Soft Coral

[reef-nut]

Does softies need as much flow as LPS or Sps? I have a 90 gal. reef with 3 power heads in it. Everything is blowing around real good. I have over 70 ricordea polyps, they do not seem to like all the flow. I placed them where they do not get as much flow. I guess everthing that does not like a lot of flow usually gets used to it.

 

[coral88]

I’m growing a number of different soft corals and have very little flow on any of them. Most seem to grow faster without being moved around to much.

 

[Russellaqua]

In general soft corals come from deeper waters where they are exposed to less wave action. They are still exposed to current, but it is not as vigorous as corals from shallower waters. This could be why they don't have a hard skeleton. A little current is good and needed, but definitely don't blast them like SPS.

 

[reef-nut]

You know I really never thought of it, but that is probably why they do not have a hard sleleton. I have them under medium current and they seem fine. I am adding a hammer and a welsophilia brain, but I am sure there is enough flow for them.

 

[coral88]

I posted this earlier today but seems relevant
This is a tank I fixed for a friend. Low to medium current

This is what it looked like before I started on it. The frogspawn in the top right is the same one that in the first it was about the size of a fifty cent piece. Bottom pic is about ten months before the first

Low to medium current

 

[Russellaqua]

You know I really never thought of it, but that is probably why they do not have a hard sleleton. I have them under medium current and they seem fine. I am adding a hammer and a welsophilia brain, but I am sure there is enough flow for them.

I've kept hammers and wellsophyllias together with softies and both grow quite well together. I don't see any problems there.

 

[coral88]

The tank in my pic was up and running for over a year before I moved look at the growth on the frogspawn if it was unhappy I would like to see how fast a happy one would grow. I also have a birds nest and several monti caps growing in a tank with leathers clove polyps and zoas