corals not growing!!

[scuba connor]

hey,

I have a 65 gal. reef tank with a 30 gal sump and two 14k 175watt bulbs. i also have a Coralife Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmerfor a 125gallon tank on it so what is the problem the coler of my corals is great, the coral's polyp extentions are great and i have 2 power heads on eather side of the tank and i also do a 3gal. waterchange every weekend, so whats my problem guys?

[corals b 4 bills]

Sounds like they need to be fed, Cyclopeeze, DT's, Ect.

[roons]

check you magnesium, calcium, and alk once a week, add accordingly, dose rotifers..........................cyclopeeze is too big for corals, and dts doesnt really do anything for sps, if thats what type your referring to

[chrismunn]

are you talking about the 2 year old tank??? are you doing anything that these other guys suggest like, feed, or dose??? ther's a number of reasons why a coral might not be growing.....
tells us your "routine", and dont be afraid to get specific! we love specific...!:)

[alizarin]

I noticed an immediate improvement in growth when I started feeding the way melev does (aka feeding the whole tank with sea food and cyclopeeze put through a blender): http://www.melevsreef.com/food.html

[fighton03]

what do you use to dose your calcium, magnesium and alk?

[vessxpress1]

What kind of corals do you have? Cyclopeeze is plenty small for most of my soft corals. I've target fed them and watched the polyps close up on the stuff. Sometimes you can see the food going down the transparent tube (please forgive me that I don't know the name off hand) under the polyps.

3 gallons every weekend isn't bad, but probably wouldn't hurt to change a little more out than that on a monthly basis, for a 65.

I guess we need to know what you've got to give an opinion. My frogspawns over roughly a 2 year period have trippled in size since I got them.

On the other hand, I have a small yellow leather frag that's under T-5s, that I've been target feeding and taking a pic of on the 1st of every month since last May. I'm doing a long time lapse movie so I can watch it grow. It does not grow fast at all. Even with target feeding, consisting of a mixture of a lot of the major brands.

Here it is sitting in the same spot, in the same position. (Still under PCs in the first pic) It's a little over 1 inch tall now. 8 months of growth:

5-01-06

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/misc/5-01-06.jpg

1-01-07

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f203/vessxpress1/misc/01-01-07.jpg

Some months I notice subtle changes and other months you barely notice any, but it's growing.

[rags111875]

when i started out, my corals were slow growing. after setting up the calcium reactor, things started growing like crazy. just my $.002

[scuba connor]

thanks evryone for your suggestions please fogive my bad spelling. I add a cosentrated dose of B-Ionic alkalinity and calcium once a day. but was told before that feeding sps cyclopes dose not work well since i have mostly all sps corals

my rotine starts off with every moning i wake up at 7:00 and add my ccalcium and alkalinity then i open my blindes and let the sun beem on the tank giving it natural sun light for about 2 hours after sun is no longer beeming lite in my room the lights turn on at about 11:00. Later during the day around 3:00 i feed cyclops and blood worms or flack to my fish i have a female swallow tale angel 2 perculas, one blue tang , one yellow tang 2 small chromis ,and one small copperband myy largest fish is about3 inches. after i feed i wait about an houre then i clean the sponges of all the food that wasn't eaton. later around 7 i feed flack or frozen food agen then at 9:00 the lites shut off and the moon ligts com on for about a2 hours then the moon lights shut off and the room is cumpleetly dark for them to get some rest.
lol thats my daily rooten

[scuba connor]

vessxpress1 wat kind of coral is that in your picture you show growing?

[alizarin]

Phytoplankton is good food for softies. Also, if you use a blender there's food for all size mouths.

[blot60]

I can hear sirens now. I like to dose B Ionic for calcium buffer

[Peter Eichler]

Do you run activated carbon and do you have any softies in with your SPS? Chemical warfare can often cause corals to stop growing or grow slowly. Other pollutants can do the same.

[Watch Yo Wrasse]

Have you been watering your corals? :lol:

[vessxpress1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8890616#post8890616 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuba connor
vessxpress1 wat kind of coral is that in your picture you show growing?

Honestly, I don't know what it is. Wish I knew. Got it from a guy I met off RC. His coral was a good 8-9" that he fragged it from. It looked pretty cool in his tank. Kind of grows like a kenya tree but it's yellow.
This frag was about half the size it is in the first picture when I got it. I didn't start keeping track of it until that pic though. Went from PCs to T-5s in August. It's lightened up quite a bit under them, even sitting on the bottom. I just wanted to show you an example of how slow growing some of this stuff can be.
If I didn't see the changes month to month with this coral, I'd probably feel it's growing even slower than it is.

Well, anyway, good luck with your SPS. Maybe as somebody stated, a calcium reactor might help? Try picking one out and snapping a pic of it once a month. It only takes a second and you may be suprised at the changes you don't notice. Put them on movie maker and you can make a neat time lapse video pretty easily.

[miztic]

I remember reading that phosphates can also inhibit coral growth, do you run a phosban reactor?
I'd change 10% of water every week personally..

also, I didn't see you post any actual water parameters, just that you dose b-ionic? what's your alk and ca ?

hth

[Tripspike]

I would check your phosphate levels. Seems like an awful lot of feeding. Phosphates inhibit calcium deposits. I know there is a link to article somewhere but I can't remember where. Anyone?

Trip

[vessxpress1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8891981#post8891981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Tripspike
I would check your phosphate levels. Seems like an awful lot of feeding. Phosphates inhibit calcium deposits. I know there is a link to article somewhere but I can't remember where. Anyone?

Trip

Good point. Here you go, roughly about the middle of the page:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

[SuperNerd]

I would also think about checking all of your parameters. If alk, Ca, and Mg are good then I would think about checking for phosphates.

[Tripspike]

The more I go back thru this thread, the more I lean to high phosphate levels. Especially with the very small water changes.

What are all of your water parameters that you test for and how often do you test?

Trip

[dippin61]

flow is the most understated thing about keeping sps. what kind of flow do you have?

you say you have 2 powerheads in a 65? i sure hope those are pretty big powerheads.

just to give you an idea, i run 3100 gph through my 55g. and i still think im on the low side.

[scuba connor]

i have 2 large power heads but also have a larg pump pumping water up from my sump wich also has a strong current

[dippin61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8896299#post8896299 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scuba connor
i have 2 large power heads but also have a larg pump pumping water up from my sump wich also has a strong current

but what are they rated at? how many gph do they push?

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8896217#post8896217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dippin61
i run 3100 gph through my 55g

What do you run?

[dippin61]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8898687#post8898687 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SuperNerd
What do you run?

seio 1500
seio 1100
return pump is 2-300
canister for carbon is about 200

[Tripspike]

Scuba...give us those water parameters....

Trip

[scaryperson27]

This is a very good read on coral growth by feeding.
It is thread of the month so it's worth the read. I'm enjoying it.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=971190&goto=newpost

Have you posted parameters yet?

[Rhodesholar]

I may be wrong but I place my bet on your calcium being in the low to maybe mid 300s.

I read somewhere that south of like 360 the corals stop growing.

Hey found the article by RCs very own Dr Holmes-Farley. Check the fourth paragraph down.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Just a guess.

[reefshadow]

If alk, calcium, and magnesium check out ok I would look at phosphate and/or flow like others have mentioned.

How is your polyp extension? Possible your angel or butterfly could be picking at them and irritating them to the point where they can't feed?