Tort growth rate?

[Mattl22]

I have 2 torts in my tank and they grow sooo slow got as 1" frags like 9 months ago and they have only encrusted and grown a little bit
How long does it take to grow then out to a colony ?

 

[lfsmarineguy]

It depends on the tank setup and your parameters. Not everyone that has a frag of the same coral will see the same kind of growth rates or even pattern. It's one of the cool parts of the hobby.

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Matt are they the torts from mikeny? If so my torts grown to colonies very fast.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Yeah I have mikes tort I think that's a stag jarrett whatever it is it grows very quick .I do hsbe a call tort with took forever to start growing but it seams happy now and started growing finally

 

[Mattl22]

One is from mike got it was proab a 1/2" it's about 2" now and much thicker


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[JARRETT SHARK]

One is from mike got it was proab a 1/2" it's about 2" now and much thicker


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How long ago did you get it from Mike??? Maybe your lighting not as strong enough? Like charlie said if a stag it grows fast and 1.5"" seems slow. My oragon tort is also growing like a weed but it was slow the first 4 months.
Maybe all the changes I know your been doing and going thru might play a roll. Something is missing and i need to stop by there soon

 

[Mattl22]

All my levels in check po4 slightly high but comming up as 0 on test kit
Alk 7
Cal 400
Nitrate 0
Temp 76-78
Alk and cal stable I run cal reactor
My ph is 7.6 littel low could this be issue
Flow if anything Is too much
Jarrett maybe after I get my order from wet thumb u can stop by and check out tank


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[MIKE NY]

it's an ORA Cali tort which I find is hardier and more forgiven to water parameters than most other species of torts. Once encrusted it grows pretty fast. Also up higher it will get much bluer and lower more green.
Matt hang in there... I have some SPS frags just encrusted and have done nothing for over a year already and others grow like weeds....

 

[charliethetuna88]

I noticed once my alk cal mag ere stable I started getting good growth

 

[JARRETT SHARK]

Matt try to bring alk up to 8-9
Then calcuim to 450
what is your Mag level?
Did you try dosing kalk to bring your PH up?
If flow is to much try slowing down a little but I have a ton of flow and my sps love it
You got from Wetthumb, now I have to see this tank. Her stuff is hot!!

 

[pauliwalnuts]

I have some SPS frags just encrusted and have done nothing for over a year already and others grow like weeds....

Man do I second that. Lol...
It's really funny how I stare into the tank and think to myself " dam it, grow a branch already ". Several weeks ago I found a thread or an article somewhere on cutting these slower growing species to make them branch off. So I tried it. I cut them and glued the cut piece next to the original one. And you know what, it actually worked :shocked1:. They're starting to branch off after being cut.

 

[charliethetuna88]

thanks pauli its 11:30 u telling me this is going to kep me up till 2 cutting my stuff up bro lol

 

[charliethetuna88]

oh and i added an mp 40 the sps def likes the alternating flow

 

[pauliwalnuts]

thanks pauli its 11:30 u telling me this is going to kep me up till 2 cutting my stuff up bro lol

:shocked: Slow down buddy. Try a couple of pieces and see if works out for you too.

 

[charliethetuna88]

Lol I could never cut my colonies up man it would hurt to much

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Noooo... I wasn't talking about colonies, only frags that are taking forever to branch off.

 

[Mattl22]

Yes my birds nest I got around same time grew into colonies already also had a nice purple acro that got huge in a few months then died when I added my cal reactor and had alk up too 14 by accident

 

[Mattl22]

Can't wait to get my order I'm getting he'll fire mother of pearl fire ball rainbow nausa poison ivy and few others

 

[Mattl22]

Lost I/2 of my red planet 2 days ago that I grew from a 1/2 " frag and was nice size multiple branch mini colony I was able to save the portion that had encrusted over a lg portion of rock and 2 1/2" frags hopefully it will grow back no clue why it rtned everything else looks good and all levels r on the money only thing I can think of is I've been using phosguard to lower my p0 4 and it worked brought it down to 0 according to test kit but I know it's still there because I still have nuisance algae here and there
Was thinking about removing it after I do a 20 gal wc this afternoon

Another thing that I think might be a problem is my LEDs it's a diy with 72 3 watt LEDs so maybe over kill on my tank I've been trying to kind the right brightness but without a par meter I'm completely guessing !
Any way to figure out how bright it should be ?

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[knutez24]

All my levels in check po4 slightly high but comming up as 0 on test kit
Alk 7
Cal 400
Nitrate 0
Temp 76-78
Alk and cal stable I run cal reactor
My ph is 7.6 littel low could this be issue
Flow if anything Is too much
Jarrett maybe after I get my order from wet thumb u can stop by and check out tank


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Isn't the Alk pretty low? I keep mine closer to 10 and cal I also keep higher than 400. I think an Alk that low can cause some issues. I'm newer to keeping sps also so maybe someone else can back this up....