trouble getting coral to grow.

[alexmir]

I have had trouble getting coral to grow in my tank, my zoas are not spreading like i see peoples on here going, and my other coral are not growing as fast either. I have suffecient flow in the tank, and the wattage is enough. The light fixture was bought from someone who purchased it off

[hr]
, so the bulb is an offbrand one. I am thinking that the PAR and all the other parts of the light are not providing the coral with suffecient light. The wattage is there, i just dontthink the bulb is a high quality bulb.
Params
trate and trite=0
ph 8.3
calcium=440 constant
alk 7
phosp=0
All of the params stay at a constant, so i know their not the problem, the only other reason i can think of is that mabye their not getting the trace elements they need? I dont dose anything besides calcium, but that has some trace elements in it, so i dont think thats the problem.
Help me guys!!!

 

[devil dog]

Do you do water changes? if so what salt do you use? you should get all the trace elements from your water changes if you do 10% weekly...

 

[alexmir]

I usually do 10% weekly, but have started doing them 20% every 2 weeks.

 

[nycbob]

weekly water change is enough to sustain zoas and softies. what kind of light fixture do u hv? what livestocks do u hv in the tank?

 

[alexmir]

ITs a no name fixture, with a noname light, thats what i think the problem is. I have everythine from softies, to zoas, to SPS in the tank, and the fish are 2 damsels, flame hawk, dottyback, and a clown pair.

 

[saltn00b]

what kind of lighting is it?
MH? T5? PC? VHO?
when were the bulbs last changed?
your alk is a little low. when you bring it up corals begin to really take off.
brand is not so much of the problem.

 

[alexmir]

a 150 MH and 2 96 watt pcs. The MH is only 3-4 months old, and the pcs are around 9 months old. They need to be changed, but the MH is still in the time limit.
i know the alk is a little low, but not so low that i wouldnt see any growth, this has been the problem for months, not just the past couple weeks.

 

[nycbob]

so right now the corals r growing? as long as its growing, i wouldnt be too concern. u can always try different salt.

 

[mr.reef]

I have the same prob with mine and know how u feel

 

[rs1831]

I'm not sure if this would help but maybe raising you alk to 10-12. Do you add plankton to your tank?