Coral Growth

3 things really stand out Water and Light and Flow.  Keep your water as clean as needed for the type of coral that you have in the tank.  Some corals like there water to have a little bit in the water but others like SPS like very clean water. Next would be your lighting,  Set up your lighting so that it will meet the demands of the coral that you are wanting to grow.  Yes you can have too much light just as you can have too little.  Water Flow  corals like more flow than you would think.  I would start with 10x water flow but I have seen people that have really happy corals at 50x water flow, just depends on the type of coral. 

How are your water parameters? Unless regular water changes aren't keeping up with demand, there is no need to dose.

So if I understand correctly, those are used to make sure that PH, Cal, Alk stay in the proper range, not just added like a steroid to boost performance. Is that about it?

aceofspadeskb wrote: How are your water parameters? Unless regular water changes aren't keeping up with demand, there is no need to dose.

Thats not at all true. It all depends on the individual tank, a tank with a lot of hard corals in it there is no way it can stay healthy without dosing.

80cent wrote: Hey everyone, I've only got a few corals in my tank-- my first reef tank--

Edited by lskurys - July 11 2013 at 4:13pm

My experience has shown that you need to keep you levels up. Additives like Fuel (provides trace elements and amino acids) tend to give corals some of the nutrients they would normally have in the wild, but don't get very often in our tanks. You should think about getting things like phyto and plankton as the corals can trap those in the polyps and use them for food and this is a natural source of the amino acids that are provided by Fuel.

Keep in mind, the more corals you have, the faster they will suck up the nutrients and compounds in the water. Water changes are good to do despite any kind of dosing. They help to remove unwanted contaminates that can build up in the tank. Depending on your load though, you will not have enough time between water changes to keep up with demand if you're not dosing.

My tank uses over two teaspoons of alk per day just to keep my level at 8dKh. I use calcium bicarbonate + RO water for dosing. If I did just 10% water changes a week, the alk level would drop down to 5. I've seen this level as the minimum level that corals can continue to survive, but do not grow.

Things like vodka dosing are used to give corals the added compounds in a simple (yet if you do it wrong, bad) way to help them grow. Kalkwasser is used to maintain calcium and indirectly, maintain alkalinity. If used improperly though, it can nuke your tank very quickly.
You'll need to think about dosing magnesium also. This can be done in a few ways. Your coral needs this to help build its skeleton and to make it less brittle. Fish use both calcium and mag for neural and skeletal growth and maintenance (you do too). You can use magnesium sulfate or mag chloride from your LFS or a cheaper, less potent and pure version as obtained through Epsom salt.

Edited by phys - July 11 2013 at 7:55pm

80cent wrote: Hey everyone, I've only got a few corals in my tank-- my first reef tank-- and I was wondering what people here have found to be the most successful methods in getting them to grow. I'm really just looking for a general explanation of what things you've dosed or what other adjustments you've made to help your coral flourish. Thanks! ...adding vitamins or other nutrients to their water-- things like Kalkwasser, Reef Builder-- to promote beyond just lighting and water changes.

Good advice above. Here's my 2 cents.

The best thing I ever did was place my tanks in the sun. That caused everything to jump ahead faster than anything I had ever done. Adding Phytoplankton is the next on my list.

Keeping Alk, Ca, Mg and Iodine at proper levels was, of course, the basis for that growth. I consider those first three components as the mainstay of coral, invert and coralline algae food. They eat it up. You mentioned Kalkwasser and Reefbuilder. These are just a few of the available things which add Alk and Ca, the two-part additives you have probably heard about. There are many 2 part products out there and some can be very expensive, but they all have 2 things in common, Bicarbonate of soda(Baking Soda) and Calcium Chloride(Ice Melt). (Note: I would stay away from Kalkwasser at this point.)

Testing should always come first. We should never add chemicals to the tank without finding out what it needs. I have seen so many hobbyists nuke their tank with unnecessary chemical additives. Most tanks less than 6 months old can get by with 10% monthly water changes. They don't need supplemental Alk and Ca for the first 6 months because there aren't enough organisms eating it up. The need for Mg and I comes later as the tank fills with coral, coralline algae and other inverts.

Aloha,
Mark
808-345-1049


Edited by Mark Peterson - July 12 2013 at 8:09am

I have my 75 gallon tank setup in my basement-- it isn't in the sun, and I couldn't move it there if I wanted to. My preference for coral is actually LPS-- I love the movement and bright colors that many LPS corals offer, but that doesn't mean I don't want excellent water quality. 

I've never added phyto or anything like that and have always had a great growing reef...