Coral growth in nano versus large tanks

[javisaman]

Yesterday I visited another hobbyist to trade some frags. He had a sweet 120gal SPS setup. He mentioned that he started the tank approximately the same time I started my nano. The growth in his tank is literally 10-20 times greater than in my tank, and I always assumed the growth rate of my corals was good. He's even thrown away frags that showed growth similar to what I'm getting.

 

I assume the main issue is stability, but I wonder if there is anything else that can contribute to this phenomena.

Any thoughts?

[longbeachstateofmind]

I suppose it all depends on the tank, i have a 20g long that i seem to have excellent growth in. Then again ive never had a issue with new tank syndrome with the 20g long. But to answer your question to the best of my knowledge, yes its the fact that bigger tanks are much more stable then nano and picos.

[peaster85]

Yesterday I visited another hobbyist to trade some frags. He had a sweet 120gal SPS setup. He mentioned that he started the tank approximately the same time I started my nano. The growth in his tank is literally 10-20 times greater than in my tank, and I always assumed the growth rate of my corals was good. He's even thrown away frags that showed growth similar to what I'm getting.

 

I assume the main issue is stability, but I wonder if there is anything else that can contribute to this phenomena.

Any thoughts?

 

check put my nanocube on my youtube channel @ stlreefer85

[asting]

Did he start with larger colonies?

My guess is coral grows as a percentage relative to the size of the mother colony. That is, coral gets 10% growth a month maybe (lets just pretend). So, 10% of a huge piece of coral vs 10% of a tiny frag is a big difference.

[javisaman]

check put my nanocube on my youtube channel @ stlreefer85

 

I don't see any videos related to coral growth...

 

Did he start with larger colonies?

My guess is coral grows as a percentage relative to the size of the mother colony. That is, coral gets 10% growth a month maybe (lets just pretend). So, 10% of a huge piece of coral vs 10% of a tiny frag is a big difference.

 

Likely the "frag" versus colonies issue. Many of the colonies in his tank started off as frags.

[ThePhilosopher]

Coral growth is exponential, but other factors affect coral growth. Maybe he feeds his corals a lot? I've also heard that light in the 6,500k spectrum tends to increase coral growth rates when compared to light in the 10,000k-30,000k spectrum.

[Dani3d]

It depends on a lot of things but yes stability is a key factor because a stressed coral will not grow much and SPS living in an unstable tank will be stressed.

 

There is the light that is also a big factor and 20k light will not grow coral as fast as a 14k for exemple.

 

Another important factor is the maturity of the tank and the level of zooplankton. In a larger tank zooplankton can be in larger quantity and SPS feed on zooplankton.

 

The food you give your coral is also important. They will grow a bit faster if given a zooplancton base food.

 

The proper ration of magnesium/calcium/alkalinity must be kept and swing in those parameter and salinity must be avoided at all cost.

 

Another important factor is the specie, as different specie of SPS grow at different rate. In my tank some grow 1" per month and some grow 1" per 6 month.

 

My acropora grow 1" per month in my 75 gallons, under my 250 watt 14k phoenix lamp. I keep fragging and selling frag and it keep growing and reaching the surface. I started all my SPS with frag of 1" or close to that, about a year ago and now some colonies are huge.

 

I don't think you possibly can give SPS the same quality environment in a nano that you can in a larger tank...unless you are very dedicated each day and you manage to avoid all parameter swing.

 

Yesterday I visited another hobbyist to trade some frags. He had a sweet 120gal SPS setup. He mentioned that he started the tank approximately the same time I started my nano. The growth in his tank is literally 10-20 times greater than in my tank, and I always assumed the growth rate of my corals was good. He's even thrown away frags that showed growth similar to what I'm getting.

 

I assume the main issue is stability, but I wonder if there is anything else that can contribute to this phenomena.

Any thoughts?

[davemedinis]

It depends on a lot of things but yes stability is a key factor because a stressed coral will not grow much and SPS living in an unstable tank will be stressed.

 

There is the light that is also a big factor and 20k light will not grow coral as fast as a 14k for exemple.

 

Another important factor is the maturity of the tank and the level of zooplankton. In a larger tank zooplankton can be in larger quantity and SPS feed on zooplankton.

 

The food you give your coral is also important. They will grow a bit faster if given a zooplancton base food.

 

The proper ration of magnesium/calcium/alkalinity must be kept and swing in those parameter and salinity must be avoided at all cost.

 

Another important factor is the specie, as different specie of SPS grow at different rate. In my tank some grow 1" per month and some grow 1" per 6 month.

 

My acropora grow 1" per month in my 75 gallons, under my 250 watt 14k phoenix lamp. I keep fragging and selling frag and it keep growing and reaching the surface. I started all my SPS with frag of 1" or close to that, about a year ago and now some colonies are huge.

 

I don't think you possibly can give SPS the same quality environment in a nano that you can in a larger tank...unless you are very dedicated each day and you manage to avoid all parameter swing.

Thank you very much for your useful information,dear Dani3d.

[sanchez]

I agree with Dani3d, that things will grow better in different tanks and it's all a matter of the stability of the tank. But that's not to say that fast growth isn't possible in nanos.

 

This is an acro frag that I picked up at my LFS, the pictures were taken exactly two months apart:

 

Granted it's not an inch of growth, but I'd say that's pretty good growth for a nano. It's under 20k LED (50w)

 

I'm due for another picture tonight, so I'll make a third comparison and post it up here, it's only been one month since the last picture though.

[basser1]

I also think that the type of coral it is plays a part as well as to the growth rate.

 

For example, I've had some acros that were very slow growers, the ORA pearlberry comes to mind. While others, like montis and birdsnest acros grow much faster.

 

Another factor in the stability issue, is leaving the coral alone. I know in the past whenever I've done some re-landscaping of my rocks, and moved any of the corals around, it seems they take a while to get re-adjusted.

[brandon429]

something kind of interesting are nanos that use metal halide lights. Ive seen them grow sps coral just as fast as large tanks. plated down the side of that plug onto the base in the same two months on that nice acro frag above for example...the right intensity forces your corals to grow and sequester nutrients from the water column much faster regardless of tank size.

the fact you can stick a metal halide over a nano and make sps growth much faster than without it says something about the kind of lights we use on nano reefs to me. at least its a factor...

 

its temp prohibitive most of the time in smaller tanks to use metal halide so not as common but an amazing potential exists for corals when you shine metal halides on them. it makes size of tank rather inconsequential given basic params that support coral growth.

[bluebastion]

Here is a link to my former tank profile from 2008... Scroll all the way to the bottom to see pic progression of SPS coral growth in a 20 gallon nano under 250watt metal halides.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/featured/?tank=15

 

Keep in mind at the latter end of the life of this tank I was fragging like crazy trying to keep the colonies from touching each other.

 

Also, certain corals will grow faster than other... in my experience the torts and milli have the fastest growth rate of all the SPS's I've had in my care.

 

EDIT: The tank lasted 2.5 years before it sprung a leak.

[HecticDialectics]

All else being equal, I personally think it's just a matter of colony size. Bigger colonies appear to grow faster because you have more of the coral to grow in the first place. Think a single stick size frag versus five or six of those "stick size frags" on an actual colony all growing as fast as the single stick. You appear to get 6 times more growth, simply because you have six times the colony size.

 

There's simply no difference between a nano and a large tank assuming you have two reefkeepers who know how to properly set up a tank, dose, take care of water quality, etc.

[brandon429]

thats backflippin bad man.

 

sps tank looked great