Lack of growth from acros.

[Rockadile]

I run a 90gal tank that is lit by 2 AI sol Blues.
The flow is from 2 MP40s that are set to reefcrt mode and turned up on full.
calcium is 420 alk 9 and mag 1300.

After a year of putting acros frags in my tank there has been little to no growth from them. They look wonderful and have great polyp extention and color but just seem stunted.

Acans, chalices pallys all seesm to grow wonderfully but can not seem to get a sps to grow at all.

Any thoughts here?

 

[Andrew L]

If your params are good, low phos, and everything is pretty good, then it may be they dont like the lights, some acros don't like Leds

 

[Rockadile]

Yeah I find that hard to believe honestly. PAR is PAR and I am in the upper 300s at the top of my tank and in the mid 100 on the bottom

 

[Dowtish]

how long have they been in the tank? and are you seeing any encrusting from them?

 

[Rockadile]

going on a year and yes they have completely encrusted their plugs.

 

[Rob.D]

I have a few acros that have only encrusted and finally started growing up wards, some have gone 9-10 months. There is a thread here that discusses fragging can help growth.

 

[Rockadile]

but they are frags lol of no more then 3 inchs. I would hate to frag them so small. hmmm

 

[Rob.D]

I have a 1" frag of Oculus Fire Garden Acro for 11 months right now, no growth and no encrusting the whole time. Last month I cut it in half and both frags are now encrusting, no up wards growth yet but a definite growth encrusting.

 

[Rockadile]

I will take that advice into consideration. I would like to hear some other thoughts on this though.

 

[-Logzor]

High salinity in my system basically froze the growth of many of my small coral fragments. Might be something to look into. Believe it it not, I had gotten two bad bottles of PinPoint calibration fluid.

 

[Rockadile]

yeah thats def not it I have a refractometer and i am at .025. I do keep my tank a little on the cool side though, around 76 degrees. Not that I intended to but thats just where it is on a daily basis.

 

[3Twinklets]

I have AI super blues and I have dialed down the white to 70 p. which they seem to like better. Most of my frags have put on about a third growth in a couple of months ( some more, some less) I keep my calcium about 480 maybe even a little higher. I also use Zeo Pohls Extra and Amino acid supplements.

 

[Rockadile]

never really had my whites that high, usually around 50 with the blues at 100. perhaps more white light is a starting point.

 

[3Twinklets]

Maybe. I would increase slowly though. My temp is the same. How long do you have your lights on?

 

[Rockadile]

9 hours with only 3 hours being max intensity.

 

[3Twinklets]

I would kick that maximum up a bit. I am sure you will get lots of input. Are your acros on top?

 

[Rockadile]

yeah mostly and are getting around 330-350 par.

 

[ritter6788]

Phosphates are a big inhibitor of sps growth. Have you tested for phos. with a low range test like a Hanna checker? If I don't see noticeable growth tips on my sps I know my phosphates are high and it's time to do something about it.

 

[Rockadile]

0 po4 on my hanna