corals grow super slow in my tank , low ph cause?

roons · 08/04/2006, 07:34 AM

well , my corals look fine as far as color and health go, i run 8 bulb 54w t-5 , 5 ab/3 b+.......................my calcium, alk and mag are kept in check.......................it takes about a year for a frag to double in size, so im basically forced to buy colonies, and finding rare colonies to buy is difficult (unless somone knows a place i dont)..........................i tried swappin 2 ab for 2 ge suns, and saw no difference in growth, just slightly drabber colors....................the only problem i have is low ph since my house is closed up most of the year with ac and heat..................its typically 7.73 at night and 8.0 day................i see no problems with my fish or anything else,would this cause super slow coral growth?

somethingphishy · 08/04/2006, 07:58 AM

You could try dripping calc. to increase ph.

How much water flow do you have? You might want to get a wavemaker (if you do not have one) to increase groth rates or increse the flow in the tank?

liquidlunch · 08/04/2006, 08:10 AM

did you mean Kalk?

somethingphishy · 08/04/2006, 08:13 AM

opps... yep--- kalk

roons · 08/04/2006, 09:08 AM

i drip 2 gals of kalk a day, i have 2 tunze 6060 and 2 maxijet 1200s in a 120........................

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 10:18 AM

It sounds like to me that you have something WAY off. Even if you had large amounts of CO2 in your house, it shouldn't be dropping that low. You would need a sealed house with plastic on the windows and a good 5+ people in the house at all times in order to drop pH that low.

When pH drops to 7.8 or below, it actually starts to disentigrate the Calcium Skeletons. I would suggest double checking your Alk, Ca, and Mag with other test kits and other people. Also, make sure that you are reading it correctly. For example, 4.0 meq/l would be fine, but what if it's supposed to be 4.0 dKH? Also, what are your parameters exactly? And lastly, what are you using to check your pH with? I presume a probe. Double check to make sure that it is properly calibrated. Also, if you are running a Calcium Reactor, you could be putting too much CO2 into your system.

kybreos · 08/04/2006, 10:42 AM

it's the lighting- t5's arent even as strong as VHOs, they are only HO if you dont believe look at their descriptions online when you go to buy them, they all say HO which is High output, VHO is Very high output, so which sounds brighter? Get some Metal Halides and use your t5s as supplements and youll get amazing growth.

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kybreos
it's the lighting- t5's arent even as strong as VHOs, they are only HO if you dont believe look at their descriptions online when you go to buy them, they all say HO which is High output, VHO is Very high output, so which sounds brighter? Get some Metal Halides and use your t5s as supplements and youll get amazing growth.

I suggest that you read up a little more on lighting and output measurements

While it is true that a T5 Bulb is not as powerful as a T12 or T12 VHO, and neither is a T5 HO Bulb compared to a T12 VHO, the difference is made up with the parabolic reflector. The output on a T12 VHO is roughly 5500-6000 Lumens. While the output on a T5 HO bulb is roughly 5000. But T12 VHO are a diffused light because it illuminates in all directions thusly not penetrating the water very well. When you add the parabolic reflector to a T5 it focuses the bulk of the light downward allowing a more intense light to penetrate the water. As a conclusion, both T12 VHO and T5 HO are good choices for aquarium lighting, but T5 HO with reflectors is superior for lighting tanks that are deeper or have more high light dependant corals, clams, and other invertebrates.

If anything, depending on the types of corals and their placement, 8 4ft T5HO bulbs might even be too bright.

----

Also, I just read that the 7.73 pH is at night While this is still pretty low, it's rather to be expected. It's not ideal by any means. The 8.0 pH during the day isn't that bad though.

roons · 08/04/2006, 11:18 AM

i calibrate ph probe monthly , along with my orp probe, water is crystal clear.............................calc is 420-430.............mag is 1250................alk is 8.0 dkh dont run a reactor

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 11:41 AM

Bringing the nightime pH up would definitely help. What temperature do you run? Is the temperature double checked? What about Specific Gravity? What types of corals do you have and what all do you feed your tank/fish/corals?

roons · 08/04/2006, 12:16 PM

temp is kept via ranco, 80-82.................i cant bring ph up , 2 gals of kalk is all i can do , with windows open (spring/fall) ph is 8.2-8.4...........................1.026 always..................mostly sps, blasto, glaxae.............................i feed fish every 3 days, also, 5 pumps each of liquid life bio( dead phyto) and coral plankton (dead rotifers)..........................im pretty sure i have all my bases covered , just would like to find out why ,y growth is so slow compared to others using t-5, danano in particular says he has normal growth, same size tank and light setup

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 01:12 PM

I don't know. It just goes to show you that every tank is different. I can't think of what might be causing it. FWIW, I'm having trouble keeping Montiporas in my tank as well as Zoanthids at the moment. The Zoanthids are starting to recover though. And I also have trouble getting my Corallimorphs to reproduce. I had my first Ricordea split in 1.5 years.

roons · 08/04/2006, 01:24 PM

i havent tried monti yet, my first zoas shrunk unbelievably , there are about 8 hangin on, but at my growth rate, who knows .............clams fine, anemones fine,

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 01:31 PM

I'm seriously wondering if you have too much light. For the types of corals that you listed, this is pretty intense. How long do you have your lights on?

Ixthys · 08/04/2006, 02:21 PM

I have nearly the identical setup. Check out this post:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=896030

I have been thinking I have too much light, but as is mentioned in the thread, maybe too much of a certain spectrum as opposed to "par" as everyone tends to think.

javajaws · 08/04/2006, 03:15 PM

What's your alk and salinity and how many hours are you running the T5s?

Travis L. Stevens · 08/04/2006, 03:40 PM

SG 1.026
Alk 8.0 dKH

roons · 08/04/2006, 04:08 PM

i run them 11 1/2 hours total, from start of first set to off of last, 9:15 am to 8:45 pm...........................moons from 9:30pm to 9:20 am

surfjeepzx · 08/04/2006, 05:44 PM

Everything looks good in water parameters but in my opinion you don't have enough White light.

roons · 08/04/2006, 06:02 PM

well, danano runs same combo, why would his sps have enough light? like i said, i tried 2 ge suns in place of 2 ab and saw no difference in growth , but colors werent as bright...............it sure is weird

Syris · 08/04/2006, 06:47 PM

What are your phosphates levels + NO3.

roons · 08/04/2006, 07:10 PM

0,0

javajaws · 08/04/2006, 11:34 PM

I don't run T5s so this is just a wild guess...perhaps photoinhibition due to too MUCH lighting? I know I've been running my MHs 10 hrs and think that is part of my problem so I've recently cut them back.

Do you feed your corals or dose anything for them? You might try out some Oyster Eggs and/or some amino acid supplements (like the zeo C-V or AAHC stuff)

xcreonx · 08/04/2006, 11:40 PM

low ph will certainly affect their health.

Water movement will affect their growth in a big way as well. What do you have now?

roons · 08/05/2006, 08:01 AM

i have plenty of movement, 2 tunze 6060 and 2 maxijet 1200.................in a 120gal

08/04/2006, 07:34 AM	#1
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	corals grow super slow in my tank , low ph cause? well , my corals look fine as far as color and health go, i run 8 bulb 54w t-5 , 5 ab/3 b+.......................my calcium, alk and mag are kept in check.......................it takes about a year for a frag to double in size, so im basically forced to buy colonies, and finding rare colonies to buy is difficult (unless somone knows a place i dont)..........................i tried swappin 2 ab for 2 ge suns, and saw no difference in growth, just slightly drabber colors....................the only problem i have is low ph since my house is closed up most of the year with ac and heat..................its typically 7.73 at night and 8.0 day................i see no problems with my fish or anything else,would this cause super slow coral growth?

08/04/2006, 07:58 AM	#2
somethingphishy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Fleetwood, pa Posts: 852	You could try dripping calc. to increase ph. How much water flow do you have? You might want to get a wavemaker (if you do not have one) to increase groth rates or increse the flow in the tank? __________________ "Set the gearshift for the high gear Of your soul, you've got to run like An antelope out of control!" Current Tank Info: 50g/20l sump

08/04/2006, 08:13 AM	#4
somethingphishy Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Fleetwood, pa Posts: 852	opps... yep--- kalk __________________ "Set the gearshift for the high gear Of your soul, you've got to run like An antelope out of control!" Current Tank Info: 50g/20l sump

08/04/2006, 10:18 AM	#6
Travis L. Stevens Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perry, OK Posts: 13,946	It sounds like to me that you have something WAY off. Even if you had large amounts of CO2 in your house, it shouldn't be dropping that low. You would need a sealed house with plastic on the windows and a good 5+ people in the house at all times in order to drop pH that low. When pH drops to 7.8 or below, it actually starts to disentigrate the Calcium Skeletons. I would suggest double checking your Alk, Ca, and Mag with other test kits and other people. Also, make sure that you are reading it correctly. For example, 4.0 meq/l would be fine, but what if it's supposed to be 4.0 dKH? Also, what are your parameters exactly? And lastly, what are you using to check your pH with? I presume a probe. Double check to make sure that it is properly calibrated. Also, if you are running a Calcium Reactor, you could be putting too much CO2 into your system. __________________ Travis Stevens Current Tank Info: Restarting 28g Bowfront

08/04/2006, 10:42 AM	#7
kybreos Snar snar Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Pinellas, FL Posts: 929	it's the lighting- t5's arent even as strong as VHOs, they are only HO if you dont believe look at their descriptions online when you go to buy them, they all say HO which is High output, VHO is Very high output, so which sounds brighter? Get some Metal Halides and use your t5s as supplements and youll get amazing growth. __________________ Simplify, trust me... Current Tank Info: 180 Gallon Reef, Apex, Simplicity 320 DC Skimmer, 3 Radions Gen2,1 mp40w, Jebao PP-20, 55g sump, Jebao DCP-15000

08/04/2006, 08:10 AM	#3
liquidlunch Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Neptune, NJ Posts: 503	did you mean Kalk?

08/04/2006, 09:08 AM	#5
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	i drip 2 gals of kalk a day, i have 2 tunze 6060 and 2 maxijet 1200s in a 120........................

08/04/2006, 11:18 AM	#9
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	i calibrate ph probe monthly , along with my orp probe, water is crystal clear.............................calc is 420-430.............mag is 1250................alk is 8.0 dkh dont run a reactor

08/04/2006, 11:41 AM	#10
Travis L. Stevens Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perry, OK Posts: 13,946	Bringing the nightime pH up would definitely help. What temperature do you run? Is the temperature double checked? What about Specific Gravity? What types of corals do you have and what all do you feed your tank/fish/corals? __________________ Travis Stevens Current Tank Info: Restarting 28g Bowfront

08/04/2006, 12:16 PM	#11
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	temp is kept via ranco, 80-82.................i cant bring ph up , 2 gals of kalk is all i can do , with windows open (spring/fall) ph is 8.2-8.4...........................1.026 always..................mostly sps, blasto, glaxae.............................i feed fish every 3 days, also, 5 pumps each of liquid life bio( dead phyto) and coral plankton (dead rotifers)..........................im pretty sure i have all my bases covered , just would like to find out why ,y growth is so slow compared to others using t-5, danano in particular says he has normal growth, same size tank and light setup

08/04/2006, 01:12 PM	#12
Travis L. Stevens Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perry, OK Posts: 13,946	I don't know. It just goes to show you that every tank is different. I can't think of what might be causing it. FWIW, I'm having trouble keeping Montiporas in my tank as well as Zoanthids at the moment. The Zoanthids are starting to recover though. And I also have trouble getting my Corallimorphs to reproduce. I had my first Ricordea split in 1.5 years. __________________ Travis Stevens Current Tank Info: Restarting 28g Bowfront

08/04/2006, 01:24 PM	#13
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	i havent tried monti yet, my first zoas shrunk unbelievably , there are about 8 hangin on, but at my growth rate, who knows .............clams fine, anemones fine,

08/04/2006, 01:31 PM	#14
Travis L. Stevens Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perry, OK Posts: 13,946	I'm seriously wondering if you have too much light. For the types of corals that you listed, this is pretty intense. How long do you have your lights on? __________________ Travis Stevens Current Tank Info: Restarting 28g Bowfront

08/04/2006, 02:21 PM	#15
Ixthys Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Middletown, MD Posts: 562	I have nearly the identical setup. Check out this post: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=896030 I have been thinking I have too much light, but as is mentioned in the thread, maybe too much of a certain spectrum as opposed to "par" as everyone tends to think.

08/04/2006, 03:15 PM	#16
javajaws Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Round Rock, TX Posts: 1,620	What's your alk and salinity and how many hours are you running the T5s? __________________ Everyone has an opinion. Accept the fact now that someone isn't going to like yours sooner or later. Current Tank Info: 110g in-wall, ATI 8x54w T5, 2xMP40es, SRO XP-2000i, 2-part Ca/Alk, Apex controlled

08/04/2006, 03:40 PM	#17
Travis L. Stevens Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Perry, OK Posts: 13,946	SG 1.026 Alk 8.0 dKH __________________ Travis Stevens Current Tank Info: Restarting 28g Bowfront

08/04/2006, 04:08 PM	#18
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	i run them 11 1/2 hours total, from start of first set to off of last, 9:15 am to 8:45 pm...........................moons from 9:30pm to 9:20 am

08/04/2006, 05:44 PM	#19
surfjeepzx Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Wilbur by the Sea, FL Posts: 842	Everything looks good in water parameters but in my opinion you don't have enough White light.

08/04/2006, 06:02 PM	#20
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	well, danano runs same combo, why would his sps have enough light? like i said, i tried 2 ge suns in place of 2 ab and saw no difference in growth , but colors werent as bright...............it sure is weird

08/04/2006, 06:47 PM	#21
Syris Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Epping,NH Posts: 979	What are your phosphates levels + NO3.

08/04/2006, 07:10 PM	#22
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	0,0

08/04/2006, 11:34 PM	#23
javajaws Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Round Rock, TX Posts: 1,620	I don't run T5s so this is just a wild guess...perhaps photoinhibition due to too MUCH lighting? I know I've been running my MHs 10 hrs and think that is part of my problem so I've recently cut them back. Do you feed your corals or dose anything for them? You might try out some Oyster Eggs and/or some amino acid supplements (like the zeo C-V or AAHC stuff) __________________ Everyone has an opinion. Accept the fact now that someone isn't going to like yours sooner or later. Current Tank Info: 110g in-wall, ATI 8x54w T5, 2xMP40es, SRO XP-2000i, 2-part Ca/Alk, Apex controlled

08/04/2006, 11:40 PM	#24
xcreonx Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 1,362	low ph will certainly affect their health. Water movement will affect their growth in a big way as well. What do you have now? __________________ Nature knows no indecencies; man invents them. -Mark Twain Current Tank Info: 90g shallow with H. Barbouri Seahorses

08/05/2006, 08:01 AM	#25
roons Moved On Join Date: May 2005 Location: saugerties ,ny Posts: 1,240	i have plenty of movement, 2 tunze 6060 and 2 maxijet 1200.................in a 120gal