I often wonder as a new reefer, how fast is fast when talking about coral growth. Obviously, whatching corals grow is like watching grass or trees grow. It would be helpful to have some sort of reference point to measure against. I know this is a tough question to answer but it sure would be helpful to measure expectations and health of a tank.

lets put it this way, if you notice gowth over a period of a few weeks, its fast.. ;)

now this does vary from what type of coral were talking about, but thats generally the case. a fast growing acropora may grow an inch in a few months, a fast growing Xenia might grow an inch in a week... ;)

in this months reefkeeping magazine there is a coral growth sequence in the reefslides section, this one done my Marc levenson, aka Melev
ReefSlides - January '07 - Coral Growth Sequences (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-01/reefslides/index.php)

Good thread, Mike. Some softies grow quite fast. If you photograph mushrooms the first week they are in your tank, a couple of months later they can be 2-3 times the size. Stony stuff... that's more like watching a tree grow than grass.
I'd be interested in seeing people's pics from set-up to say, a year later.

i will look through for some pics, i tried to so some growth pictures, but haven't been very good at them.. :)

Now that's fast! Show interest in something and it appears in the post BEFORE yours!

Growth on SPS isnt always slow really but like with trees you just dont seem to notice it until the change is significant. Here's a couple bad photos but maybe you can make it out. This is a baby blue tip acro in the tank at my office. T5 lights no supplementation other than top off with kalkwasser and a little Mg every now and again.

Pic on the left is when I put the frag in the tank 17NOV2006. Pic on the right is 11JAN07.

I've got some acro growth pics I'd like to post, how do you do the thumbnails? Is this a good place for them, or would a new thread for growth pics be cool? Does such a thread already exist?

Growth on SPS isnt always slow really but like with trees you just dont seem to notice it until the change is significant. Here's a couple bad photos but maybe you can make it out. This is a baby blue tip acro in the tank at my office. T5 lights no supplementation other than top off with kalkwasser and a little Mg every now and again.

Pic on the left is when I put the frag in the tank 17NOV2006. Pic on the right is 11JAN07.
i couldn't say it better, thats it..
its like watching your dogs, or kids..

one day you just turn around ad say.. when did you get that big?!?!.. lol

I've got some acro growth pics I'd like to post, how do you do the thumbnails? Is this a good place for them, or would a new thread for growth pics be cool? Does such a thread already exist?
you can use the TR Gallery here
http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/gallery/index.php

or just add it to the post as an attachment (which is what RobboT did)

RobboT, :welcome: to TR. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

i have seen some growth wt my LPS and softies.. and a lil bit of my monti-cap. my monti-digita looks the same altho the polyps gets denser on the branch

Hi

Leather corals, can't grow fast enough. Here are before and after pictures of a finger leather I bought in late Spring. The after picture was taken in November. This particular beast took 6 months to triple in size.

Tourlou!

Ann