When you’re keeping reef systems and growing coral, it’s really amazing how you became, out of necessity, really, somewhat of an “expert†on some pretty arcane stuff, right? More so than in almost any other hobby, if you ask me. I mean, how many friends of yours who collect baseball cards understand the concept of alkalinity? I’ll be that not too many of your scrapbooking pals have a clue about acclimating corals to a new tank, and I’d practically guarantee that most of the people in your yoga class have no clue about how a sump should be plumbed. Okay, I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
I was talking to a customer the other day about his reef system that he was building, and the elaborate and highly sophisticated scheme he was concocting for water movement. Most of what he was talking about was so complicated that it kind of slid right over my head. I couldn’t help but think that he was taking a rather simple task and, in that reefer sort of way, approaching it from this strange angle and making it…well, a complicated mess! It made me reflect on our approach to water movement, and why we go to such lengths to execute crazy schemes for our reefs.
If there is a way to make it complicated, reefers are all over it!
Of of the “core†concepts of reef keeping (I consider water chemistry, feeding, lighting, compatibility, and water movement “coreâ€), seemingly the most forgotten one is water movement. I mean, we’ve relegated it to an afterthought, a footnote in coral descriptions (“likes a lot of flow†or “lower flowâ€), leaving us to establish our own “you know what I mean…†concept of what appropriate whiter movement is for corals. And it shouldn’t be that way, really. It’s pretty darned important, IMHO.
What does water movement actually do for corals? Well, it helps move food and nutrients to the corals themselves, while removing waste products, detritus, and gasses away from the corals. It also serves as a mechanism to disperse gametes and reproductive chemical compounds into the water column to foster spawning. Water movement also speeds away allopathic compounds (“chemical warfare†substances) from corals, creating a healthier environment in captive systems. Last, but not least, water movement helps support new coral growth by stimulating new branches or polyps.
It’s hard to generalize about what corals like what type of water movement, because there are a myriad of growth forms in each genus. Even the genus Acropora, the poster child for “strong water movementâ€, has encrusting, massive, branching, and other forms, all of which have adapted to different water movement over the eons.
"I'm an Acro!"
"So am I, fool..."
When you see our descriptions for coral, we make a general statement about what kind of water movement they like (high flow, moderate, low), but the reality is that every coral needs water movement around it. We have found that, categorically, some species prefer greater movement than others. Torch corals, for example, or Scolymia, tend to open up better in areas of our systems where they are not close to the flow source (ie; after some of the energy has dispersed).
We tend to pack our reef tanks to the gills (sorry, couldn’t resist!), which creates artificial impediments to flow. Over time, coral growth gets so massive that flow is restricted, slowly causing die off of many species…A direct result of our “more is more†philosophy. How about keeping less colonies in our systems? Keeping fewer but larger corals will help free up this space, too, won’t it? Woah…aquascaping again!
"Leonardo's Lagoon" confidently proves that "less is more."
I believe we can dispel the myth that “turnover rate†is the only measure of water flow. You know, the archaic concept of “20 times the aquarium capacity per hour†as a relevant measure of water movement. Or the “random, chaotic flow†moniker. Really, it’s about flow speed, and lack of resistance, right? Although it’s challenging to mimic the flow characteristics found in the ocean, it’s not hard to create powerful flow in aquariums. It IS hard to do it in a way that doesn’t blast the tissues off of corals or create more problems for them, however! We have amazing pump technology that simply didn’t exist a decade ago, to really help do the job smarter.
Think about how we create flow in our reef aquariums…Or, more properly, how we direct flow…Perhaps near the surface, where there are less obstructions (ie; your rockwork).If there is nothing in the way, water circulates at higher rate of speed, and if the flow comes from one side, what happens to water on the other side? It sort of sinks down when it “accumulates†off the opposite wall of the aquarium, right? And the water at the opposite end sort of follows the flow and rises up to replace the water displaced on the other side, right?
You'd be surprised just how much you can do with less than you think...if you do it intelligently.
That’s called “mass water movementâ€, and it’s the key to amazing water movement for a reef…or a coral propagation system. What’s the point of having 16 different powerbeads and outlets pointing in every which way when you can create better mass water movement with relatively little effort or plumbing? Having one or two diagonal to each other in your reef could, in theory, move a huge mass quantity of water, with minimal energy.
When you create water movement that is beneficial to your corals, they will reward you with faster growth, faster healing after fragging, and better overall health. Simple as that.
Seem to good to be true? It’ isn’t. Trust me.
Do the research. It’s out there for the taking.
And Stay Wet…
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
I was talking to a customer the other day about his reef system that he was building, and the elaborate and highly sophisticated scheme he was concocting for water movement. Most of what he was talking about was so complicated that it kind of slid right over my head. I couldn’t help but think that he was taking a rather simple task and, in that reefer sort of way, approaching it from this strange angle and making it…well, a complicated mess! It made me reflect on our approach to water movement, and why we go to such lengths to execute crazy schemes for our reefs.
If there is a way to make it complicated, reefers are all over it!
Of of the “core†concepts of reef keeping (I consider water chemistry, feeding, lighting, compatibility, and water movement “coreâ€), seemingly the most forgotten one is water movement. I mean, we’ve relegated it to an afterthought, a footnote in coral descriptions (“likes a lot of flow†or “lower flowâ€), leaving us to establish our own “you know what I mean…†concept of what appropriate whiter movement is for corals. And it shouldn’t be that way, really. It’s pretty darned important, IMHO.
What does water movement actually do for corals? Well, it helps move food and nutrients to the corals themselves, while removing waste products, detritus, and gasses away from the corals. It also serves as a mechanism to disperse gametes and reproductive chemical compounds into the water column to foster spawning. Water movement also speeds away allopathic compounds (“chemical warfare†substances) from corals, creating a healthier environment in captive systems. Last, but not least, water movement helps support new coral growth by stimulating new branches or polyps.
It’s hard to generalize about what corals like what type of water movement, because there are a myriad of growth forms in each genus. Even the genus Acropora, the poster child for “strong water movementâ€, has encrusting, massive, branching, and other forms, all of which have adapted to different water movement over the eons.
"I'm an Acro!"
"So am I, fool..."
When you see our descriptions for coral, we make a general statement about what kind of water movement they like (high flow, moderate, low), but the reality is that every coral needs water movement around it. We have found that, categorically, some species prefer greater movement than others. Torch corals, for example, or Scolymia, tend to open up better in areas of our systems where they are not close to the flow source (ie; after some of the energy has dispersed).
We tend to pack our reef tanks to the gills (sorry, couldn’t resist!), which creates artificial impediments to flow. Over time, coral growth gets so massive that flow is restricted, slowly causing die off of many species…A direct result of our “more is more†philosophy. How about keeping less colonies in our systems? Keeping fewer but larger corals will help free up this space, too, won’t it? Woah…aquascaping again!
"Leonardo's Lagoon" confidently proves that "less is more."
I believe we can dispel the myth that “turnover rate†is the only measure of water flow. You know, the archaic concept of “20 times the aquarium capacity per hour†as a relevant measure of water movement. Or the “random, chaotic flow†moniker. Really, it’s about flow speed, and lack of resistance, right? Although it’s challenging to mimic the flow characteristics found in the ocean, it’s not hard to create powerful flow in aquariums. It IS hard to do it in a way that doesn’t blast the tissues off of corals or create more problems for them, however! We have amazing pump technology that simply didn’t exist a decade ago, to really help do the job smarter.
Think about how we create flow in our reef aquariums…Or, more properly, how we direct flow…Perhaps near the surface, where there are less obstructions (ie; your rockwork).If there is nothing in the way, water circulates at higher rate of speed, and if the flow comes from one side, what happens to water on the other side? It sort of sinks down when it “accumulates†off the opposite wall of the aquarium, right? And the water at the opposite end sort of follows the flow and rises up to replace the water displaced on the other side, right?
You'd be surprised just how much you can do with less than you think...if you do it intelligently.
That’s called “mass water movementâ€, and it’s the key to amazing water movement for a reef…or a coral propagation system. What’s the point of having 16 different powerbeads and outlets pointing in every which way when you can create better mass water movement with relatively little effort or plumbing? Having one or two diagonal to each other in your reef could, in theory, move a huge mass quantity of water, with minimal energy.
When you create water movement that is beneficial to your corals, they will reward you with faster growth, faster healing after fragging, and better overall health. Simple as that.
Seem to good to be true? It’ isn’t. Trust me.
Do the research. It’s out there for the taking.
And Stay Wet…
Scott Fellman
Unique Corals
