What set backs sps growth??

[MattL22]

Just curious when u move sps will it set back growth?
Also when sps takes an obvious hit (color loss) due too alk spike temp etc. how long will it take to start growing again? I have 2 milli that lost color and polyp ext like 6 months ago due to alk swing and they never started to regrow or get the long PE back will they ever come back I have other acro that r doing great and my levels are steady with a doser I have 2 mp40 on a 75 gal no bugs only thing I can think of is it's my lights I have a 72 3 watt Cree DIY led fixture Ive had them a yr and a half and am seriously thinking going 6 bulb t5 with led accents just not getting the growth I want

 

[landlord]

The answer to you first sentence is Yes. The corals will align themselves to grow in the most optimal way based on their placement. The flow in your tank would have to be completely uniform as would the lighting intensity and angle for their not to be any change. Essentially every spot in your tank most likely has it own disticnt characteristic in terms of flow patterns and light angles / intensity. After a coral is moved it will go through a period of adjustment to again make the best possible use of the new position to grow and survive. I would say that the length of adjustment time is relative to how these conditions change from one spot to the next. If the move is small in terms of distanct and depth then the adaptation period would be shorter than a move that changed depth as well as horizontal movement. This longer distance move would also have a more likely chance of puting the coral into a place with a flow pattern different from what is it currently used too.

In terms of the milles you speak of. You say the color losss was do to Alk spike as well as a temperature change. For both of these to happen at the same time is a painful though since both on their own can cause big time loss. If other corals in your tank were less effected (especially other milles / prostratas) perhaps it is simply placement. However I would be cautious about thinking your other corals are doing great when the same issue that affected the milles (alk and temp) also affected the other corals they may just not be showing any signs yet.

If you are not getting the growth desired I would go back to the basics and check / double check the essentials. CA, Alk, MG, Salinity. Has the flow decresed because of growth? It happens slowly and usually we are too excited with how nice our corals are looking to think that their larger sizes are hindering the inner branches from the flow needed to carry out essential functions.

If you were happy with the lighting setup before and you are not satisfied with LED it would be your choice to change. Unless you can absolutely pin the issue down to lighting your problem may still exist after the switch and now the corals will have to adjust to another change in their world.

Check the basics first.

Kurt

 

[MattL22]

Kurt thank you for the reply in my particular case I had 2 alk spikes with kalk overdose I was dosing kalk through my ato with a calcium reactor ! 1st one wAs long time ago ! Last one was about 3 months ago I switched to 2 part and dossers and everything has been stable! My temp fluctuates 2 degrees because I use a rancho temp controller could this be issue??

 

[MattL22]

I'm pretty certain it's the LEDs though ! I worry about my phosphates because I get nuisance algae sometimes but my color is good too very good on most acros no browning !!

 

[Rockadile]

One thing I learned was po4 was a growth inhibitor in sps

 

[myzislow]

One thing I learned was po4 was a growth inhibitor in sps

+100, this is the biggest contributor to stalled growth. High po4 will certainly cause adverse growing conditions. When i slacked on my tank for a period of time and stopped changing GFO regularly, my coral growth slowed dramatically. Took a couple months of of low po4 for them to get going again.



It's really impossible to quantify how long a tank can take to "recover", every system is different, and it depends how major the incident was. I do know that little setbacks such as a spike in ALK, drop in SG etc. can really affect the growth rate in a negative way. SPS corals are pretty tough when established IMO, but they will forever be incredibly sensitive to change; that is why stability in both parameters and placement is key. I would keep things as stable as possible obv, and like I think I've mentioned in PM's, I don't think you need to be adding Kalk to you ATO, especially in a system as small as yours. 2 part alone should be sufficient. Also I would minimize the amount you move your corals around trying to find the "sweet spot", you can really do more harm than good doing this as well. You would be surprised how long some pieces need to settle in, even if they look drab for the longest time...For example my Jose's rainbow has been a turd for me ever since I go it. It looked amazing out of the bag, but within two days it browned terribly on me and has been for the last year. I let it chill in the same spot cause I knew it had a chance to shine there and low and behold it is looking amazing right now and growing like mad; it just took around a year to settle in lol.

 

[Chameleon]

Sounds like a lot of light over a 75g. What is your blue to white ratio. You may want to dial them down a bit if you have dimming ones. Those LEDs are potent and can lead to photo inhibition and slow growth. If dialed in right they should work great IME.

 

[Chameleon]

You would be surprised how long some pieces need to settle in, even if they look drab for the longest time...For example my Jose's rainbow has been a turd for me ever since I go it. It looked amazing out of the bag, but within two days it browned terribly on me and has been for the last year. I let it chill in the same spot cause I knew it had a chance to shine there and low and behold it is looking amazing right now and growing like mad; it just took around a year to settle in lol.

My pearlberry did the same thing...I must have really stressed it in my tank. It is pretty now.

 

[myzislow]

photo inhibition? I doubt this is his problem, but def worth looking into! Usually damage from too much light will yield extremely pale colors and sometimes tissue will actually shed from the tips. Unless he's running his tank for 14 hours of peak intensity a day, it's probably not the issue. It sounds like he has the lighting for quite sometime, his corals should be rather well adjusted by now I'd think. This is an entire different thread topic obv; but IMO LED's as a sole lighting source leave a lot to be desired in a full blown SPS system.

 

[myzislow]

My pearlberry did the same thing...I must have really stressed it in my tank. It is pretty now.

Stupid pearlberry lol, that's one coral that has forever hated me. I want to try again but my ATL tar heel stag is pretty much identical.

 

[mcarroll]

Just curious when u move sps will it set back growth?
Also when sps takes an obvious hit (color loss) due too alk spike temp etc. how long will it take to start growing again? I have 2 milli that lost color and polyp ext like 6 months ago due to alk swing and they never started to regrow or get the long PE back will they ever come back I have other acro that r doing great and my levels are steady with a doser I have 2 mp40 on a 75 gal no bugs only thing I can think of is it's my lights I have a 72 3 watt Cree DIY led fixture Ive had them a yr and a half and am seriously thinking going 6 bulb t5 with led accents just not getting the growth I want

First I want to answer your title question: What sets back SPS growth?

In my own experience: Laziness and chintziness....that's about it - they're all pretty tough creatures! (Otherwise you don't survive planet Earth for 400 million years, right?)
​

Now to your real questions: ;-)

Moving an established SPS is a gamble - pure and simple. It's entirely possible to move one with no apparent stress to the animal at all. I've also lost a whole Poecillopora mini colony by simply re-mounting 180º backward in the same spot after an accident broke if off its mount.

Frags are a different story - hard to hurt them in any real way from moving as long as they weren't stressed to begin with. Frags are adaptable to an extreme - it's part of their nature in this phase.

Things like alkalinity spikes won't slow growth down in any real way (again, in my own experience) but they can be a permanent death-blow to the colors. On some corals, once brown sets in, it never fully goes back to the way it was. (Montipora cap's and digi's are like this.)

Moving back to old technology would be a little rash at this stage, IMO.

In thinking about this, watts of your LED's doesn't help since they aren't (likely) being run at 100% voltage. Have you measured (get a Kill A Watt) or estimated how many watts your fixture is actually using? For comparison, on my 50 gallon (36 x 18 x 18) I'm running a 1 watt LED-based fixture (GU10's with 30º lenses 12" off water) that's taking about 83 watts (measured) with excellent growth and (all things considered) great color as well. About 1.66 watts/gallon. If your fixture is around that number you may be a little shy on light penetration if your LED's are un-lensed. I'm guessing and there are a number of other potential factors too, but un-lensed you might be good closer to 2 watts/gallon. Let us know where you stand on this number!
​

-Matt

 

[MattL22]

Myzislow do u think u can have good color in sps and still have po4 too high I do run gfo and carbon dose every few days !!
My growth is slow but not non existent also feel like maybe sometimes I should just let tank do it's thing stop adding / moving things!!

I wish my reef app would woke so I could post few pics! I

My LEDs run about 60-70% 1/2blue 1/2 white no lenses white run bout 8 hrs a day blue run 10hrs

 

[mcarroll]

My LEDs run about 60-70% 1/2blue 1/2 white no lenses white run bout 8 hrs a day blue run 10hrs

So that puts you at about 2 watts/gallon - can't see how you could have too little light.

Too much PO4 in the water can "poison" aragonite crystal formation spots, retarding growth. However, it's not that common IME to have a lot of free PO4 even in an overfed tank - algae will usually see to it that the water remains pristine, and from your description I think the algae is probably doing its job. Remember, for the reason stated a little algae is not a bad thing! If it's too much algae for you, just remember that you've either added too many fish or are overfeeding - remedy the problem and the algae won't be back. You can try to work the opposite philosophy and attempt to control the persistent nutrient buildup, but then you're pitting yourself against the tank instead of working with it. It can work, but you aren't perfect and time will always be working against you.

Also, listen to your gut -- if you feel like you're doing too much/too soon/whatever you're probably not wrong! Take a step back for a few weeks (metaphorically....keep up with maint. of course) and see how things look when you come back!

Fixing things is always tempting. Leaving things alone to heal and grow instead is almost always the better way. Sort of a "watched pot never boils" kinda thing, I guess. Take a break from the kitchen and your corals will be boiling when you get back! Er....something.

-Matt

 

[lakeviewink]

I agree with Matt, a little nuisance algae is not a bad thing. I let I grow a bit in my refugium with the macro, it acts as a sink for phos, just don't let it take over.

I also agree with letting things be. I notice the most growth on my SPS when I can manage to leave things be for a time. Obviously if you see trouble act on it, but otherwise let things settle in for a good long while. And of course random flow, flow, flow, that is the biggest reason I had slow growth when I started with SPS.

Good luck

 

[MattL22]

Ok I have a few frags comming from rmf after that no more!!! Gonna leave tank alone!!!

 

[myzislow]

Some p04 is a must to keep happy, colorful coral IMO. It's when it creeps up to high( greater then .09) is when things can begin to get ugly. Most people advocate keeping it in the .03-.05 range.

As far as the new frags and leaving the tank alone......lol thats what we all say. Good luck with the new frags...

 

[Troylee]

From my exp the 2 biggest things is...
#1 nutrients..
#2 flow...
There more important than lighting...
From the sounds of your first post I would say dip those Millie's and check for aefw they love Millie's and there normally first to go in a affected tank.... Hth