Curious case of acropora

[Brittleyak]

So some background info, my reef tank just had its first anniversary beginning of August. It’s a stable tank and healthy Params with regular water changes and regulated with saturated kalk and lit with leds. I decided to start shopping for acropora on some buy/sell apps from local reefers. I got my hands on four species of acropora. Red dragon carduus, two frags of “master teal tort”, “Cali tort” (from my eyes it looked more like purple tort), Hawkins echinata. All purchased for their combined reputation of hardiness, color, and growth rate.


On the way home they lost fair amounts of color as I expected and waited out the colors to come in after acclimating them to tank water and over three days tank lighting.


Colors came in for all the corals within a week and I got some PE during lights out and they looked healthy but I didn’t see any growth or even encrusting on the torts. I didn’t notice any growth until this week at least. The torts have shown some encrusting and some growth added to the red dragon and Hawkins. I wasn’t worrying much because my alk calc mag were as usual per salifert tests and they kept the same coloration at least or brighter even for the teal torts. My question is why they didn’t show any growth for two months when I have heard that these are good growers.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Most will base out first or encrust the plug, prior to upwards and out.

I think it is normal for them to take a month or two to get accustomed to new tank conditions.

 

[Stickboy15]

It can take a while for them to get in high gear and grow

 

[KrisReef]

I can't say for certain, or even hazard a guess why these SPS take their time to perform, but now that they are starting to grow you will need to keep a close watch on their Kh consumption if you want to have them continue growing and thriving.

They make the rules, we just have to keep up it seems. Glad they are growing for you!

 

[Brittleyak]

Most will base out first or encrust the plug, prior to upwards and out.

I think it is normal for them to take a month or two to get accustomed to new tank conditions.

I’m glad that they’ve started to finally encrust at least

What about the a. Echinata and the red dragon?
I know they don’t exactly entrust as a species.

 

[Brittleyak]

I can't say for certain, or even hazard a guess why these SPS take their time to perform, but now that they are starting to grow you will need to keep a close watch on their Kh consumption if you want to have them continue growing and thriving.

They make the rules, we just have to keep up it seems. Glad they are growing for you!

Ready to start 2 part dosing if they ever exceed what kalk can do for now with current livestock consumption.

 

[Oscaror]

So some background info, my reef tank just had its first anniversary beginning of August. It’s a stable tank and healthy Params with regular water changes and regulated with saturated kalk and lit with leds. I decided to start shopping for acropora on some buy/sell apps from local reefers. I got my hands on four species of acropora. Red dragon carduus, two frags of “master teal tort”, “Cali tort” (from my eyes it looked more like purple tort), Hawkins echinata. All purchased for their combined reputation of hardiness, color, and growth rate.


On the way home they lost fair amounts of color as I expected and waited out the colors to come in after acclimating them to tank water and over three days tank lighting.


Colors came in for all the corals within a week and I got some PE during lights out and they looked healthy but I didn’t see any growth or even encrusting on the torts. I didn’t notice any growth until this week at least. The torts have shown some encrusting and some growth added to the red dragon and Hawkins. I wasn’t worrying much because my alk calc mag were as usual per salifert tests and they kept the same coloration at least or brighter even for the teal torts. My question is why they didn’t show any growth for two months when I have heard that these are good growers.

Acro frags will take time to encrust the base before branching out, they want to be secure after all. Just be patient with them. I had an acro in my tank that wouldn't stop encrusting it was annoying. Behaved more like a monti tbh, started to grow a few months later.

 

[DesertReefT4r]

It can take a couple of months for acros to adjust to a new tank environment. Then a couple months to encrust a good base before you see any new branches sprouting out. Sometimes it happens faster others slower, there are so many factors that we dont understand. It just takes time.

 

[Brittleyak]

Should I be worrying about lack of poly extension in the day?
I see a few coralites showing pe after lights out only. Can’t notice it during the day.