Trimming Large Colony: All at once?

[LadyTang2]

Say you have a large colony of sps that needs pruning. Is it bad for the coral to clip too many tips off at once?

Should I trim tips or cut lower and take of a whole branch with a single clip?

Or should I spread it out and do just tips and like 3 tips a week?

I guess I am wondering is: How can trimming hurt the colony as a whole and how best to trim a large colony? Coral specific?

 

[Udest]

I don't think it would hurt the colony doing it all at once honestly I think doing it repeatedly would bother it more.

Just think of what happens when parrot fish graze or when a when a storm blows over the reef.

 

[vetteguy53081]

You can clip multiples. Just dont clip them all.

 

[Udest]

Agreed with Vette guy though some corals do okay if you do accidently break the whole thing.

 

[homer1475]

I've always cut entire branches, and I try to cut where there is a V in the branch. Similar to how you would prune a tree.

Although I have noticed on some of my SPS if I just accidentally knock a tip off, it usually grows faster and branches at the break.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Agreed with Vette guy though some corals do okay if you do accidently break the whole thing.

I say to leave a couple to maintain nutriients and zooanthele to feed it

 

[ca1ore]

Trouble with large colonies is that the interior branches are often dead. I recently chopped back a very large green slimer colony ( basketball sized). Basically I cut up and pulled out most of the colony and ‘replanted’ the best looking chunks.

 

[LadyTang2]

If I flip the question around, have any of you noticed negative effects on coral or really slow growth after cutting a certain way and what way was that?