i bet this is a stupid question

[chrispaloma]

i'm relatively new to all this... been doing it about a year... my knowledge is made up of mostly a combination of advice from others and online research... so....

i've got an established tank and have introduced corals... i have a candy cane coral, yellow polyps, a few random reddish mushrooms that came on some live rock pieces, and some hammer/anchor coral... they are all surviving very well.

i was led to beleive that some/most/all of these corals would flourish/reproduce throughout my tank. someone even warned me that i would have to take care to make sure they didn't take over the tank. however after two months all of the corals are pretty much the exact same size as when purchased.

what do i need to make them grow and/or reproduce?

thanks for any and all input...

paloma

 

[PufferGuy]

You cant exactly "make" your corals grow... some corals grow VERY slow

A few things that promote growth are:
1. Good powerful lighting
2. Good water flow in the tank
3. Good water quality (low ammonia, nitrates, phosphates, etc.)
4. Positioning in the tank (placement so coral received appropriate light and flow)
5. Good general tank maintenance

Many websites that sell coral will have coral "needs" as in if it needs a lot of light, medium light, low light, how much flow, etc.

Overall, corals are finicky and act weird... my frogspawn coral that i bough as a 1 head frag was in the same position for almost a year and didnt grow noticeably at all, but then over the span of 4-6 weeks went from one head to 4. Some corals are just weird like that.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jmck]

You cant make corals grow and puffer is right, follow those guidelines and you will get growth.

Even some corals like xenia which can be a real pest sometimes grows really slowly. in some tanks, it can and will takeover and mushrooms generally can do the same but in others, they will barely grow. I have not seen any amazingly crazy growth of my corals but I have seen growth and my parameters are perfect along with my lights.

 

[Sammydog]

Mushrooms are a real issue for me. I've done nothing to encourage it, but they are reproducing like crazy.

My zoa's and frogspawn though, well they just look happy without multiplying.

I've just put it down to the conditions being right for the mushrooms. Luck more than anything in my case.

 

[yote]

Welcome to the site.
You can spot feed those candy canes and yellow polyps with something like cyclops,rotifers,or oyster eggs.
Post a pic of your tank and corals along with the parameters,and I bet we'll have you growing corals out your ears in no time.

 

[Bifferwine]

A lot of it has to do with lighting, feeding and water quality. Some corals can be fed; as Yote said, the candy canes will benefit from feeding. I have 6 different types of candy canes in my tank, and they form new heads at least once a month. But I feed them every other day. The hammer coral can also be fed.

Do you have enough light for them? If your light isn't strong enough, they will just slowly die...

 

[chrispaloma]

thanks everyone that's very informative and helpful.

hopefully i'll get some pics posted soon...

as far as the light for the tank... what's recommended? i know i spent about $200 for the light itself. it's a coralife.

 

[yote]

Most shoot for 4 watts per gallon as the general rule of thumb.

 

[Melosu58]

I have some corals that are 12 yrs old. They have grown 4 to 5 times during that span but you would never be able to tell the difference in two months. Maybe 1 to 2 yrs.

BTW it`s not a dumb question at all.

 

[Rcpilot]

how to make corals grow...


time :mrgreen:

Humans aren't born a baby and grown into full adulthood for 18-20yrs. Corals can't be expected to grow from a frag into a basketball sized colony in 5 or 6 months. Takes years.

 

[reeffreak]

Two months really isn't a long time for corals to grow.

If you want to speed up their growth then feed them.The candy cane,yellow polyps and hammer coral will eat mysis and cyclopeeze.Welcome

 

[yote]

how to make corals grow...


time :mrgreen:

Humans aren't born a baby and grown into full adulthood for 18-20yrs. Corals can't be expected to grow from a frag into a basketball sized colony in 5 or 6 months. Takes years.

Its good to see you posting again Rc.:D Didnt figure you could stay away for to long.:Cheers: