Why won't my corals grow

[Thunderrap]

Hey everyone, so I'm new to the reefing hobby and really loving it but I have a few questions that I just can't seem to find the answer to. I'm sorry this post will probably be a long one but I appreciate anyone who can stick it out and help! I'll put tank specs at the bottom for more information. Quick info though is I have a hammer coral, blasto, and a couple zoa's that I picked up from the LFS here and I couldn't tell you the name of them if I wanted to LOL. I've had them for about 3 weeks but I haven't seen any growth, some of the zoa's still haven't come out so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Now for the lengthy information

38gal bowfront
Aquamaxx 1.5 HOB skimmer
Seachem Tidal 55 running red sea carbon, and regular mechanical filter media
x2 eFlux 1050 wavemakers running 100% flow on surge 25sec interval
1 eFlux 2100 wavemaker running 40% steady stream
x2 AI Prime HD16's running the WWC preset from their website for the 24g nano tank but I boosted up the intensity because it's a bigger tank
38ish lbs of dry rock
2in sand bed

Water Parameters:
ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
NItrate 10 - 15 (no matter what I do i can't seem to get that down, I do weekly 20% water changes and have done a couple 50%) Salifert tester
phosphates 0 (can't seem to get this to go up at all/hanna checker)
Alk - 8.4 - 8.6 (hanna checker)

fish:
1 small yellow tang (yes I know they need a big tank, I plan on upgrading in less than 2 years if I can figure this out)
1 clown
1 domino damsel
1 3 striped damsel (yes I know damsels have a bad wrap but I haven't had any issues with mine)
1 lawnmower blenny
various hermits and snails
1 serpent starfish

 

[Thunderrap]

I should also note that I feed LRS nano reef blend along with supplementing Rod's food seaweed blend. I feed 3 times a day with the frozen and usually some seaweed 2 times a day which they gobble up. I supplement seachem aquavito fuel about every 3 days recommended dose and feed the corals reef roids on the same schedule. They seem to eat it well.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Coral don’t grow that fast. Especially if they were moved two weeks ago.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Some Corals are just slow growers, A lot of large polyp stony corals (you hammer and your blastomussa) Need to put dow new skeleton to grow by pulling certain elements out of the water- this is not quick process although some corals certainly do it faster than others. Blastos for instance are really, really slow growing, I had one head for a few months and in that time it started to develop one tiny head. Since I started feeding it an LPS pellet once a week it has grown a lot more heads a lot faster than before but where still talking over the course of 3-4 months. Below is a photo of my blasto when I first got it in September and the second photo is a few weeks ago so about 9 months of growth with weekly feedings for the last few months- theres a few more heads on the back that you can't see in the photo but you get the point- patience is a virtue ;Hilarious

Zoanthids are typically pretty hardy but some times different varieties can be little fickle- have the zoas polyps been getting smaller than when you first got them? Some varieties spread like wild fire and others give blastos a run for their money.

September 2019

May 2020

 

[Parent_usmc]

I use reef roids and spot feed my coral... noticed a few of them really enjoy it ( Duncan, and bta ) but dito to macdaddy, corals are rather slow growers. If you want something that grows like a weed get some green star polyps . Just keep them separate because they can spread

 

[ApoIsland]

LPS and softies like a little bit dirtier tank. There is no need to ever reduce your nitrates below 10-15.

When I was actually taking readings my nitrates never went below 20 and were closer to 40 sometimes 50 before I did my large monthly water change. I don't do anything different to this day and have no problem growing everything except acros.

You can have success with those AI primes (as with most lights) as long as you dose an insane amount of coral food as evidenced by a guy in our local club with a beautiful tank under AI primes. Unfortunately I don't dose so in my experience those lights are totally inadequate. I have one of them over a 15g cube and get virtually zero growth compared to the main display tank.

 

[Thunderrap]

Some Corals are just slow growers, A lot of large polyp stony corals (you hammer and your blastomussa) Need to put dow new skeleton to grow by pulling certain elements out of the water- this is not quick process although some corals certainly do it faster than others. Blastos for instance are really, really slow growing, I had one head for a few months and in that time it started to develop one tiny head. Since I started feeding it an LPS pellet once a week it has grown a lot more heads a lot faster than before but where still talking over the course of 3-4 months. Below is a photo of my blasto when I first got it in September and the second photo is a few weeks ago so about 9 months of growth with weekly feedings for the last few months- theres a few more heads on the back that you can't see in the photo but you get the point- patience is a virtue ;Hilarious

Zoanthids are typically pretty hardy but some times different varieties can be little fickle- have the zoas polyps been getting smaller than when you first got them? Some varieties spread like wild fire and others give blastos a run for their money.

They haven't gotten smaller, some don't open up as much though. So I just need to work on my patience LOL, I just see all these threads of people whos zoa's grow new heads every couple of weeks and makes me think I'm doing something wrong.

 

[Thunderrap]

I use reef roids and spot feed my coral... noticed a few of them really enjoy it ( Duncan, and bta ) but dito to macdaddy, corals are rather slow growers. If you want something that grows like a weed get some green star polyps . Just keep them separate because they can spread

I'll work on my patience LOL, I don't really like the look of the GSP or xenia. Thank you so much for your info!

 

[Thunderrap]

Coral don’t grow that fast. Especially if they were moved two weeks ago.

Thank you, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong with their care. I've read so many articles where people say their zoa's grow new polyps every other week or so.

 

[0utworld]

As many have mentioned, LPS and softies prefer higher nutrients. Right now, your nitrate : phosphate ratio is unbalanced. You can start directly dosing phosphates and you will see a decrease in nitrates.

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

Thank you, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong with their care. I've read so many articles where people say their zoa's grow new polyps every other week or so.

Its possible once the acclimate to your tank and get really comfortable they could grow at a faster pace but different zoas grow at difference paces, often the more expensive varieties are slower growing (it takes longer for them to grow and be fragged so less supply and more demand) while the opposite is true for varieties. For instance I got a frag WWC Illuminati and that thing was just polyp for about a month before I saw another nub- On the same order I got a frag Sunny D's with 2 polyps and had to wait 1 week before I could receive the order- when it arrived there was 5 heads, now theres over 9-10 heads! My poor Illumanti is up to 3 now ;Hilarious

 

[Thunderrap]

As many have mentioned, LPS and softies prefer higher nutrients. Right now, your nitrate : phosphate ratio is unbalanced. You can start directly dosing phosphates and you will see a decrease in nitrates.

How should I dose phosphates? I'm going to start googling but do you have a recommended product?

 

[0utworld]

How should I dose phosphates? I'm going to start googling but do you have a recommended product?

You can use Seachem Flourish Phosphorus to start and follow its dosing instructions.