Need Advice: Nothing is Growing!
- Thread starter bakbay
- Start date
Keep phosphates and nitrates steady for a period of time (couple months). Those numbers are not set in stone, just keep it stable and in check. Stability is super important. At some point, hopefully enough phosphates have be unbound from your rocks, you don't need LC and just use carbon dosing (or any other export method like fuge, ATS, etc.) by itself to control nutrients and that would be the end goal. Only using LC to make infrequent secondary adjustments. Keep it simple. I think those extra mature biobrick will help tremendously.
I would say you should still do a good water changes every now and then. There are things that you can't test for. Dilution with fresh saltwater is a good insurance.
And the rest is just time, let biome establish, and it'll take off. Some corals will grow super fast, while others will do nothing...even if you have perfect conditions. If you can find someone with super nice tank, get some sand or rubble from them to increase biome diversity. No rush. Enjoy the hobby through meeting other reefers and talking fish, the tank will go at its own pace.
I would say you should still do a good water changes every now and then. There are things that you can't test for. Dilution with fresh saltwater is a good insurance.
And the rest is just time, let biome establish, and it'll take off. Some corals will grow super fast, while others will do nothing...even if you have perfect conditions. If you can find someone with super nice tank, get some sand or rubble from them to increase biome diversity. No rush. Enjoy the hobby through meeting other reefers and talking fish, the tank will go at its own pace.
Not my first reef tank though. My frag tank next to this tank can grow SPS frags into colonies and I haven’t lost a frag in a long time! It can grow zoas & mushrooms like weeds as well.
Several months ago, I’ve moved a colony of Yuma mushrooms from the frag tank and they haven’t done anything; in fact, they lost some color. I’ve moved them back and even to another tank and they flourished.
I’m stubborn and refuse to wait another 6mos for things to do something, hence the need to act. I suspect that I’m stripping out all the nutrients from the tank! Sure, I’ll get N&P down but something is out of whack. ATI finally received my water samples so hope to get results early next week.
Several months ago, I’ve moved a colony of Yuma mushrooms from the frag tank and they haven’t done anything; in fact, they lost some color. I’ve moved them back and even to another tank and they flourished.
I’m stubborn and refuse to wait another 6mos for things to do something, hence the need to act. I suspect that I’m stripping out all the nutrients from the tank! Sure, I’ll get N&P down but something is out of whack. ATI finally received my water samples so hope to get results early next week.
Just read through this thread, no idea how i missed it, but ..
Referencing the Aminos above, and reminiscing a bit about my tank when I had a similar situation of stalled growth, I had a conversation with another bald old school refer. Julian Sprung. He mentioned to me aminos and how there are things that most additives dont add to the party. While he admitted bit was a shameless plug for his Acropower, I agreed to try. I used Reef Snow as a bit for a binder for the Acropower and added a dose (squinted one eye to measure and poured a bunch into a specimen cup) and hoped for the best ..
Low and behold everything absolutely took off...
Needed a weed wacker after that because the corals grew so fast...
Just my 2¢....
Referencing the Aminos above, and reminiscing a bit about my tank when I had a similar situation of stalled growth, I had a conversation with another bald old school refer. Julian Sprung. He mentioned to me aminos and how there are things that most additives dont add to the party. While he admitted bit was a shameless plug for his Acropower, I agreed to try. I used Reef Snow as a bit for a binder for the Acropower and added a dose (squinted one eye to measure and poured a bunch into a specimen cup) and hoped for the best ..
Low and behold everything absolutely took off...
Needed a weed wacker after that because the corals grew so fast...
Just my 2¢....
You said you borrowed a PAR meter. Did you ever check? Your corals look like theyre low in the tank.
Some would say 18 months is still a young tank...maybe even more so since your ratio of rock to tank volume is lower than most.
Remember, in reefing you need patience. Nothing good comes from rushing.
Some would say 18 months is still a young tank...maybe even more so since your ratio of rock to tank volume is lower than most.
Remember, in reefing you need patience. Nothing good comes from rushing.
Never bothered since the fact that my mushrooms didn’t grow, I figured that it wasn’t PAR. Besides, his version was a USB one so was a hassle hooking it to a laptop. I’ll buy an Apogee for myself soon and check though. I’ll need it eventually when I swap out the Orpheks with Radions (I like the color more).
I would say that 18mos should be enough for mushrooms to grow, no? Also, even monti cap is dying so something systemic going on. Anyway, ICP results should be ready by Mon/Tue.
I would say that 18mos should be enough for mushrooms to grow, no? Also, even monti cap is dying so something systemic going on. Anyway, ICP results should be ready by Mon/Tue.
Mushrooms in middle of the tank should still grow, no? The tank is lit by 12xOR3s at 80% peak for 4hrs. With 4 bars and 24” deep tank, they can hit 200PAR on the bottom. Mine is 30” deep and the yuma mushrooms are in the middle of the tank — so say 200 PAR’ish? I’ve put some on the bottom of the tank, so say 80PAR?
https://orphek.com/or3-reef-led-bar-coverage-and-par-map-over-48-inch-120cm-aquarium-video/
What is the optimal PAR for mushrooms?
https://orphek.com/or3-reef-led-bar-coverage-and-par-map-over-48-inch-120cm-aquarium-video/
What is the optimal PAR for mushrooms?
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