Coral Growth Question

[jjboods]

I have Pulsing Xenia, Devil's Hand Leather Coral, a Green Kenya Tree, Colt Coral, and a Finger Leather. The Xenia are growing out of control and the 2 Devil's Hand Corals are growing at a reasonable rate. The Colt was slow growing, but has started to grow more. The Kenya and the Finger Leather haven't grown at all. They haven't gotten smaller, but haven't grown either. They are both near the bottom of the tank(75 gallon with 440 Watts VHO). Is the location the problem or should I be feeding/dosing the tank. Currently I don't dose or feed anything. I know some people do and some don't. I've never seen a difference when I have or haven't, so I stopped. But do these particular corals need something?
Any ideas?

 

[reefkprz]

Almost all corals require food its just most get what they need out of the water column, if your seeing low growth rates there probably isnt enough food and occasional dosing with planktonic based foods may help. it could also be the amount of light its getting in the spot its at is enough to sustaing but not grow the coral.

 

[jjboods]

I was dosing DT's for a while with no results. I'll try moving them higher in the tank. Any recommendations for corals that I can keep towards the bottom? Mushrooms maybe?

 

[reefkprz]

mushrooms can usually go at the bottom no problem. finger leathers usually require medium light so I would move them up a bit. the tree coral too. sounds like the rest are fine where they are.
I've generally found that after severall months of being in one spot the coral tends to get used to where it is and hit a peak growth rate possible for that coral under those conditions. there are other factors that can inhibit growth like if your tree is downstream from a leather the toxins exuded by the leather canb impede growth of nearby corals.. just a thought.

 

[reeffreakgeek]

None of the corals you listed need to be fed.They are lacking in something thats causing them to shrink.Maybe the lighting is too low near the bottom.Are the bulbs old?Maybe a supplemental feeding of phytoplankton/zooplankton may help.I have a heavy stock of soft coral in my DT which rapidly depletes the Iodine even though I do 10% water changes a week.If you dose for Iodine make sure you test first before adding any.

 

[curryfishman]

Definatly test the cal its an humungous factor it should be around 350-400

 

[jjboods]

As I mentioned, they aren't shrinking, just not growing.
Do soft corals need as much calcium as hard corals?
I'll move them up and try to get some mushrooms for the bottom.

 

[reefkprz]

they dont consume as much but the calcium levels required to be present in the water are the same.

 

[volcom69]

Whats ur magnesium level alot of people forget to check this and for the corals u mentioned mag. is more important then the calcium since they dont take in the calcium like sps or claims.