Interesting thought about coral adaptation to flow rate....

[Afrashz]

This may have been answered before or just be common knowledge but I was wondering if corals can ever adjust to flow. In other words if a coral is only doing "okay" in a high flow area, if left there long enough could it eventually become used to it and look awesome, or will it forever just look average. Just something that sparked my curiosity...

 

[Brew12]

This may have been answered before or just be common knowledge but I was wondering if corals can ever adjust to flow. In other words if a coral is only doing "okay" in a high flow area, if left there long enough could it eventually become used to it and look awesome, or will it forever just look average. Just something that sparked my curiosity...

I would suspect that they make some adjustment but they would never do good with low flow. The flow has to be high enough to remove the waste that the coral expels. If the waste isn't sufficiently removed I doubt they will ever look great.

 

[ZoWhat]

We all want corals to THRIVE

I believe two important factors overlooked with corals thriving are:

1) at what depth do they thrive in nature? 5ft? 10ft? 20+ft?..... the deeper in the natural-reef they thrive the more blue actinic light you need and less of the whites.

2) at what current/flow in nature do they thrive? Zoanthids for example thrive in extremely high flow in nature. But other corals like Elegance Corals have such delicate tissue they only need a whisper of flow or their tissue will damage.

Always read and research your coral and how they thrive in nature

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I agree with both of the above statements. I would think that a coral that initially just does "ok" in higher flow would eventually acclimate to the higher flow and begin to thrive (since most corals are actually in stronger current than our tanks are giving them), but that seems less likely if they're receiving lower flow than they ought. I'd imagine there's a threshold in either direction and a window of range that they can acclimate to

 

[Afrashz]

cool answers^^ interesting stuff

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Bumping this up for more input #reefsquad #SPSexperts #LPSexperts #ZOAexperts

 

[reeferfoxx]

I tried higher flow on a frogspawn once. It didn't adapt. I also tried almost direct flow on a sps coral, only to see it lose it's tissue. Now, if I had gradually increased flow, maybe to an extent. However, one thing coral do need, is a slow period or a moment to sort of regain energy for the next wave of flow.

 

[mta_morrow]

My bubble and euphyllias over the years have let me know that with low flow, they get fat, dumb, and happy!

Anytime I moved them or changed my flow, even a bit, they were never as plump or inflated. And I did give it Time.

 

[Brew12]

I also tried almost direct flow on a sps coral, only to see it lose it's tissue.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who did this!

I kept reading over and over that we never have as much flow in our tanks as they see in the ocean so I assumed too high of flow wasn't possible for an SPS. 15 minutes later my 1st SPS frag was my first coral casualty. ;Blackeye

Proved them wrong!!!

 

[Ranjib]

My observation has been ployp length gets shorter for zoa , golipora, cloves . Longer for xenia, cespitularia. Acros and milis shows more polyp extension.

I know most folks will highlight the flow rate, but I have found the direction of the flow is also very crucial in determining who will sting whom. Since, the sweeper tentacles/euphylia aggresions are ultimately dictated by flow direction. Some time, it will not kill the neighbor coral, but determine how or which side it can grow

 

[Afrashz]

My observation has been ployp length gets shorter for zoa , golipora, cloves . Longer for xenia, cespitularia. Acros and milis shows more polyp extension.

I know most folks will highlight the flow rate, but I have found the direction of the flow is also very crucial in determining who will sting whom. Since, the sweeper tentacles/euphylia aggresions are ultimately dictated by flow direction. Some time, it will not kill the neighbor coral, but determine how or which side it can grow

^^good points

 

[Cory]

We all want corals to THRIVE

I believe two important factors overlooked with corals thriving are:

1) at what depth do they thrive in nature? 5ft? 10ft? 20+ft?..... the deeper in the natural-reef they thrive the more blue actinic light you need and less of the whites.

2) at what current/flow in nature do they thrive? Zoanthids for example thrive in extremely high flow in nature. But other corals like Elegance Corals have such delicate tissue they only need a whisper of flow or their tissue will damage.

Always read and research your coral and how they thrive in nature

Iirc most of our corals live 60 feet down.

 

[Squamosa]

slow period or a moment to sort of regain energy for the next wave of flow

Are you referring to a constant wave type (surge) of flow with a peak and trough or something more like shutting down most of the pumps at night, to have them resume peak flow again in the morning for the rest of the light cycle.

Thanks

 

[reeferfoxx]

constant wave type (surge) of flow with a peak and trough

This. I don't think its necessary to reduce pumps at night. It might be something that happens in nature but a lack of flow can still create problems in artificial aquariums.

 

[Squamosa]

This. I don't think its necessary to reduce pumps at night. It might be something that happens in nature but a lack of flow can still create problems in artificial aquariums.

Yes, so 'recovery' time can be measured in seconds.
Surge with occasional intermittent flow is what they would be experiencing on the reef