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

[Reefahholic]

I don’t have great growth across the board. I have some Tenuis that grow really fast, some with almost zero growth for 2 years and many in between that range. I do, however, believe my higher nutrients and no freak out attitude when it comes to no3/po4 contributes to my very low death rate. I’d rather have slow or even no growth than Stn/rtn.

Have you tried to move the ones with no growth for two years. Sounds like they aren’t getting enough light.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Have you tried to move the ones with no growth for two years. Sounds like they aren’t getting enough light.

They get plenty of light. Every Tenuis I have gets at least +325-500 par from leds only. My thought is they’re getting too much light.

 

[Madonia]

Do you dose aminos? Try acro power. I noticed growth and color once I started dosing these.

I also recommend feeding with filter feeder foods. I like reef nutrition oyster feast and roti feast. I add a bit of each to a cube of mysis soaked in selcon, along with some phytoplankton each night.

my tank is 2 months old, started with dry rock. My acros are already showing signs of growth along with development of coralline.

do you have coralline?

 

[Madonia]

Could definitely be too much light too. Or spectrum. I’d try lowering the intensity a bit. Or move the corals. In my old tank the lighting was killing my acros. It was way too strong at some points.

 

[Madonia]

They get plenty of light. Every Tenuis I have gets at least +325-500 par from leds only. My thought is they’re getting too much light.

I think they may be getting too much light!! Aim for around 350 as a high point. Average should be around 300. I don’t flirt with numbers > 350...there’s just no need unless you have super resilient corals and an old stable tank.

 

[Madonia]

I was getting good growth in my old tank when my acros were on the frag rack, in PAR of
~100. Not saying this is ideal at all, but it demonstrates that some sps do not need a ton of PAR to grow. I think too much light is the biggest killer in a lot of tanks.

 

[Reefahholic]

They get plenty of light. Every Tenuis I have gets at least +325-500 par from leds only. My thought is they’re getting too much light.

They very well could be. I’ll tell you a quick story.

I ran my last system about 450 PAR. Some places were 500-600. I had a 48” 8 lamp ATI PowerModule on a 18” deep 75/G. There is no doubt that some Acro’s are light hungry. However, nearly every coral in my tank grew very dense and branched more. A friend of mine literally ran 50-100 on his sand-bed. His stags were growing like nuts in 150 PAR. You could tell they were a little light hungry, but overall grew 3x as fast as my corals. I’ve seen a lot of staghorn fields in the wild that get well over 500 PAR and probably closer to 800 PAR or more. So I know they can tolerate a lot of light, but the question becomes how much do they really need? I think a lot of corals don’t need as much as we think they do. When I turned down my
Lights on the last tank, I saw a lot of improvement within a week. The tissue looked so much more healthy. This could have been a low N&P issue and I pushed them with too much light. I’m not sure. I just know that a few Acro’s I had by my sand-bed looked much healthier then the rest did higher on the top. The Red planet seemed to do well lower in the tank. Also several others by the bottom. These two below were lower in the tank.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I think they may be getting too much light!! Aim for around 350 as a high point. Average should be around 300. I don’t flirt with numbers > 350...there’s just no need unless you have super resilient corals and an old stable tank.

I’m not the OP and I don’t have any general issues with growth. I just made a comment about a couple Tenuis that don’t grow, which is common.

I appreciate the concern...But I’m good

 

[Reefahholic]

Check out this Anacropora. The bottom one is mine that I got from a friends established colony. His is on the top. He blasted his with PAR 400+ Easy. Mine was sitting low in my tank about 4-5” off the bottom glass. Probably getting 250-300. Look how much more dense his is and how short. His was already growing for 2 years.

Original frag I got of mine. Grew from July to Feb and was almost as big as his.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Check out this Anacropora. The bottom one is mine that I got from a friends established colony. His is on the top. He blasted his with PAR 400+ Easy. Mine was sitting low in my tank about 4-5” off the bottom glass. Probably getting 250-300. Look how much more dense his is and how short. His was already growing for 2 years.

Original frag I got of mine. Grew from July to Feb and was almost as big as his.

I had to put my anacropora in my sps scrap tank because it grew too fast.

 

[sgrosenb]

Thanks so much everyone for your insights and help. Unfortunately there seem to be mixed opinions on my lighting - some think it is too high and others think it is too low. Below is a quick overview of where my lights are currently:

• Tank is 165g Red Sea Reefer XXL 625. Dimensions are 5x2x2
• Lighting: LED / T5 Combo:
  • LED's: 4x Radion XR15 G4 Pros w/ Diffusers about 9 inches from surface. Running at 85% on SPS AB+ spectrum between 10am and 6pm. Ramp up is <10% blue from 5am-10am and 6pm-10pm.
  • T5's: 2x Blue+, 2x Coral+ run from 10:30am-4:30pm
  • Overall PAR is between 200-350+. Most SPS are in 250-350 PAR.

There seems to be conflicting thoughts on whether this is too much or not enough light. Given that my coral colors are decent (not perfect), polyp extension is good, and I've had luck growing out birdsnest and monti's but nothing else, what would your guidance be on changing my lighting (if at all)? Turn it up? Turn it down? Run T5 longer? Change ramp-up? Use Cloud Cover feature? Scrap it all and go to Metal Halides / T5 combo???

Thanks for the insight and help!
-Scott

 

[ScottB]

Thanks so much everyone for your insights and help. Unfortunately there seem to be mixed opinions on my lighting - some think it is too high and others think it is too low. Below is a quick overview of where my lights are currently:

• Tank is 165g Red Sea Reefer XXL 625. Dimensions are 5x2x2
• Lighting: LED / T5 Combo:
  • LED's: 4x Radion XR15 G4 Pros w/ Diffusers about 9 inches from surface. Running at 85% on SPS AB+ spectrum between 10am and 6pm. Ramp up is <10% blue from 5am-10am and 6pm-10pm.
  • T5's: 2x Blue+, 2x Coral+ run from 10:30am-4:30pm
  • Overall PAR is between 200-350+. Most SPS are in 250-350 PAR.

There seems to be conflicting thoughts on whether this is too much or not enough light. Given that my coral colors are decent (not perfect), polyp extension is good, and I've had luck growing out birdsnest and monti's but nothing else, what would your guidance be on changing my lighting (if at all)? Turn it up? Turn it down? Run T5 longer? Change ramp-up? Use Cloud Cover feature? Scrap it all and go to Metal Halides / T5 combo???

Thanks for the insight and help!
-Scott

Leave it they way you have it. I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Qantos]

I don't think you should change a thing. Your parameters are excellent and you clearly know what you're doing. Small frags tend to encrust the plug before they begin growing vertically and branching out. Your photos show a lot of encrusting which is exactly what you want.

This is actually an evolutionary characteristic. Corals need to focus their energy on developing a strong base before growing outwards and upwards and exposing themselves to greater moments (lb-in) in higher flow.

If your colonies are growing slowly, there may a problem but small frags won't see noticeable growth until their foundation is well developed. I would keep doing what you're doing. Growth will soon accelerate.

 

[gguertin145]

Personally I would up PAR 50 slowly so your high spots were at least 400. You also said .03-.1 pho4 that is a really big range I would be trying for the lower end of that .02 but I am currently.05 so I have no room to talk.

 

[Perry]

1. SPS, in the cases provided, need to encrust and lay a base, to support vertical or branching growth. Some, like me, recommend basting with turkey baster at the base, with frags specifically, to free the are at base of debris, detritus, or possible algaes. Simply put, none of the examples show the corals laying a strong base.
2. Expect to see periods of stalling, again, they need to settle. It can be like watching water boil, so set reasonable expectations, and don't compare to other tanks or hobbyist results.
3. Coraline algae. Anecdotal, but usually signs of out of control coraline growth tell me, from a chemistry standpoint, that parameters are ideal.
4. Glass algae- If you are forced to brush daily or every other day, likely nutrients are present and ideal for sps.
5. Observation and not falling victim to number chasing, that or knee jerk reaction for correction, which in most cases is over correction.

Sometimes it takes time for things to click, but once they do, be ready. Enjoy your tank, provide the best stable conditions you can, and let nature work Sounds like you are knowledgeable with all required, so let corals adapt, when making changes, do them one at a time, and observe. Don't get caught up in chasing numbers and allow patience to prevail

 

[jda]

Swap the T5s and the Radions... let the T5s cook for a 10-11 hour period and bring the xr15s in the middle for 5-8 hours. Whatever you do, keep 12 hours of darkness, at least... 13-14 hours is better. xr15s are not super powerful, but should be at least OK with the T5s.

 

[Scribz718]

Not looking at anything else assuming all of fine and dandy, pH was the major inhibitor. I’d barely break 8.0 at my peak and tended to dip to 7.6. Added Kalk to my top off and a co2 scrubber. Now I’m between 8.1-8.4 depending on how fresh my media is. Growth exploded.

 

[Potatohead]

I agree with the people saying don't touch anything. Only exception would maybe be a co2 scrubber if pH is lowish. For tiny frags they looks just fine, they take forever to grow. But eventually they will reach a certain point and then go nuts.

 

[Reefahholic]

Thanks so much everyone for your insights and help. Unfortunately there seem to be mixed opinions on my lighting - some think it is too high and others think it is too low. Below is a quick overview of where my lights are currently:

• Tank is 165g Red Sea Reefer XXL 625. Dimensions are 5x2x2
• Lighting: LED / T5 Combo:
  • LED's: 4x Radion XR15 G4 Pros w/ Diffusers about 9 inches from surface. Running at 85% on SPS AB+ spectrum between 10am and 6pm. Ramp up is <10% blue from 5am-10am and 6pm-10pm.
  • T5's: 2x Blue+, 2x Coral+ run from 10:30am-4:30pm
  • Overall PAR is between 200-350+. Most SPS are in 250-350 PAR.

There seems to be conflicting thoughts on whether this is too much or not enough light. Given that my coral colors are decent (not perfect), polyp extension is good, and I've had luck growing out birdsnest and monti's but nothing else, what would your guidance be on changing my lighting (if at all)? Turn it up? Turn it down? Run T5 longer? Change ramp-up? Use Cloud Cover feature? Scrap it all and go to Metal Halides / T5 combo???

Thanks for the insight and help!
-Scott

I honestly would change it.

I do agree with Jda. I feel like T5's are just an amazing light source. I'd run the T5's longer and shorten the Radion's, but that's just me. However, since this tank has already been running.....I wouldn't change it. Your PAR numbers look good. You are in the sweet spot. If you change it now you will only slow down growth that could be coming around the corner.

Keep the tank stable. I mean everything as stable as possible. From mixing salt, to temp, salinity, chemistry (especially ALK), light, water changes (If you do them try to do smaller more frequent) and just let the corals bake. Check the flow and make sure the corals are getting decent flow. Other than that... just be patient. It takes a while. If you're not running a Calcium Reactor....you should invest. Best of luck!

 

[Nemguy123]

I guess my thought was that as soon as I put specific params on here people will focus in them and problem solve from there. But what if there were testing errors and those params weren't accurate.... a potential solution could be masked and never thought of because my parameters are just assumed to be good.

That's why I'm tryin to the pose the question at a high level - what are the most likely culprits for good looking corals with slow growth? I'd have to guess at its most basic level, low pH and low alkalinity could be two possible explanations. Or maybe like @jvb89 said flow could be an issue. Could there be something in the calcification process that is stunting growth?

If you move a coral or the flow ever so slightly moves the frag plug the coral will most likely stop growing had to be still for at least a month with stable tank parameters for it to start growing and have steady growth.