Study: Coral growth in above average temperatures

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Hello everyone!

I’m a moderately new reefer, so bear with me. Over the past year I’ve taken the marine biology class offered at my high school, and it’s inspired my love for marine organisms and coral. Because of this newfound attraction, I’ve coordinated with my school to work an independent study into my schedule. I’m looking to see the effects of higher temperatures on reef building coral growth rates, as increasing temperature is one of the most major threats to reefs worldwide today.

As of now, I’m considering 3 species for my study. Montipora digitada, Montipora capricornis, or Seriatopora hystrix. These corals have fast growth rates, making them ideal for my topic of research. I originally wanted to grow Acropora, like elkhorn or staghorn, but I’m working with limited materials, budget, and experience.

Equipment-wise, I plan to use 3 different 15 gallon octagonal tanks with minimal rock to maximize powerhead efficiency and light distribution. Lightwise, I’m still searching for a decent LED that isn’t going to break the bank. I’ve seen some cheap 30-40$ LED’s, but their reviews are generally 1-2 stars and full of dissaponted customers.
Filtration is another can of worms altogether. As the tanks are small, and held at different temperatures, sump tanks are not ideal. A side-mounted filter seems my best option as of now. Any suggestions on a good quality filter or system would be greatly appreciated.

Regarding tankmates, I’m still not sure what to go with. Probably a neon cleaner goby in each, possibly a tail spot or lawn mower blenny to keep algae growth under control. Once I make a decision on which species of coral i decide to grow, I might look into symbiotic organisms with that species and invest in those to promote healthy growth.

Any and all info, tips, suggestions, or criticisms are welcome!

 

[chris85]

Well it seems I am not the only one!! I have been working with a few differant corals doing the same thing except I am using soft corals now a friend killed my lps and spa. Anyway I have my tank in the garage in southern tx and let it reach max so far about 87degrees without killing everything. I am at work right now but I will try and get back with you later. Very surprising results!!

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Great to hear! How high did you get your temp with your LPS/SPS? I’m mainly focusing on stony species to aid future reef rehabilitation efforts.

 

[chris85]

About 85ish!! They did ok for being that hot, but I think where you are going to run into a problem is the bacteria when the water gets too hot. They multiply a lot faster in hot water so just something to think about. I also have a theory that it has a lot to do with how much they get there nutrition from food instead of the zoo.. Another thing I think a lot of people have a problem with is coral will excrete slime(personal sunscreen) and it has chemicals that don't mix well with other critters and that's when the problems start. When the release there sunscreen and it starts to decay under the warmer conditions it feeds more bacteria good and bad. That's it for now I will try and get back later. Let me know if you have any more question!!

More importantly what do you think the results will be?

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Fantastic info! Thank you so much!

Along with bacteria, would algae grow rampantly as well? Also, did you have any special methods (or regular methods) of dealing with this bacterial growth? Increased filtration? Overaeration?
Also, would you mind explaining further on your theory about their food intake? The way you wrote that section confused me a bit.

You mentioned the coral’s “personal sunscreen.” Would you happen to know the name of this compound? I’d like to do some research on it. I don’t doubt that I can’t find it on my own if you can’t remember it offhand. By “other critters” do you mean fish, bacteria, plants, or all three? It’s interesting to see that it also feeds bacteria after decaying. Would you reccomend removing it so bacteria don’t eat it up and grow even faster?

Reply when you can, no rush! Thank you again for the great info!

 

[chris85]

Sorry I have a lot of "SQUIRREL" moments I will try and find some articles and elaborate later.

 

[samnaz]

great idea. look forward to following this.

 

[samnaz]

there was a study done much like this that I saw in a documentary. I think it was "Years of Living Dangerously" the second season, the episode about coral reefs.

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Awesome, I’d love to look into that. Is the series available on youtube?

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Thanks, I appreciate it. No rush

 

[samnaz]

Awesome, I’d love to look into that. Is the series available on youtube?

it is, but not free unfortunately.
It is season 2 episode 5 'Collapse of the Oceans'. You can see it on National Geographic on-demand, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon.com.

also btw, SO awesome your high school offers a marine biology class. you must live on the ocean eh?

 

[GoVols]

Well,
I never gone above 82 degrees and it did speed up coral growth, but it also sped up the unwanted things too.
It also lowers your oxygen capacity.

With that said:
Tagging

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Great to hear from you. By unwanted, you mean bacteria growth, yes? What was your experience with algae growth? Also, I’m not sure what you mean by “tagging.”

 

[samnaz]

In the study I mentioned there were multiple tanks all with progressively higher temps (don’t remember exact temps) but the coral partially bleached and eventually was overrun by algae. I can’t remember what species, I should watch it again...

 

[яєєƒ lιƒє]

Sounds almost the exact same as what I want to do! I’ll definitely be giving it a watch thanks again! Let me know if anything else comes to mind!

 

[chris85]

A little something on coral mucus.

https://ryotanakajima.com/coral-reefs/the-role-of-coral-mucus-101

 

[chris85]

Don't you have school in the morning??

I will get back with you in the morning.

 

[Mark Gray]

Following along, my tank hit 88 last summer Leathers Zoos And a Birds nest, everything was ok. I also have a friend in Thailand mostly LPS his never gets much below 82. Good luck,

 

[chris85]

Fantastic info! Thank you so much!

Along with bacteria, would algae grow rampantly as well? Also, did you have any special methods (or regular methods) of dealing with this bacterial growth? Increased filtration? Overaeration?
Also, would you mind explaining further on your theory about their food intake? The way you wrote that section confused me a bit.

You mentioned the coral’s “personal sunscreen.” Would you happen to know the name of this compound? I’d like to do some research on it. I don’t doubt that I can’t find it on my own if you can’t remember it offhand. By “other critters” do you mean fish, bacteria, plants, or all three? It’s interesting to see that it also feeds bacteria after decaying. Would you reccomend removing it so bacteria don’t eat it up and grow even faster?

Reply when you can, no rush! Thank you again for the great info!

You can hold the algae back by setting up your filtration in the right way there is about a thousand different ways to accomplish this. I
would rather not go into details on them all so I will tell you what I do... Algae turf scrubber!! The reason I use a ats is because like previous mentioned the oxygen concentrations will go down as the water warms up. Not only the oxygen but the algae use the nutrients before other things get to it(bacteria, and microfauna) To deal with the bacteria I use a variety of thing Most importantly to me is my deep sand beds, rock, and whatever surface area they can utilize. If the good bacteria can use the nutrients before the bad bacteria get to it. This is another reason I have resorted to the ats because as the bacteria do there job and die it reduces the oxygen concentration. A protein skimmer would help if you have room but we will get to aeration later. Look into https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/micro-and-nano-bubble-tank-treatment.231894/page-14#post-2847512 This also something that might help with your limited system!!

As for the food intake and the way corals tolerate above average temps. I have done a little research and basically the way I see it is most of the shallow water corals are usually and dark color such as brown. Well I believe it is because the zoo. are over producing because the coral is getting more than enough food from its environment instead of having to rely on the zoo. for food. Now as for those same corals and there sunscreen... if you got to that article the slime the coral produces has properties that soak up uv rays so it doesn't harm the coral so how does this play with food? Well the slime coating is produced in part by the zoo. to help protect the coral well if the coral is not getting enough food from the environment it has to use the food from the zoo, and in return the zoo. get weaker and weaker and wind up not doing what they are in the coral for so the coral expels them and now you have a bleached coral.

As for the excess slime... yes all of the above would feed on it from the food chain. I am not sure if I would recommend removing it because if . If I am not mistaken you are going to only do one species? If that is the case you might not have any trouble because not only are they releasing the slime but also kind of chemical warfare and I think that is where most people have the problem.

Let me know if this helps and if anyone has anymore answers we are waiting!!

 

[chris85]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/micro-scrubbing-bubbles.224373/page-64