This hobby will remain mysterious to me forever

[sen5241b]

So I go to south Florida for a week and half leaving my son to maintain my tank. (It was 6F warmer in DC than there). Teach him how to test parms every 2 days and dose, that he must keep parms stable, how not to overfeed and to ensure the ATO reservoir always has water. I call him after a week and "oh yeah, I forgot to do the water test" or " I just dumped some baking soda in the tank".

 

I come home and the ATO red light is on, out of water, algae growing everywhere (he clearly overfed) but then I look at the corals and see incredible growth. Birdsnest grown more in 2 weeks than previous 2 months, Trumpets expanding, clove polyps were near death when I left but now they have doubled, mushrooms out of control, blastos bigger and new blasto frags, chalice better. Most corals saw more growth in last 2.5 weeks then previous 2 months. Explain this --or not.

[ReefAddict]

I've experienced the same after a long vacation come home to exploded growth.  Most LPS and some other corals like and feed off the dirty water.  It's a balancing act to find the right mix of coral growth while keeping algae at bay. 

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

That's awesome, maybe he should teach you what he did? Just kidding, but do you have before and after pics? Was color better too?

[sen5241b]

Color was not better. The only other thing I suspect was that I turned down the one UV LED on my AI Prime from 58% to about 25% a couple weeks before I left.

[Bruleyii]

Could be more nutrients. What were your nutrients before and after?

[gws3]

Corals like food. The problem is so does algae.

[sen5241b]

Could be more nutrients. What were your nutrients before and after?

 

Nutrients were low before and after. Nitrates may have been a bit higher after.

[Bruleyii]

Makes you wonder if the added nitrates helped with the growth spurt. 

[sen5241b]

Makes you wonder if the added nitrates helped with the growth spurt. 

 

I've also wondered if anything on people's hands could retard coral growth like lotion, trace amounts of soap. etc.

[Bruleyii]

keep your hands out of your tank for 2 weeks and see. lol

[s2nhle]

Are you sure that is the same corals? he may put the new one in.  LOL.

[zygote2k]

I suspect he simply ignored it and let it do its thing except for basics. You probably play with it too much.

[paul b]

My tank always looks better when I return also, but I think they like the girl who takes care of the tank better than me.

[Customride0105]

That or you stare at your tank daily and don't notice the growth. Leave it for 2 weeks and comeback and they got bigger. + dirty water

[newbie2014]

We just moved to a new home recently. I didn't have my RODI setup, so I was using tap water for the first 2-3 months. No skimmer, no reactors. I swear, I saw my softies (hammer, zenia, kenya, zoas and GSP...) double in size. And, so did the algae....... 

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

I've also wondered if anything on people's hands could retard coral growth like lotion, trace amounts of soap. etc.

I am a plumber and come home with some nasty stuff on my hands that doesn't really come off in one day. Copper, flux, grease, oil, ECT.... I have never seen any issues where I thought my hands introduced something bad. I have came home and put my hand in the tank forgetting I had stuff on it many times. The ones I am scared of is oil and cleaning products.. I have my hands coated in oil some days and go home, wash, and into the tank they go. Not recommending people don't worry about this stuff, but I don't.

[sen5241b]

Maybe hands was not cause of growth.

 

I tested 'trates and they were low. So I asked how could dirty water cause corals to grow? A short while ago I looked in my fuge and I've never seen the cheato so densely packed in their. I'm feeding more.

[GraffitiSpotCorals]

Feeding well as the cheato is growing better to keep nutrients low is a balance of nutrients which corals like. Low nutrients but high nutrient input and availability. Just because you feed a lot wouldn't lead me to say you have dirty water either, dirty would be high readable nutrients.