What is the key to growth?

[A Toadstool Leather]

Aside from keeping everything in check via wcs, dosing etc what really makes coral grow fast? Has feeding been helpful for anyone. I understand that stability is crucial but is there anything else?

 

[ChrisOFL]

The bigger they get the faster they grow. Generally the only reason you would need to feed corals intentionally is if you have a fishless system. Certain LPS varieties definitely benefit greatly from directly feeding but I've yet to see any conclusive study on how things like Fuel, Acropower, Reefroids, etc. will cause increases in coral growth/color. It seems to be pretty much it works for one person and does not for another.

 

[Ghxst]

Flow and proper light. Each coral is different

 

[Bronx19]

Heavy feeding, heavy filtering.

 

[b3ja]

Patience

 

[Mrx7899]

Stability

 

[mtraylor]

Aside from keeping everything in check via wcs, dosing etc what really makes coral grow fast? Has feeding been helpful for anyone. I understand that stability is crucial but is there anything else?

You answered your own question. The magic is keeping stable water quality. All that feeding stuff is over rated. If you cant keep good water quality then the corals will simply not grow. Adding a bunch of feeding into an aquarium that doesn't have proper water quality ....which includes filtration etc....will only make things worse for the aquarium....IE algae, browning, etc.

From My personal experience before I event start an aquarium. These are the mechanical things that you need to pay attention to first. Ensure you have good lighting and Skimmer. If you don have these 2 first. Then don't buy the carnage.
1. Lighting - Ensure you get proper coverage and PAR.
2. Protein Skimmer - Ensure you get something overated for your aquarium if you are a heavy feeder and have fish. New skimmers have dc motors that you can scale back.
3. Sump efficiency - Ensure design allows you to maximize water volume and mechanical filtration. The bigger the sump, the more water volume you have and the easier it will be to keep stable water quality.
4. ATO - One of the most important things IMO for water stability. Prevents salinity swings.
5. Controller - Something to control temp in aquarium that is highs and lows. Pick your own solution

Now that you have a good base to work with. Then you can move on to more complicated things like water quality. From here you need to ensure you have good husbandry habits and keep all your water parameters stable. Just to name a couple and not in any order.
1. Salinity
2. Alkalinity - Have to note here. This is a very important one. Keep your eye on it.
3. Calcium
4. Magnesium
5. PH
6. Nitrite
7. Nitrate
8. Phosphates - very important to keep low for coral growth. High phosphates slow/prevent growth.

Once you get this husbandry down, you will not be posting "how to get corals to grow fast", you will have some nice big colonies. Just my 2cents. This is not a hobby for instant seekers. All corals grow at their own rate and it also varies per coral and obviously per aquarium. Non of it is fast. I'm not even sure what "fast means". Just because someone says they have a coral that grows like weeds, it makes some people think that Monday the coral was bought from the store and Tuesday its like a full colony. Trust me. This does not happen. Also the more mature your aquarium is the faster corals will grow. Anyway. I hope I helped a bit. When I first got into the hobby I used to ask the question all the time. Now that is nothing that is even on my radar. Who cares if the colonies are healthy. If they are healthy they will grow. It basically is what it is.

If on the other hand. If I was wanting to cultivate corals etc. I would do exactly what I said above except for I would ensure I had tons of light on my corals. I would do a 400watt Radium MH system. Now without all the other stuff, the light will do you no good.

Happy Reefing.

 

[ReefEco]

+1 on the stability and patience : ) I do believe in feeding corals, all corals. They have a large proportion of their bodies dedicated to food capture, and there have been specific studies that feeding of zooplankton substitutes do benefit growth rates - which would make sense. There are so many variables in our tanks that it is hard to target one parameter that is the key to growth, but in general you want to make it easy for the coral - enough energy in and give it the ability to focus on growth - so adequate Alk and CA, correct lighting, and yes, feeding. Liquid amino supplements like Acropower may also be helpful, but as Cronicreefer said, I haven't seen the same studies showing the effects as with particulate coral foods, like ReefChili, ReefRoids, etc. Regarding lighting, many corals especially SPS often grow faster under more full spectrum, "yellower" light (6500K - 10,000K) than opposed to bluer light, but sometimes at the cost of coloration.

 

[GatorScott]

For me reef roids and proper placement in tank. I feed reef roids twice a week. I had a hammer for about 2months with no growth. I changed the spot in the tank and bam seems like over night it’s sprouted 2 more heads.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

You answered your own question. The magic is keeping stable water quality. All that feeding stuff is over rated. If you cant keep good water quality then the corals will simply not grow. Adding a bunch of feeding into an aquarium that doesn't have proper water quality ....which includes filtration etc....will only make things worse for the aquarium....IE algae, browning, etc.

From My personal experience before I event start an aquarium. These are the mechanical things that you need to pay attention to first. Ensure you have good lighting and Skimmer. If you don have these 2 first. Then don't buy the carnage.
1. Lighting - Ensure you get proper coverage and PAR.
2. Protein Skimmer - Ensure you get something overated for your aquarium if you are a heavy feeder and have fish. New skimmers have dc motors that you can scale back.
3. Sump efficiency - Ensure design allows you to maximize water volume and mechanical filtration. The bigger the sump, the more water volume you have and the easier it will be to keep stable water quality.
4. ATO - One of the most important things IMO for water stability. Prevents salinity swings.
5. Controller - Something to control temp in aquarium that is highs and lows. Pick your own solution

Now that you have a good base to work with. Then you can move on to more complicated things like water quality. From here you need to ensure you have good husbandry habits and keep all your water parameters stable. Just to name a couple and not in any order.
1. Salinity
2. Alkalinity - Have to note here. This is a very important one. Keep your eye on it.
3. Calcium
4. Magnesium
5. PH
6. Nitrite
7. Nitrate
8. Phosphates - very important to keep low for coral growth. High phosphates slow/prevent growth.

Once you get this husbandry down, you will not be posting "how to get corals to grow fast", you will have some nice big colonies. Just my 2cents. This is not a hobby for instant seekers. All corals grow at their own rate and it also varies per coral and obviously per aquarium. Non of it is fast. I'm not even sure what "fast means". Just because someone says they have a coral that grows like weeds, it makes some people think that Monday the coral was bought from the store and Tuesday its like a full colony. Trust me. This does not happen. Also the more mature your aquarium is the faster corals will grow. Anyway. I hope I helped a bit. When I first got into the hobby I used to ask the question all the time. Now that is nothing that is even on my radar. Who cares if the colonies are healthy. If they are healthy they will grow. It basically is what it is.

If on the other hand. If I was wanting to cultivate corals etc. I would do exactly what I said above except for I would ensure I had tons of light on my corals. I would do a 400watt Radium MH system. Now without all the other stuff, the light will do you no good.

Happy Reefing.

Thanks for the advice. I just need to work on keeping alk consistent since the corals are starting to consume more of it. How does having a more mature reef help? I see this said alot and im unsure what it implies. My tank is only three months old so its definitely not mature.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Aside from keeping everything in check via wcs, dosing etc what really makes coral grow fast? Has feeding been helpful for anyone. I understand that stability is crucial but is there anything else?

What type of coral?

For some corals, fastest growth and best coloration do not necessarily coincide in conditions, so you may have to elect what is your primary goal.

 

[kyleinpdx]

Patience

Stability

And a bit of luck

 

[mtraylor]

Thanks for the advice. I just need to work on keeping alk consistent since the corals are starting to consume more of it. How does having a more mature reef help? I see this said alot and im unsure what it implies. My tank is only three months old so its definitely not mature.

For a quick answer. A mature reef is an established reef that has been through the initial cycling and parameter swings associated with new aquarium. The bacteria growth has basically caught up to the bioload that you have established. The essential micro organism and macro organisms are populated as well as amphipods and copepods.....etc etc.... Once this happens and it stays this way for a while....that is an established reef. Times vary on achieving these goals as expert reefers can get there allot quicker due to their experience.

That being said. This is just My Opinion and Solely my opinion only. If you are feeding corals on a newly established aquarium, you are making a huge mistake. Your making your job harder. Just feed the fish and be done with it. After say a year or so, you feel you have the need to feed the coral. Then do so. I think that would be my best advice to you. This way it will allow you to establish good water quality for a year and you will understand what good water quality is before you start mucking it up with all the other stuff. You will experience less algae glooms of the brown and cyano issues associated to over feeding. Not to mention all the other issues associated with bad water quality.

Let us know how your progress goes.

 

[Fumanchu]

FLOW and STABILITY Levels don't have to be dead on as long as there always the same. IMO FLOW IS CRUCIAL

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

What type of coral?

For some corals, fastest growth and best coloration do not necessarily coincide in conditions, so you may have to elect what is your primary goal.

Softies and lps with 1 sps. My goal is good coloration, im not going to get colonies soon anyways since most if my corals are still frags.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

For a quick answer. A mature reef is an established reef that has been through the initial cycling and parameter swings associated with new aquarium. The bacteria growth has basically caught up to the bioload that you have established. The essential micro organism and macro organisms are populated as well as amphipods and copepods.....etc etc.... Once this happens and it stays this way for a while....that is an established reef. Times vary on achieving these goals as expert reefers can get there allot quicker due to their experience.

That being said. This is just My Opinion and Solely my opinion only. If you are feeding corals on a newly established aquarium, you are making a huge mistake. Your making your job harder. Just feed the fish and be done with it. After say a year or so, you feel you have the need to feed the coral. Then do so. I think that would be my best advice to you. This way it will allow you to establish good water quality for a year and you will understand what good water quality is before you start mucking it up with all the other stuff. You will experience less algae glooms of the brown and cyano issues associated to over feeding. Not to mention all the other issues associated with bad water quality.

Let us know how your progress goes.

Thanks, I will only feed the fish then. I only have one fish in a 30 gallon system so my bioload is quite low.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Softies and lps with 1 sps. My goal is good coloration, im not going to get colonies soon anyways since most if my corals are still frags.

SPS will generally grow faster at higher pH, higher allkalinity, and plenty of sources of N and P (e.g., nitrate and phosphate). Unfortunately, sources of N and P often make corals brown up from increased zooxanthellae.

Soft corals often grow faster with elevated nutrients.

LPS, well, they mostly grow slowly.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

SPS will generally grow faster at higher pH, higher allkalinity, and plenty of sources of N and P (e.g., nitrate and phosphate). Unfortunately, sources of N and P often make corals brown up from increased zooxanthellae.

Soft corals often grow faster with elevated nutrients.

LPS, well, they mostly grow slowly.

Softies grow better with elevated nutrients? I thought this was a myth? Howrver I have read that corals dont do so well in a 0 nutrient system.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

established aquarium, you are making a huge mistake. Your

Yup.

Glad I'm not the only one who sees this. Feed the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Softies grow better with elevated nutrients? I thought this was a myth? Howrver I have read that corals dont do so well in a 0 nutrient system.

I don't have a reason to think it is a myth, but I wouldn't recommend a generalization about any ""type" of coral.

Many soft corals do well in elevated nutrients. Some also grow even in ULNS systems.

Do they grow faster with more nutrients? Depends on what you are comparing to what. I've not seen a study of the growth of soft corals in different nutrient levels (scientists do not seem to like to study soft corals as much as hard corals), but I think many reefers have found that many soft corals grow rapidly in elevated nutrient systems.