Are "Low Light Corals" A Myth?

[saltyfilmfolks]

Now I realise that many corals come from places of higher and lower light, and I remind folks that the that the photosynthetic coral from the deepest darkest place is an SPS to debunk the SPS high light myth and that zoas grow in the shallows, but as I work with so many here on the forum on light and what they use in their tanks I've made an observation. Many people use a lot more light than they even realise and are growing coral in higher light levels than are usually considered "The norm", particularly the "low light" corals.

This observation mainly comes from understanding and estimating the lighting output of current led models on the market as I've become familiar with them, and the output of T5 and Mh fixtures currently and in the past.
Most people would be extremely surprised at the success others are having using much higher levels of light on corals that are generally classified as low light. Right or wrong, and opinions on "best" aside, this has been my consistent observation.

As I understand it , nutrient availability and uptake play a key role in avoiding bleaching during photosynthesis. I do understand that corals are highly adaptable to different light levels given proper acclimation, and understand the mechanisms of photoinhibition fairly well.

S0, what is the mechanism the would make a coral ONLY do well in lower light?

 

[jsker]

Had to looking up photoinhibition link

Nutrients

 

[Fragzilla]

I'm not sure I fully understand the question but first thoughts are, could it be a reliance on a certain zoox that doesn't do well in high light, Or a co2 / o2 balance. Needing more 02 and less co2 so only thriving in lower light where symbiotic algae can't respire at a high rate.

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

One example of a coral that I find absolutely needs low lighting would be the red chili cactus coral.. I've seen multiple different colonies in low and med/higher lighting and beyond a doubt they preferred being in minimal light. Most specimens started melting after about 5 days in the higher light, and nearly all made a full recovery after a couple weeks in the sand bed under a ledge. Keep in mind that this is considered a NPS coral but I can't think of any other reason than light as to why they would melt in higher regions of the tank.

I actually turned one of the colonies we got in upside down in a medium flow area of the tank and it was extremely happy.. most colonies shriveled up during daytime and polyped out only at night.. this colony polyped out nearly all the time, especially after feedings. Obviously these are just anecdotal cases but I think it may open up a bit more discussion

 

[GoVols]

As I understand it , nutrient availability and uptake play a key role in avoiding bleaching during photosynthesis.

Salty,
I don't know the total answer to your post but from my experience when you typed the line above, you hammered it.

I've seen too many reefers totally strip away all the organics in the water column and then they think there lps like brain corals are bleaching from too much light and more times than not it is from too low organics that are available in the water column weather they are carbon dosing or not.

Great Thread!!!!!!!!!!!

Freddie

 

[Rakie]

Salty,
I don't know the total answer to your post but from my experience when you typed the line above, you hammered it.

I've seen too many reefers totally strip away all the organics in the water column and then they think there lps like brain corals are bleaching from too much light and more times than not it is from too low organics that are available in the water column weather they are carbon dosing or not.

Great Thread!!!!!!!!!!!

Freddie

Agreed. another interesting thing i've found is people with higher nutrients get much farther with high intensity light than others. Well fed corals seem to tolerate / use high intensity lighting better than others.

 

[hart24601]

I would suspect surface area/volume ratio starts coming into play as well for nutrients/light and heat absorption and dispersion/flow tolerance. How much more volume (flesh so to speak) dose a single poly of lobo, acan, trachy have compared to an acro per polyp? What does this do to the above nutrients/light and heat absorption and dispersion/flow tolerance? These are questions we do not know, but I wouldn't be shocked if there is relation to light tolerance before damage occurs.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Great discussion! I don't have anything to contribute, but I'm following it!

 

[Rakie]

Great discussion! I don't have anything to contribute, but I'm following it!

You have an article on running high light LED's for Wilsoni in the making, don't lie !

 

[GoVols]

You have an article on running high light LED's for Wilsoni in the making, don't lie !

Rakie,
Does @mdbannister article include Scoly's too?

 

[Rakie]

Maybe once he kills some scoly's

 

[Nano sapiens]

S0, what is the mechanism the would make a coral ONLY do well in lower light?

One mechanism that I can think of belongs to deep water Leptoseris. These coral skeletons' are formed in such a way that they amplify the meager light waves that penetrate into the depths, thus enabling these corals to live at some of the deepest depths ever recorded:

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/02/04/leptoseris-specialized-skeletons-doubledip-light/

https://reefbuilders.com/2013/01/07/photosyntetic-leptoseris-coral-living-deeper-400-feet/

I am not aware of anyone transplanting these deep water Leptoseris sp. corals to shallower water, but one would expect that a substantial increase in light *should* be too much for this coral to handle.

 

[Alfrareef]

While diving I've seen same coral specie over very different depths (10-100 feet) so it seems they can adapt pretty well.
In my tank when fraging I always place some pieces at different places to try to understand how they react and I've had experienced that sometimes frags from the same coral can do well at high and low light locations.
Bleaching at my tank always occur when KH goes up quickly or comes bellow 5. I use to keep KH at 7.5-8 but now I'm planning to stick with 9-10. It's difficult to go upper and have better margin when by accident it goes down.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I am wondering whether shimmering effect in the ocean do play a role in providing lights (intensity and spectrum) to the deeper region. Depending on waves characteristic, light penetration will varies. Even spectrum might change accordingly. I have spoken to a diver (coral studies) and he said the same spot will look completely different in terms of lighting, both intensity and color due to waves. Any thought?

 

[GoVols]

Any thought?

Tagging

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Its hard to know how much light is good if you have no idea where the coral came from. Corals that tend to only do well in lower light are adapted to it and only live in low light( mushrooms, cyphastrea, etc). At an aquarium I volunteer at we have plumose anemones that react poorly to light since they live in near total darkness.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

IME, mushroom is quite adaptable to light intensity. I have several species doing well high up on my rocks where tidal line SPS are. Yuma tends to bubble up more (bouncy?) under high lights but in terms of color they don't change much.

 

[Duraticate]

IME, mushroom is quite adaptable to light intensity. I have several species doing well high up on my rocks where tidal line SPS are. Yuma tends to bubble up more (bouncy?) under high lights but in terms of color they don't change much.

So is that why my shrooms looked like....

 

[GoVols]

So is that why my shrooms looked like....

Are your shrooms spreading or staying like one frag?

 

[madweazl]

After watching Dana Riddle's video regarding the porites in the tide pool, I'm thinking "high" light corals don't exist.