Time to grow: Do you take steps to promote growth in your tank?

[Peace River]

Time to grow: Do you take steps to promote growth in your tank?

It may be commonly assumed that everyone wants growth in their tank whether it is for coral or for macroalgae, but is that really true? We may want faster growth to fill in the tank and then slower (or no) growth once the tank is filled in. Whatever your position is on growth, do you take steps to promote growth in your tank? I mean, just because you would prefer growth doesn’t mean you are actively pursuing it. If you are taking steps for growth either for corals or macroalgae, please let us know what you are doing and share any tips that you may have.

Photo by @Olys_Tank; Reef of the Month October 2023


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.worldwidecorals.com

“We differentiate ourselves from other vendors by offering our customers full transparency into our facility and practices. Setting the industry standard for shipping techniques, accurate high-quality photos, hard to find corals, and customer service. For some hobbyists buying live coral online can seem like a risky endeavor. At WWC our staff takes the worry out of the equation by culturing extremely healthy corals, giving you a hassle-free guarantee, and providing you with a full online customer service team to ensure you are completely satisfied with your purchase.”

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I feed my two trachyphyllia mysis every night. No more needs to be said


every other nocturnal-feeding LPS (Platygyra, pectnia, favia, Acanthastrea, Acanthophyllia ect) gets fed every other night/once every 3 nights. They all get mysis

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Stability within reef parameters all relative to your system can help keep things on track w growth and once ithe system is happy its happy fragging time. Bounty of the hard work. I don’t chase things really, well a few things. lol. Happy reefing in the new year.

 

[Troylee]

Run my alk higher, carbon and bacteria dose and feed aminos and reef roids a couple times a week! And try to keep my ph high as possible which is normally around 8.1 ugh.. lol

 

[Reefer Matt]

Frag tanks yes. Display tanks no. But my display tanks keep growing and fill my frag tanks. The coral grow on their own because the tank parameters are maintained.

 

[randomfishdude]

The best step to take is not to take one.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Working on keeping acros alive for the most part. The growth will come!

I feed my RBTA mysis daily since it decided that it wants to sit inside a cave instead of out in the light. It looks gorgeous and fully fluffed up but won’t move into the light.

I broadcast feed the tank and make the assumption that the coral are getting oyster eggs and PE calanus and probably some of the mysis that the fish don’t get in time. Used to do reef roids but I’m not sure it was helping and my phosphates were always a challenge.

 

[DreadedReefer]

My mindset when I started was "the bigger the better". My mindset now is to keep my coral and fish happy and healthy. Give them the essentials and they will be happy.

 

[shakacuz]

at first i wanted fast growth, now i want a slow but steady growth. gives me time to plan out any scape changes or coral placements as i buy more. last thing i want is to have a fast growing coral towering over smaller frags.

 

[Haggisman14]

I do my best to promote growth in my little 5 gallon tank!

1 Gallon weekly water change
Weekly feeding with Reef Roids or Reef Chili

Starting tomorrow I"ll be adding 1 mL of All for Reef Daily!

Tank's been up for almost a year (1 year this March), and has been growing really well. From everything i've been reading, All for Reef might give me the growth bump I"ve been looking for!

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I keep parameters steady, keep my phos and nitrates up, feed 1/4 recommended aminos and feed plankton once every 2 weeks before my water change. I don't use socks and rarely use my skimmer now.

 

[vlangel]

I don't want growth in my 56 gallon display because it's getting crowded already. Although I like a lot of fish and I like to feed them well, so the nutrients feed growth.

 

[BanZI29]

I use Brightwell Restor on a doser. it has worked REALLY well.

 

[Subsea]

Live food to feed healthy gut cavity bactetia:

I like to start with the bottom of the food:

Dana Riddle said it best, The inorganic & organic world come together during photosynthesis using inorganic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to feed inorganic bicarbonate to become organic carbon.
So, I start with phytoplankton.

I use nutrient recycling to grow desirable carbon sinks like ornamental seaweed and clams in my tank. While I could prefer to feed more fish to provide more nutrients to grow more faster, I choose not to do that in my growout tank. I feed pods to grow their p

 

[ClownSchool]

Time to grow: Do you take steps to promote growth in your tank?

It may be commonly assumed that everyone wants growth in their tank whether it is for coral or for macroalgae, but is that really true? We may want faster growth to fill in the tank and then slower (or no) growth once the tank is filled in. Whatever your position is on growth, do you take steps to promote growth in your tank? I mean, just because you would prefer growth doesn’t mean you are actively pursuing it. If you are taking steps for growth either for corals or macroalgae, please let us know what you are doing and share any tips that you may have.

Photo by @Olys_Tank; Reef of the Month October 2023


This QOTD is sponsored by: www.worldwidecorals.com

“We differentiate ourselves from other vendors by offering our customers full transparency into our facility and practices. Setting the industry standard for shipping techniques, accurate high-quality photos, hard to find corals, and customer service. For some hobbyists buying live coral online can seem like a risky endeavor. At WWC our staff takes the worry out of the equation by culturing extremely healthy corals, giving you a hassle-free guarantee, and providing you with a full online customer service team to ensure you are completely satisfied with your purchase.”

I dose phytoplankton nightly and feed daily a combination of Rod’s frozen food diluted in a splash of R/O water and a squirt of Oyster Feast, kept in the fridge in a small container. And, I dose pods once every 4 to 6 weeks.

 

[mike_dani]

I have four parameters that I actually pay attention to for growth, I feed my fish heavy and do 10% or 65 gallon water changes on Saturdays well the APEX does them automatically and it takes around 10 minutes to do. I also bacteria dose and feed aminos and reef roids a couple times a week, I run a strange light cycle with 5 Radion G5 XR30 Pro on a modified AB+ schedule at 90 percent 6 days a week and on 45% 1 day a week to let the corals rest one day. I really think this helps in coral color and actually helps the growth, by day 6 the growth tips are pure white and one day of low light get them colored back up.

1. PH must stay above 8.2, I accomplish this in three ways. Kalkwasser in ATO (primary), O2 supply to skimmer intake (secondary), and the use of sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide (tertiary). All of which is controlled by an APEX.

2. ALK is kept at 9.5 in the grow out and maintained by Calcium reactor (primary), Kalkwasser (secondary), and Sodium hydroxide (tertiary). All of which is controlled by APEX Trident.

3. Phosphates, I like to keep mine around .16 this works for me and with it I produce amazing coloration.

4. Nitrates, I like them around 20 again it works for me and I don't have much algae. I do keep a ton of tangs in this monster of a tank and feed very heavy once a day and lightly 2 more times a day (for the Anthias)

 

[JetCord]

I have four parameters that I actually pay attention to for growth, I feed my fish heavy and do 10% or 65 gallon water changes on Saturdays well the APEX does them automatically and it takes around 10 minutes to do. I also bacteria dose and feed aminos and reef roids a couple times a week, I run a strange light cycle with 5 Radion G5 XR30 Pro on a modified AB+ schedule at 90 percent 6 days a week and on 45% 1 day a week to let the corals rest one day. I really think this helps in coral color and actually helps the growth, by day 6 the growth tips are pure white and one day of low light get them colored back up.

1. PH must stay above 8.2, I accomplish this in three ways. Kalkwasser in ATO (primary), O2 supply to skimmer intake (secondary), and the use of sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide (tertiary). All of which is controlled by an APEX.

2. ALK is kept at 9.5 in the grow out and maintained by Calcium reactor (primary), Kalkwasser (secondary), and Sodium hydroxide (tertiary). All of which is controlled by APEX Trident.

3. Phosphates, I like to keep mine around .16 this works for me and with it I produce amazing coloration.

4. Nitrates, I like them around 20 again it works for me and I don't have much algae. I do keep a ton of tangs in this monster of a tank and feed very heavy once a day and lightly 2 more times a day (for the Anthias)

won't sodium hydroxide increases the tank salinity or the addition is negligible compare to the Ca reactor and kalk addition?