What constitutes coral health?

[ShaunW]

As a reef keeper we must have an ability to grow things, i.e. have a "green thumb" as the old saying goes. Without that ability, a sucessful reef is impossible. Over the years, I have met many reefers and every now and again I meet one that is completely ignorant of the inner workings of their reef tank (the last time this happened was three years ago, and this person has yet to join MR) but has the magical ability to make things grow. Their guide is the corals and fish they keep. This person has no idea about nitrate, couldn't care less about phosphate or organic carbon utilization but regardless is able to make corals grow like "wild fire". They have the "magic".

Personally, I have tried to obtain that "magic" myself, and actually define what that "magic" is! For example, over the last couple of years I have significantly decreased my use of test kits, instead using the life inside my reef as my bio-indicator. Biological indicators (living creatures responses) are the most sensitive around. Just think about your own responses to the environment. The same is true of corals, they tell us how "happy" they are by their outward reactions to the environment. For example, I can tell how clean my water is by my Acropora's reactions, or when any given trace element is getting low, i.e. Ca, by my coraline algae growth. For every coral I keep I know the happy state verus the sad/unhealthy one.

So with that introduction, tell us what you look for in the animals you keep and let's discuss the halmarks of a healthy coral!

 

[NYPDFrogman]

I would like to believe my corals are healthy and thriving.
I have good color and good growth, I still use my test kits and definitly believe that the "feel" for your tank is a big part of reef keeping.
education, knowlegde of needs of the animals is also very important tool to keeping a succesfull reef

 

[ShaunW]

One good thing happened in my tank today, with my big derasa clam releasing sperm into the water column. While it is a pain in the a$$, it is at least telling me it is happy (and horny too :lol: ).

 

[IconicAquariums]

Shaun, i agree with what you are saying about some people with less than ideal conditions having amazing results. But from diving, there is always algae growing around the corals. Sometimes even non-photosynthetic corals & anemones right below acros & montis which will take up food and nutrients from the water. I've found that to get the natural colors and growth, you need to limit what you have, and find that equilibrium. A little algae is great, but not too much. Alot of high tolerance corals grow right near the shore, and get blasted with both light and the incoming tide of nutrients, such as P. Damicornis, Porites Lobata, and A. Millepora, as well as colonial Zoanthids & Parazoanthids.

joe

 

[joe]

im not sure about growth, indicating health, as there are some very slow slow slow growing corals.
for instance, a have some acan lords that will put out 2 polyps a year. and that is no matter how much they are fed. (i feed 2-3 times weekly)
an acan maxima can be very helthy, yet still not drop any baby polyps, just because they are such slow growers.
so im not sure growth will indicate health in all cases.

 

[nanoreefer22]

For my I just love to see polyp extension all day and color getting better and better. Growth is also another added plus and I'm happy to say things are finally taking off.

For my clam I guess its health is determined by how quickly it responds to a fish being over head or my hand being somewhere near it.

For once since I've been in the hobby, I believe my tanks doing good.

PS. Shaun you were missed last nite....

 

[IconicAquariums]

Joe, i think we're referring to SPS growth, especially acropora. Many LPS & softies will extend their polyps regardless of overall health. I know with the much thicker skeleton, it does take many LPS more time to calcify new skeleton. In many cases a combination of photosynthesis & actual food intake will ultimately provide the best growth and color. You have to remember, with our lights, we are only satisfying about 10-25% of the corals in our tanks, with the spectrum and actual wattage, not to mention flow conditions and actual placement.

joe

 

[ShaunW]

Shaun, i agree with what you are saying about some people with less than ideal conditions having amazing results.
joe

Joe, I'm not nessesarily saying that, but that sometimes dwelling on all the knick knacks in this hobby is not nessesary for some people. That you can use the corals in your tank as the guide to find the ideal condition.

At night I always look at my SPS polyps extention. The HUGE extention only seen a night coming out of the growth tip is a very good indicator that that SPS is healthy. In the opposite manner, if your SPS are not extending their polyps something is wrong. Redbugs can be easily diagnosed or at least suspected this way.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Joe, i think we're referring to SPS growth, especially acropora. Many LPS & softies will extend their polyps regardless of overall health. I know with the much thicker skeleton, it does take many LPS more time to calcify new skeleton. In many cases a combination of photosynthesis & actual food intake will ultimately provide the best growth and color. You have to remember, with our lights, we are only satisfying about 10-25% of the corals in our tanks, with the spectrum and actual wattage, not to mention flow conditions and actual placement.

joe

Joe,
It's true sometimes getting the actual placement right is the hardest part, but once it settles in everything thing goes uphill from there given that everything else is in shape.
-Kris

 

[nanoreefer22]

Joe, I'm not nessesarily saying that, but that sometimes dwelling on all the knick knacks in this hobby is not nessesary for some people. That you can use the corals in your tank as the guide to find the ideal condition.

At night I always look at my SPS polyps extention. The HUGE extention only seen a night coming out of the growth tip is a very good indicator that that SPS is healthy. In the opposite manner, if your SPS are not extending their polyps something is wrong. Redbugs can be easily diagnosed or at least suspected this way.

Since everything I had is a frag their all encrusting.

Quick question, will higher flow cause a acro to encrust more as opposed to lower flow?

 

[ShaunW]

PS. Shaun you were missed last nite....

I'm sorry I missed it, I had a work holiday party that I couldn't miss.

 

[ShaunW]

Since everything I had is a frag their all encrusting.

Quick question, will higher flow cause a acro to encrust more as opposed to lower flow?

Encrustment of an acropora is the beginning towards optimal growth. Since SPS are photosynthetic, their size is directly proportional to their metabolism, hence growth. Therefore, they need to become big enough that they have enough surface area to take in enough light to produce the nessesary sugars required for rapid growth. Frags are always going to grow slower than colonies.

As for flow their is a happy medium that you need to find, obviously you don't want to have so much flow that your ripping the tissue right off the coral, nor not enough to have local gas exchange.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Encrustment of an acropora is the beginning towards optimal growth. Since SPS are photosynthetic, their size is directly proportional to their metabolism, hence growth. Therefore, they need to become big enough that they have enough surface area to take in enough light to produce the nessesary sugars required for rapid growth. Frags are always going to grow slower than colonies.

As for flow their is a happy medium that you need to find, obviously you don't want to have so much flow that your ripping the tissue right off the coral, nor not enough to have local gas exchange.

That's great to hear!! Guess by the time February comes around I should be really seeing growth upwards instead of all the encrusting.

My millis get the most flow in the tank and seem to enjoy it. They don't get directly hit but their on the receiving end of the seio's flow all the way on the other side of the tank. So far they've seemed to like it .

 

[IconicAquariums]

I don't think the flow plays as much of a factor onto encrusting as it does to overall colony growth form. Most Acros will put down a good base before growing upward, and this is a good sign.

Shaun, many people have had success with acros for many years, with low flow, high nutrient tanks. Now that we have come up with different systems to keep them, there seem to be problems that arose. FW's, Nudis, Red Bugs. Now with some BB/Zeo systems, colors are so light that they are more prone to the Acro FW's, and often times the corals are just overexposed. I feel in most cases people are burning their acros(which is why people can't keep certain corals happy).

I feel that we have taken a large step forward into these systems & advancements, but not enough people take into account each specific species and their specific requirements & environments.

Thankfully these Mariculture facilities in Bali & Java are taking corals from deeper water and putting them in shallow offshore lagoons to grow them. This means that they will better adapt to the conditions in our tanks.

joe

 

[jhale]

I have a few test kits I rely on CA, Alk, Po4, and PH.

For the most part I test for CA and Alk quite often. As the coral grows I like knowing what I need to add to keep it going.

to judge the health of the coral I look for polyp extension during the day and in the evening as Shaun pointed out.

 

[ShaunW]

Please understand that I am not condoning not using test kits.

 

[ShaunW]

I don't think the flow plays as much of a factor onto encrusting as it does to overall colony growth form. Most Acros will put down a good base before growing upward, and this is a good sign.

Shaun, many people have had success with acros for many years, with low flow, high nutrient tanks. Now that we have come up with different systems to keep them, there seem to be problems that arose. FW's, Nudis, Red Bugs. Now with some BB/Zeo systems, colors are so light that they are more prone to the Acro FW's, and often times the corals are just overexposed. I feel in most cases people are burning their acros(which is why people can't keep certain corals happy).

I feel that we have taken a large step forward into these systems & advancements, but not enough people take into account each specific species and their specific requirements & environments.

Thankfully these Mariculture facilities in Bali & Java are taking corals from deeper water and putting them in shallow offshore lagoons to grow them. This means that they will better adapt to the conditions in our tanks.

joe

Joe these are some great points.

 

[spykes]

sad lately i have like 0 polyp extention with my new tank, im wondering if the water is to new, or there is nothing for it to feed upon. My last tank the polyps were all out and encrustment was fast until i stop taking care of it. im wondering if plankton life has something to do with the SPS, maybe my planktonic life doesnt exist in the tank. I've added few peices of LR but polyps are still mid way out, it's there and sometimes not there at all. never it was fully out.

 

[jackson6745]

So with that introduction, tell us what you look for in the animals you keep and let's discuss the halmarks of a healthy coral!

On SPS I usually look for good color, polyp extension, growth tips, and a nice growth structure (not too frail). These characteristics tell me a coral is kept in an environment where it has everything it needs to thrive.
You're more likely to see a coral RTN/STN that is missing one of these aspects.

 

[ShaunW]

Dave, SPS polyps are not just used for capturing prey, there is alot of evidence that they serve multi-purposes. Another such function for them is respiration and absorption of elements from the water column.