Something To Remember With Coral…

[Reefer Matt]

Here is a thread based on my experience with keeping coral. I hope it helps, and please feel free to add to it. Happy Reefing!

Sometimes we get baffled why one coral does great in our tank, and another similar coral does not. Looks can be deceiving, and are not always a good indicator to use when placing coral in a tank.

Something to remember is that coral have many different species. In contrast, we humans are all the same species, yet we vary greatly in our preferences and health. We don’t all like or tolerate the same living conditions. Added together, these differences in coral species create a varied range of acceptable tank parameters. They simply can’t always be lumped together based on our grouping of them, (ie “sps, lps, softy”)

If a coral isn’t doing well, and doesn’t have obvious signs of disease or parasites, it simply may not prefer the same conditions of your other similar looking coral. Moving it to a different area of lighting and flow may be all that is needed to get it to perk up and thrive. It also may do better in different water chemistry. Coral are as unique as people, and should be seen as individuals rather than a collective.

When you stop to think about it, each polyp is an animal. You can have thousands of individuals (though often clones) in your tank. Seeing each of them for what they are may help your tank thrive.

-Reefer Matt

 

[AmateurAlchemist]

Preach! I have two bubble corals- one sits right beside a Seriatopora and Montipora, gets direct flow all day, under strong lighting and looks amazing.

The other gets similar light with much, much less / indirect flow but looks miserable by comparison. Every time I give it a little less flow or light it colours up and balloons a little bit more.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Preach! I have two bubble corals- one sits right beside a Seriatopora and Montipora, gets direct flow all day, under strong lighting and looks amazing.

The other gets similar light with much, much less / indirect flow but looks miserable by comparison. Every time I give it a little less flow or light it colours up and balloons a little bit more.

Yeah it’s amazing what a move of even a few inches can do to get a coral thriving again. And then sometimes despite our best efforts a certain one doesn’t make it. I look for coral outside of my area sometimes to get a fresh “strain” in. Sometimes it helps.

 

[drolmaeye]

This thread rings true. I can have similar corals die in all different levels of lighting, flow, and water quality! /s

 

[EliMelly]

Appreciate this a lot! Thanks Matt

 

[blecki]

And having certain kinds of coral can make it difficult to keep other species due to chemical warfare.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Here is a thread based on my experience with keeping coral. I hope it helps, and please feel free to add to it. Happy Reefing!

Sometimes we get baffled why one coral does great in our tank, and another similar coral does not. Looks can be deceiving, and are not always a good indicator to use when placing coral in a tank.

Something to remember is that coral have many different species. In contrast, we humans are all the same species, yet we vary greatly in our preferences and health. We don’t all like or tolerate the same living conditions. Added together, these differences in coral species create a varied range of acceptable tank parameters. They simply can’t always be lumped together based on our grouping of them, (ie “sps, lps, softy”)

If a coral isn’t doing well, and doesn’t have obvious signs of disease or parasites, it simply may not prefer the same conditions of your other similar looking coral. Moving it to a different area of lighting and flow may be all that is needed to get it to perk up and thrive. It also may do better in different water chemistry. Coral are as unique as people, and should be seen as individuals rather than a collective.

When you stop to think about it, each polyp is an animal. You can have thousands of individuals (though often clones) in your tank. Seeing each of them for what they are may help your tank thrive.

-Reefer Matt

Thank you for sharing this! This is a really good analogy to have for coral!