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Wow you really broke that down. I kinda forget there is a lot more to flow. Thank you so much.
Gosh I love this hobby haha. There is so much to learn. That actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. So max PE does not always mean the healthiest as clearly shown in this picture. When mines has max PE the flow was very low ( I added anenome covers to my mp10) I could barely see the polpys moving.I am coming to regard PE as a function of respiration more than anything else. With a lot of flow, they don't need to extend very much. When flow is limited, they need to extend more to "breathe".
In my high energy frag system, this frag has very modest PE. But in this jar? Just look at that thing trying to breathe.
I’m going to read these. Thank you so muchThese articles claim that flow is even more important than lighting for sps, very interesting reads:
Water flow is more important for corals
In this month’s article Jake will discuss his own research demonstrating how flow speed and lighting intensity go hand in hand.Water flow is more important for corals than light. Part 1. Introduction to Gas Exchange
Considerations for water flow are almost always secondary to other decisions made when assembling a reef set up when in fact, water flow is paramount to the health and vitality of a reef system.
Yea it’s seeming to be very complex the more I read. I would think it looks prettier with max PE but I don’t want to give it low flow just for max PE. I can assume after this post that more random flow that I can see by the polpys moving is better even tho they aren’t fully extended. When they are fully extended it’s extremely low flow.
Wow. That is a gorgeous piece and a very sad story. When you compare it to zero PE on my Walt Disney picture above, one might think yours was "happier" than mine. Thanks for the lesson.IME polyp extension is a poor indicator of acropora happiness. While yes, they may appear more attractive and common sense would lead us to assume it means they're thriving, it has not been my experience overall. I've had acropora rarely ever show polyps during daytime hours, completely closed up, but growing fast and showing feeding response at night in the pitch black. I have also had acropora show the most spectacular polyp extension, clear down to the last polyp on a slowly necrosing specimen.
exhibit A:
This Walt Disney Tenuis looked this way for all 2 weeks I had it in the tank. The whole time. Beautiful color, amazing polyp extension, but the polyps and tissue just flaked away little by little until it was completely gone and algae took over the skeleton. Never did a polyp retract or recede the entire time it occurred. About 20 other acros behaved similarly over that course of time in a depressing mass sps death event.
PE is a good thing to look at. I prefer to see it in my sps. But i've had them wither away and die in that state just as commonly and frequently as I've had in brown dormant ones with no PE.
Roger that.
Acropora and other sps corals extend polyps at night in their natural environment, because it’s the time plancton is more available. The tentacles are made to capture food. During the daytime, sps corals normally have polyps retracted. In aquariums, due to the lack of predators and low light conditions compared to sunlight, they extend polyps during the day.
