What Is the Most Likely Reason for Poor SPS Coral Growth? My corals aren't growing... See Pictures

[Charlie’s Frags]

Have you checked the PAR?
There are some reefers on here that get extra growth with cloud cover feature when PAR is really high because it gives the coral a rest once in a while.
Not sure wether it will help in your case, but this is a great thread

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

Hey guys my first post on here , I’ve been in this hobby a decent ammount and I’ve tried sps dominate for the first time , I’m about to give up everyone always comments “wow those are glowing sticks !!!” Okay so what they are 1 inch tall , I must have 40 acros maybe more , and only 3-5 of them...

www.reef2reef.com

Jynx

 

[sgrosenb]

Sorry yes - I have a PAR Meter - anywhere form 200 down low to 350+ up higher. Most of my SPS are in ~300 par.

 

[X-37B]

I looked at your build thread any current full tank shots.
Your parameters look good but could not access triton results.
SG should be at or closer to 35 or 1.0265 imo.
Lower alk is not a growth issue imo.
I run 7 -7.5 with good growth, check my build thread.
What kind of a water change schedule do you run?

 

[jvb89]

Okay thanks for all of the info. Sounds like params, etc would be helpful. Here they are:

Tank: 165g 5x2x2 with sump & fuge
Alk: 8.6dKH like clock work - tested with Trident and confirm with Hanna Alk Test. BUT - Red Sea, LaMotte, and GHL KH Director all consistently read about 1.0 dKH lower than that - ~7.6 dKH
Ca: 450 (steady)
Mg: 1360 (steady)
NO3: 5-8ppm
PO4: 0.03-0.10
Fish: roughly 15 which I feed 3x daily pellets and frozen mysis shrimp
pH: Reads 8.0-8.3 like clockwork each day, but I have reason to believe the probe is off (even though I've calibrated many times) and might be reading higher than it actually is
Lighting: T5/LED Combo:

• 4x Radion XR15 G4 Pros with Diffusers on SPS AB+ from 10am-6pm 85% about 9inch from surface
  • I also run them at <10% on only the Royal Blue (100%) and Blue (80%) spectrum from 5am - 10am and 6pm-10pm. Not sure if this could possibly impact anything?
• 4x T5 (2 BluePlus, 2 CoralPlus) on 10:30am-4:30pm

Flow: 2x Maxpect Gyre 250's on anywhere from 30-80% depending on time of day
I also run a Protein Skimmer 24/7 and dose 2-part. I dose small amounts of NO3 to keep it around 5ppm. Feed Reef Roids every once in a while, but PO4 has no issue stating in range of 0.03-0.10.

ICP Test Results recently show good levels all around:

• Triton
• ATI

I have 2 x 250 gyres on my 80g rimless, one stays at 30% and the other surges for 10s on and 10s off. I want more flow but its a deep blue rimless

 

[jvb89]

I have 2 x 250 gyres on my 80g rimless, one stays at 30% and the other surges for 10s on and 10s off. I want more flow but its a deep blue rimless

The other gyres is surging at 100%

 

[Gernader]

Here are my suggestions:

- Try having lights on for a longer time instead of 8 hours a day. People typically use them for 10-12 hours a day.
- I would feed some coral food once or twice a week as I was getting some crazy growth once I started it. I use benepets instead of reefroids since it does not increase phosphates/nitrates.
- Not sure what’s your flow turnover rate, but SPS requires at least 50x turnover
- What‘s your salinity? Make sure your refractometer is calibrated.

 

[sgrosenb]

I don't have any FTS available but I can upload some tonight. In terms of salinity, it's 1.026 verified with Apex probe (calibrated many times) and handheld refractometer. I'm not sure what my water turnover is; my return pump is an EcoTech Vectra L1 3,100 gph running at about 100% with about a 4 foot

One note - I do have an ORA Green Birdsnest that has grown nicely and a few monti's/caps that have encrusted. I'd say the birdsnest has grown maybe 1.5" in the past 6+ months, and the monti's have maybe grown an inch. Any clues as to why a birdnest and monti would do way better than acros, or is that just common?

 

[jvb89]

I don't have any FTS available but I can upload some tonight. In terms of salinity, it's 1.026 verified with Apex probe (calibrated many times) and handheld refractometer. I'm not sure what my water turnover is; my return pump is an EcoTech Vectra L1 3,100 gph running at about 100% with about a 4 foot

One note - I do have an ORA Green Birdsnest that has grown nicely and a few monti's/caps that have encrusted. I'd say the birdsnest has grown maybe 1.5" in the past 6+ months, and the monti's have maybe grown an inch. Any clues as to why a birdnest and monti would do way better than acros, or is that just common?

They like less flow and less light

 

[jvb89]

I don't have any FTS available but I can upload some tonight. In terms of salinity, it's 1.026 verified with Apex probe (calibrated many times) and handheld refractometer. I'm not sure what my water turnover is; my return pump is an EcoTech Vectra L1 3,100 gph running at about 100% with about a 4 foot

One note - I do have an ORA Green Birdsnest that has grown nicely and a few monti's/caps that have encrusted. I'd say the birdsnest has grown maybe 1.5" in the past 6+ months, and the monti's have maybe grown an inch. Any clues as to why a birdnest and monti would do way better than acros, or is that just common?

The flow from the return pump is fine, you need more in the tank flow from powerheads.

 

[ScottB]

Okay thanks for all of the info. Sounds like params, etc would be helpful. Here they are:

Tank: 165g 5x2x2 with sump & fuge
Alk: 8.6dKH like clock work - tested with Trident and confirm with Hanna Alk Test. BUT - Red Sea, LaMotte, and GHL KH Director all consistently read about 1.0 dKH lower than that - ~7.6 dKH
Ca: 450 (steady)
Mg: 1360 (steady)
NO3: 5-8ppm
PO4: 0.03-0.10
Fish: roughly 15 which I feed 3x daily pellets and frozen mysis shrimp
pH: Reads 8.0-8.3 like clockwork each day, but I have reason to believe the probe is off (even though I've calibrated many times) and might be reading higher than it actually is
Lighting: T5/LED Combo:

• 4x Radion XR15 G4 Pros with Diffusers on SPS AB+ from 10am-6pm 85% about 9inch from surface
  • I also run them at <10% on only the Royal Blue (100%) and Blue (80%) spectrum from 5am - 10am and 6pm-10pm. Not sure if this could possibly impact anything?
• 4x T5 (2 BluePlus, 2 CoralPlus) on 10:30am-4:30pm

Flow: 2x Maxpect Gyre 250's on anywhere from 30-80% depending on time of day
I also run a Protein Skimmer 24/7 and dose 2-part. I dose small amounts of NO3 to keep it around 5ppm. Feed Reef Roids every once in a while, but PO4 has no issue stating in range of 0.03-0.10.

ICP Test Results recently show good levels all around:

• Triton
• ATI

These are all pretty much textbook SPS parameters. And you know that already.

The frags you chose are beautiful animals, but they are not super fast growers when small. Once they get a bit more based out and branched, they will grow noticeably faster. That's one thing.

Lastly but equally important, if the tank is 2 years old, and you loaded them in July, the tank was only 20ish months old. If you started with dead rock, your biome could've been still in microbial puberty. Stable parameters are important -- and you've managed that part -- but (IMO) a stable and diverse set of bacteria, microfauna, algaes, bioload are equally important for acropora.

I'd bet those frags are going to do just fine and even pick up the pace from here forward. Prove me right.

 

[jvb89]

These are all pretty much textbook SPS parameters. And you know that already.

The frags you chose are beautiful animals, but they are not super fast growers when small. Once they get a bit more based out and branched, they will grow noticeably faster. That's one thing.

Lastly but equally important, if the tank is 2 years old, and you loaded them in July, the tank was only 20ish months old. If you started with dead rock, your biome could've been still in microbial puberty. Stable parameters are important -- and you've managed that part -- but (IMO) a stable and diverse set of bacteria, microfauna, algaes, bioload are equally important for acropora.

I'd bet those frags are going to do just fine and even pick up the pace from here forward. Prove me right.

I'm at 18 months on my 240g and it just started keeping sps alive and showing growth/color. It was started from all dry rock.

 

[X-37B]

Some corals just grow faster.
I have had to remove a elkhorn monti , a tri color, and a unknown wild coral as the grew way too fast.
They all went from 1-3" frags to colonies is 6-10 months time.
I also have a purple stag that grows like a weed too but my green slimer based out for a year before deciding to go vertical, go figure.
Here is a purple digi thats 1 year of growth on the bottom.

 

[ScottB]

I'm at 18 months on my 240g and it just started keeping sps alive and showing growth/color. It was started from all dry rock.

Exactly. I started with mostly live rock and it was still 12-18 months before my acropora stuff was happy. LPS, monti, birdsnest all fine around 6 months.

 

[Gernader]

Exactly. I started with mostly live rock and it was still 12-18 months before my acropora stuff was happy. LPS, monti, birdsnest all fine around 6 months.

Yep, I agree. I waited almost a year before adding any type of SPS. Once I noticed the beginner SPS frags are growing then, I added some acroporas and all of them are doing well!

 

[X-37B]

I'm at 18 months on my 240g and it just started keeping sps alive and showing growth/color. It was started from all dry rock.

I have heard and seen the same with dead rock.
Mine was 50/50 live and caribsea.
I believe it added to the stability of the system from day one as live rock was 2.5 years old from my nano.
On the flip side I know reefers who started with all dead rock and their tanks look stunning after a year but thats not the norm as they are very experienced hobbiests.

Started adding corals at month 2 and growth has been good since.

Stabilty wins!

 

[sgrosenb]

Interesting that this thread moved to dry/live rock. I started with 100% dead rock about 2 years ago, and then about 8 months ago I switched to 100% live rock. It sounds like maybe my tank is not mature enough even though it has technically been full of water for 2 years...

 

[jvb89]

Interesting that this thread moved to dry/live rock. I started with 100% dead rock about 2 years ago, and then about 8 months ago I switched to 100% live rock. It sounds like maybe my tank is not mature enough even though it has technically been full of water for 2 years...

Back to patience and time. They look very happy though.

 

[jvb89]

Back to patience and time. They look very happy though.

Stability/patience. Sorry

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I’m not in the “you need X months before sps” camp. I have a scrap sps tank started with dry rock, no skimmer for non Tenuis acros and montis and zoas that has had acros in it since day 10 with no issues. I also set up a 3g QT tank with no rock or skimmer 3 months ago and keeps sps just fine in there too.

 

[sgrosenb]

I’m not in the “you need X months before sps” camp. I have a scrap sps tank started with dry rock, no skimmer for non Tenuis acros and montis and zoas that has had acros in it since day 10 with no issues. I also set up a 3g QT tank with no rock or skimmer 3 months ago and keeps sps just fine in there too.

@Chaswood79 what do you attribute your quicker success to that others can't seem to replicate without the passage of time?