of around 8 and lower for 15 years and have faster growth than most SPS keepers. Do not switch from your calcium reactor to two part. If yours is dialed in, its so much less work than two part.

 

[Milldozer]

If you can, I'd recommend bringing the spectrum up to the 12K setting for a few hours a day while you're at work. Then your corals can get the white spectrum to increase growth rates and it doesnt have to bother you to look at it. I have Gen4 Non-pro radions on my grow tanks and run T-5 AB+ along side them to make up for the lack of spectrum. I know the big trend is a real blue spectrum and it looks great, but take a look at Sanjay's tank, or Melev's reef, or mine. Like Sanjay, I run all channels at 100% on my radions. 12K spectrum for about four hours a day at peak. Melev'sreef uses twin arc MH bulbs and runs a 10K spectrum for four hours a day. Sure WWC uses a very blue spectrum, but is it working for you?

I will give that a shot. I don't mind having more white anyways. I find it brings out the yellows better. My problem would be that I have 3 radions and then 3 viparspectras which I can only program on and off. I could get 2 t5s to help change the spectrum or I could just change my whole schedual to be closer to 12k through out the day

 

[Milldozer]

Oh, also, in a healthy reef a lower pH will not slow growth rates enough to notice. I've had a pH of around 8 and lower for 15 years and have faster growth than most SPS keepers. Do not switch from your calcium reactor to two part. If yours is dialed in, its so much less work than two part.

I never wanted to switch back to 2 part. It's too much of a pain for me in a tank this size. The calcium reactor has been spot on for the last few months after I added a second chamber to it. Added a second chamber to help with the low pH coming out of it

 

[Milldozer]

Thanks for all the info guys! This is great and it's helping me think of different ideas other than just endlessly searching forums. Very much appreciate all the knowledge in this group!

 

[Milldozer]

I did a big water change tonight and switched my lighting to 14k. I will keep you posted as what happens in the next week.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

I'm using the ab+ preset. 9 am- 10 pm with a 1 hour ramp up and down.

So you have an 11 hour phototperiod with the strongest light? What percent are you running them at again? That’s lot of light for led but maybe someone can help with that. Maybe you just need a shorter photoperiod at the strongest setting and need more white light with it.

 

[Milldozer]

So you have an 11 hour phototperiod with the strongest light? What percent are you running them at again? That’s lot of light for led but maybe someone can help with that. Maybe you just need a shorter photoperiod at the strongest setting and need more white light with it.

It's actually 13 hours, I was running at 85% with the ab+ but now running 60% at 14k. My par is an average of about 300. Doesn't seem overly high to me but I could be wrong

 

[Milldozer]

So I changed my lighting around to have 6 hours of light at 14k and now the sps is growing like crazy! Not sure if just the lighting change made the difference or if something else happened in the tank but this is the most growth I've seen in a long time

 

[Evan1901]

I am glad that you found the issue. Happy for you.

 

[Milldozer]

The far right is all new growth over 2 weeks

 

[RalphTech]

Sounds like you have plenty of flow. Try getting the PH up. I had seen major growth in my Acros once I added CO2 scrubbers. Inspect for pest as mentioned along with try one of the ATI, ICP or Fauna Marin Test to help ID any parameter issues. Maybe check for any magnets rusting or any other metals in the tank. Also check for stray voltage.

how do I check my tank for stray voltage?