Sps not growing as quick as they should

[Milldozer]

Hey guys, I'm trying to figure out why my sps are growing at a very slow rate if at all. I have had some in the tank for about a year with barely any growth other than encrusting. All of the sps are in 250-450 par of lighting. I am running radion gen 3 and viparspectras. The corals are not dieing but also not growing as fast as they could be. My parameters are as follows:
Ph 8.2
Alk 8.2
Calc 440
Mag 1440
Po4 .02
No3 5ppm
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Highgrade]

What are you using for flow? I'd recommend more flow and increase your PH to 8.3 by using a CO2 scrubber.

 

[Spare time]

Do you add any coral food?

What is your flow like?

 

[Milldozer]

For flow I have 2 xf 350s and 3 Neptune wavs. From what I can see I seem to have tons of flow. I don't feed the corals but I feed the fish heavy. I'll try and get the pH up to 8.3.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

How about red bug? I didn’t know I had it for a year. Also run an ati water test. It can alert you to a problem.

 

[Milldozer]

How about red bug? I didn’t know I had it for a year. Also run an ati water test. It can alert you to a problem.

Never seen any bugs but I'll take a closer look. I have been tempted to send out a ati test.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I didn’t see them until I got a lens kit for my iPhone. You should have seen them bailout when I treated with interceptor

 

[Milldozer]

I didn’t see them until I got a lens kit for my iPhone. You should have seen them bailout when I treated with interceptor

I will look into that for sure. Thanks!

 

[Highgrade]

For flow I have 2 xf 350s and 3 Neptune wavs. From what I can see I seem to have tons of flow. I don't feed the corals but I feed the fish heavy. I'll try and get the pH up to 8.3.

Sounds like you have plenty of flow. Try getting the PH up. I had seen major growth in my Acros once I added CO2 scrubbers. Inspect for pest as mentioned along with try one of the ATI, ICP or Fauna Marin Test to help ID any parameter issues. Maybe check for any magnets rusting or any other metals in the tank. Also check for stray voltage.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Welcome! What can you tell us about your setup? Corals, fish, etc? Flow, spectrum, intensity? Water changes, salt, feeding? One might say your post is presumptuous, saying your corals aren’t growing as fast as they should be. To be honest, we’ll need a lot more information about your setup to offer any advice. And pictures! Everyone likes pictures!

I will say your P04 is really low. It could be slowing down the calcification process, limiting growth.

 

[Pdash]

You could feed more, might be phos limited.

 

[Spare time]

I would dose amino acids or do something like reef energy. You could also bump your alk up to 9.

 

[Milldozer]

Welcome! What can you tell us about your setup? Corals, fish, etc? Flow, spectrum, intensity? Water changes, salt, feeding? One might say your post is presumptuous, saying your corals aren’t growing as fast as they should be. To be honest, we’ll need a lot more information about your setup to offer any advice. And pictures! Everyone likes pictures!

I will say your P04 is really low. It could be slowing down the calcification process, limiting growth.

I have about 25 sps mostly acros, some seem to do better than other. I have a few LPs in the middle of the tank and they seem to all be happy and healthy. For fish I have 4 tangs, 3 chromis, 3 anthiuos, file fish, Christmas wrasse, 3 clowns, I also have a cleaner shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. As for spectrum I am running the ab+ program on radion gen 3 at 85%. I feed flakes once a day. I don't do water changes very often because I can not keep my nitrate and phosphate up with out dosing. I probably do a 10-20% water change once a month. As for salt I used reef crystals for year but not I am using red Sea Blue bucket.

I have been trying to figure out what my po4 should be at for quite some time now. What would you recommend it be at?

 

[Milldozer]

You could feed more, might be phos limited.

I have been trying to figure out where my phos should be. Any suggestions of a target for po4? I need to dose it to keep it above 0

 

[Milldozer]

I have about 25 sps mostly acros, some seem to do better than other. I have a few LPs in the middle of the tank and they seem to all be happy and healthy. For fish I have 4 tangs, 3 chromis, 3 anthiuos, file fish, Christmas wrasse, 3 clowns, I also have a cleaner shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. As for spectrum I am running the ab+ program on radion gen 3 at 85%. I feed flakes once a day. I don't do water changes very often because I can not keep my nitrate and phosphate up with out dosing. I probably do a 10-20% water change once a month. As for salt I used reef crystals for year but not I am using red Sea Blue bucket.

I have been trying to figure out what my po4 should be at for quite some time now. What would you recommend it be at?

I forgot to mention I am also running a calcium reactor

 

[watdachuck]

Do you have any photos to share of what, "they are not growing as fast as they should?" looks like? IMO I have definitely had some SPS that were much slower to adapt than other, and definitely could see it taking as long as a year for that to happen. Do they still look healthy even though the growth is not obvious?

 

[Milldozer]

Do you have any photos to share of what, "they are not growing as fast as they should?" looks like? IMO I have definitely had some SPS that were much slower to adapt than other, and definitely could see it taking as long as a year for that to happen. Do they still look healthy even though the growth is not obvious?

I will take some photos of everything when I get home tonight. The reason I say they are not growing as fast as they should be is because I have seen them stop growing a few times over the year. Something is off but I can't figure out what it is.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Yea pictures are the best way to help you. Otherwise everyone’s going to just say what helped them with something similar and that list could be huge.

 

[TX_Punisher]

What would you say is a good measure of growth that we, as hobbiests, should shoot for?

In your mind, what is "good growth?" To someone else, it may be different.

Show us some photos of you tank if you can.

 

[Milldozer]

That is about 7 months growth on a trip Marvin the Martian