Good Growth?

[PolandSpring]

I keep buying frags and wait for them to take off and grow upwards into a nice big colony but all they seem to be doing is just encrusting.

Im using 2x 150w LEDs from Reeffiltration, SWC 160 Cone, 2xmp40s

My params may jump a little only because i dose by hand every morning and some mornings i forget to. I try to do water changes every week/2 weeks. I've been busy lately and havent done a w/c in about 3 weeks but planning to do one in the next few days.

Is this normal growth? Should they soon start to take off? I dont see any signs of them growing vertically.

Sunset Milli - 1/3/11

3/16/11

Sunset Monti - 1/3/11

1/8/11 (Sunset Monti is on the bottom left corner, bleached)

3/16/11

Red Table - 12/2/10

1/3/11

3/16/11

Chips - 12/2/10

1/3/11

3/16/11

Pink lemonade - 1/3/11

3/16/11

Green Slimer - 1/3/11

3/16/11

 

[florida reef]

In my opinion if they are growing and continuing to color up that's good growth! I think they look great.

 

[drainbamage]

Very normal to have an SPS encrust a base before taking off- think about it, it's taking up as much real estate on the reef before something else steals the spot and then it'll have a good strong foothold for growing into a large colony.

 

[PolandSpring]

In my opinion if they are growing and continuing to color up that's good growth! I think they look great.

yah i agree with that. Most of them are coloring up nicely, except for my chips which is still a little brown.

Very normal to have an SPS encrust a base before taking off- think about it, it's taking up as much real estate on the reef before something else steals the spot and then it'll have a good strong foothold for growing into a large colony.

I know, i just feel like its taking forever! I thought Green slimers are suppose to be fast growers, mine has only grew about 2 inches in 4 months. But my Karls Candlelight is my fastes grower. I got it as a 1/2 frag and now its a 2'' mini colony just 3.5 months later. I wish i had a pic of it as a frag

 

[btkrausen]

Have you tried to dose Magnesium in your tank? That really helped my growth take off in my tank.

 

[m and m]

I think thats good growth, they need to encrust befre they go up.

 

[PolandSpring]

Have you tried to dose Magnesium in your tank? That really helped my growth take off in my tank.

no i dont dose mag, i should probably dose it, but my salt is very high in mag already, i use tropic marin pro reef salt. i feed oyster feast and phytophease every night/ other night

I think thats good growth, they need to encrust befre they go up.

so is that how slow it rlly takes for sps to grow? i've had this tank set up for about 7 months and it still looks barren

 

[fab1971]

Looks like good growth to me. I'm dosing two part and magnesium with the occasional kalk and my stuff grow decently. I also feed heavily.

 

[Kbra]

Thats pretty good growth. I wouldnt be concerned. The bigger they are the faster they grow too

 

[butts182]

they look like they are growing well...that sunset mille will absolutely take off once it encrusts enough...just wait 6 months!! it will be big

 

[NeverlosT]

you are doing things right, waiting for them to grow and not getting impatient and just putting a ton of frags close together to fill in the spaces. This way when they ARE colonies, it will look nicer and you wont have constant coral war. I think it is gonna look great, I also can attest that dosing a little tech M brought my mag up and my SPS seemed to take that as a cue to sprout new growth tips. Worth a shot I suppose?

 

[patent]

Most of the time mine seem to need to first get used to the new lights for a week or so, then the tend to encrust over the frag plug before they grow up. Not always the case. I have a green digitata that took off immediately and an orange cap that did so too, but most seem to encrust for a bit first.

 

[Troylee]

Looks good to me.... Normally the more they encrust the bigger it's gonna shoot up... Every piece needs a good foundation man think of it as roots.... I had a red planet encrust for 6 months it never shot up once then in a month I had a sweet mini colony..."rip" lol just give them time if they start small it takes time to absorb light and food to grow once there about 2" they just explode with growth....

 

[FateX8]

from what ive noticed with any coral, they need to get used to your tank first and then they just take off
but on top of that, its only been 4 months...
were you expecting a huge colony or something by now? and i agree with florida reef, as long as theyre coloring up and doing something other then receding, i think thats a victory
and also, from the pieces youve shown, milles and tables, those tend to encrust the most before growing upward
the chips and slimer look like theyre growing quite well

 

[abrian]

I would personally be thrilled to get the growth some of your pictures are showing in just a few months.

 

[PolandSpring]

i've been keeping up with my dosing every morning and it seems to me that my frags are starting to grow like crazy now. they're growing about .5 of a milimeter a day. I literally see new growth on the bases of the corals everyday.

Here's some photos from about a week ago

 

[CJO]

Yep. they just needed to get used to your tank. Things are starting to look good now!

CJ

 

[Electrobes]

Dude let me tell you that if they are encrusting.. that's a good start. I once got a freakin' monti cap from a friend that was half dollar sized. I saw nothing from it for sixteen MONTHS! Then out of no where, six months later it was easily four times that size. I guess the acclimation just took that long..