How fast do hard corals grow??

[Caliloaner]

I was wandering at about what rate do the harder corals grow with good lighting??

[God of thunder]

Yes, i´d like to see some comment about that my self

[rbtwo4]

Depends on ur water quality. Alk calcium Ph all that stuff.

[God of thunder]

If all is good, like mine my ph is 8,2 alc 3,9 calsium 480ppm, any comment?

[kev apsley]

yeah, have you ever sat and watched grass grow in a heat wave? that's about the rate of some corals

just kidding, as long as conditions are good then they usually take a couple months to adjustment in the tank then they can start to grow anywhere from moderate to fast

[XSiVE]

I've had a frogspawn for about 2 months now, and it's starting to sprout new heads.. It's a "hard coral" in the sense that it lays down a skeleton as it grows..

I've also had a Montipora Cap. in there for about a month now and it's probably grown about 25% already, but those things tend to be known as weeds of the SPS world, they grow in a lot of conditions easily.

[papagimp]

depends alot on the species too. Some Acro's can put on 8" per year while others take forever to grow that much. I've got a froggie in my 75g that was probably my first coral purchase two years ago. he still in the middle of splitting.....for the last year. I've got another froggie that in half that time has grown twice as much. Both get the same care, lighting, flow, ect. ect.

I'd just expect them to grow slow enough to drive you nuts.

[crumbletop]

It depends on the coral and also often depends on how long the coral has been in your tank. I've had some corals start growing from day 1, and others sit there and do nothing for 6 months and then take off. Once they start, the growth is exponentially faster as they get bigger (more surface/growth tips over time). One of my stonies (a mille) grows a couple of cm all around each month. It grows like a weed. My ORA german blue digi grows about the same. My torts grow a little slower, and other corals, slower still.

Lighting is only part of the equation. I think flow is a bigger factor -- or at least co-equal. Other important factors, IMO, are water quality and stability of params, and the age of the tank.

[rbtwo4]

Zoo's forget about it I have armor of god zoos and they're growing like no tomorrow! Have several others that really haven't grown as fast. Digi is growing just a little acan and chalices haven't grown. But if u have someone look at it once and then a month later they will see a difference where as u won't cus ur looking at it everyday.

[XSiVE]

Originally posted by crumbletop


Lighting is only part of the equation. I think flow is a bigger factor -- or at least co-equal. Other important factors, IMO, are water quality and stability of params, and the age of the tank.

Exactly, Flow has a TON to do with it.. Corals cannot move on their own (for the most part) so they need water flow to get gas exchange in and out of their cells... the better the flow, the better the corals can "breathe" and the better they can breathe, the better they can grow.

[God of thunder]

Can´t you have too much flow?
How myuch floe do you recomend for a 95 gal? and which brand?

[tanker]

Originally posted by God of thunder
Can´t you have too much flow?
How myuch floe do you recomend for a 95 gal? and which brand?

I recommend about at least 10X tank size. So for a 95--950GPH. Prefferably in more than one directions.

[crumbletop]

Different corals like different amounts of flow. Most stonies demand higher flow. Softies less so. Many people with stonies are using upwards of 20x tank display turnover -- some as high as 100x. I have about 30-40x in my tank. Wider and more gentle flow is best. A closed loop with penductors and/or some of the wider flow power heads (Tunze, Hydor Koralia, Seio) are the best way to go, IMO. There is also a propeller kit for the maxijet that some people have success with.

[XSiVE]

Originally posted by God of thunder
Can´t you have too much flow?
How myuch floe do you recomend for a 95 gal? and which brand?

That depends on which corals you keep, or want to keep.. Im sure you can find many softies to tolerate over 25x turnover in the tank, so long as it's well spread out instead of blasting right at them.

Im running @ 32x turnover in my display, and I have all sorts of stuff in there, all of it is doing very well.

[God of thunder]

i´m planinag to keep mostly LPS and SPS i´v got a aprox 1400 gal siculation per hour, that includes my cannister.

[XSiVE]

Originally posted by God of thunder
i´m planinag to keep mostly LPS and SPS i´v got a aprox 1400 gal siculation per hour, that includes my cannister.

IMO add more if you want your SPS to grow.

[Sk8r]

lps stonies may divide every week if they're happy, and have a lot of heads: each head has its own rate, but if you have enough heads, a lot of growth.

sps stonies can grow about an inch a month, from every tip, if really happy. Digitata can get quite prolific. In my last salt tank, I was fragging digi about once a month.