Timed air blasting of reef?

[Triggerjay]

I just came across a thread on Facebook where they are saying it is beneficial for corals to put a wooden air stone directly in front of the return pump on a timer for 4 hours a night (after lights out) blasting them with micro bubbles. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/1511705699...829.1511705699091667/1615803182015251/?type=3

I am wondering what the thoughts on this process are? They say it promotes healthy sliming of the corals, and nutrient export along with a good skimmer.

 

[Triggerjay]

Oh, and also wondering what negative effect, if any, this would have on fish/inverts

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Some people are experimenting with this or similar ways of driving air bubbles onto corals, causing a lot of slime to be released and possibly "cleaning" them off.

I've not really seen enough info on it to know whether it is beneficial or detrimental, but some folks who have tried it apparently think it helps in their tanks.

I'd think it a lot more likely to be useful or at least acceptable for corals and other organisms used to getting exposed to strong currents and air bubbles, and perhaps not so much for those typically from deeper waters. It may not be desirable to expose certain organisms to it, such as sponges, if they may trap air. That is at least thought to be a substantial problem with sponges taken out of the water, and might be in a case like this too.

 

[Triggerjay]

I do notice large amounts of sliming from my corals during water changes when they are exposed to air, but I always thought of it as an offensive reaction. Never put any thought as to it being beneficial. Seems like it could possibly be unnecessary added stress.

Surf zone corals would be much better adapted for something like this, but that's not to say it would be beneficial.

I was considering trying it just for the heck of it, but I think I will hold off until there's more proof in the pudding.

 

[reef4beer]

Found this around, I naturally have air bubbles because of the lack of a mechanical sponge in my last chamber wouldn't be able to tell whether its beneficial. All I know if my corals thrive.

 

[tp686kydup]

I'm new and not knowing much take this at face value. When I moved my tank abought 4 hours away I called the original fish store that sold it. He specifically said that you would be surprised how much corals of all kinds thrive from stress....now don't freak as I did. Here is his thoughts. When a forest is burnt to the ground what happens soon after? He explained on a move such as mine( 4-8hrs) the corals become very stressed. This encourages them to go into preservation mode. When they are finally introduced into the tank again they start thriving for anything available. Quick growth, survival of the fittest kinda thing. If you can keep up, place right, and maintain them and the tank levels they will stimulate twice as fast. In his defense he does not ever recommend stressing them this way but it does happen. He was right with my tank. The original owner and I talk often and when he seen the tank 1 month after the move he was beside himself. Thoughts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm new and not knowing much take this at face value. When I moved my tank abought 4 hours away I called the original fish store that sold it. He specifically said that you would be surprised how much corals of all kinds thrive from stress....now don't freak as I did. Here is his thoughts. When a forest is burnt to the ground what happens soon after? He explained on a move such as mine( 4-8hrs) the corals become very stressed. This encourages them to go into preservation mode. When they are finally introduced into the tank again they start thriving for anything available. Quick growth, survival of the fittest kinda thing. If you can keep up, place right, and maintain them and the tank levels they will stimulate twice as fast. In his defense he does not ever recommend stressing them this way but it does happen. He was right with my tank. The original owner and I talk often and when he seen the tank 1 month after the move he was beside himself. Thoughts?

Well, perhaps it depends on what kinds of stress you expose them to. Many stresses simply cause corals to do poorly, so I wouldn't be especially inclined to accept the analogy for all types of stress, but perhaps it is useful where the coral response is a benefit in future stressful situations.

The best example I can give is the clear evidence that a coral used to temperature variations will do better in a high temp spike than will the same coral that had been growing its whole life at just one temperature. In effect, the previous variations made it more able to deal with the sudden new stress.

Development of protective pigments from undesirable UV exposure might also then protect from a much stronger UV exposure (like skin tanning in a person).

That said, most reports I've seen suggest that transported corals are impacted negatively rather than positively, and take some time to recover before fully expanding and thriving as well. Did nothing in the setup change? Even something as seemingly uni,portent as the indoor CO2 level might alter,how corals grow.

Perhaps others will chime in with relocation/transport stories.

 

[tp686kydup]

I think it's a great topic. When I set up the new systems it basically did a full cycle. Many water changes, pre, and bio to get by. Again, I am no pro. But with this seller and the rep at the store I only lost a leather coral....probably luck more than anything though. It does raise the question. In areas in nature that have natural disasters not involving chemical but impacted reefs what happened in say a year?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I think it's a great topic. When I set up the new systems it basically did a full cycle. Many water changes, pre, and bio to get by. Again, I am no pro. But with this seller and the rep at the store I only lost a leather coral....probably luck more than anything though. It does raise the question. In areas in nature that have natural disasters not involving chemical but impacted reefs what happened in say a year?

Things obviously grow back, and sometimes different things that were loosing out to other creatures due to space limitations, starting the normal cycle of progression like in the forest you mention.

But that is a different situation than just saying stress is good, because, like in the forest, you had to kill off and remove some competitors first, and hence changed things Iike lighting and nutrients, and on a coral reef you will also impact flow, etc. Iin a moved reef tank, I would not expect we are talking about this sort of change, and if we are, I wouldn't call that stress as much as changed conditions.

 

[tp686kydup]

True.

 

[brandon429]

http://www.reefs.org/forums/topic27584.html

Since then this vase has been bubbled with most of the typical sps and Lps in tow.

After fifteen straight years of bubbled corals this is my opinion: the activity is neutral. It doesn't provide better growth or disease prevention and it doesn't cause anything bad, at least in corals. If I would have done power heads this whole time the growth would be the same. It's a fact bubbling does things with slime, but to not bubble doesn't change that slimes eventual destiny or a corals mechanism for exuding it and producing it endlessly, given required sustenance. I like bubbling my tank for offgassing purposes more than coral benefit

 

[radiata]

Well, perhaps it depends on what kinds of stress you expose them to. Many stresses simply cause corals to do poorly, so I wouldn't be especially inclined to accept the analogy for all types of stress, but perhaps it is useful where the coral response is a benefit in future stressful situations.

The best example I can give is the clear evidence that a coral used to temperature variations will do better in a high temp spike than will the same coral that had been growing its whole life at just one temperature. In effect, the previous variations made it more able to deal with the sudden new stress.

Development of protective pigments from undesirable UV exposure might also then protect from a much stronger UV exposure (like skin tanning in a person).

That said, most reports I've seen suggest that transported corals are impacted negatively rather than positively, and take some time to recover before fully expanding and thriving as well. Did nothing in the setup change? Even something as seemingly uni,portent as the indoor CO2 level might alter,how corals grow.

Perhaps others will chime in with relocation/transport stories.

Randy,

Are the temperature variations you mention random or part of some cycle? A daily temperature drop (at night?) or maybe a seasonal change could be implemented with a sophisticated timer, but a random change might be more difficult. Also, what is the temperature range of the variations you refer to?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Sabellafella]

I just came across a thread on Facebook where they are saying it is beneficial for corals to put a wooden air stone directly in front of the return pump on a timer for 4 hours a night (after lights out) blasting them with micro bubbles. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/1511705699...829.1511705699091667/1615803182015251/?type=3

I am wondering what the thoughts on this process are? They say it promotes healthy sliming of the corals, and nutrient export along with a good skimmer.

I seen some thread off google on a euro forum, micro bubble injection is "good" for the corals to shed their mucous and the bubbles catch protiens in the water column to send down the overflow into the sump, ive ben seeing people talk more and more frequently about it so who knows,maybe its a good thing but well see. Good topic

 

[Ryengoth]

I seen some thread off google on a euro forum, micro bubble injection is "good" for the corals to shed their mucous and the bubbles catch protiens in the water column to send down the overflow into the sump, ive ben seeing people talk more and more frequently about it so who knows,maybe its a good thing but well see. Good topic

There is more to do with dissolved O2 increase than floating the proteins IMO. I did O2 (o2 concentrator) bubbling for a while during my peroxide testing to keep PH high when the glycerine was causing masses of bacteria to produce lots of CO2. What would be interesting is to bubble Argon and see if the protein point is valid base on skimmer reaction. I just happen to have an 80lb cylinder I bought today for my TIG welding setup. LOL

 

[Sabellafella]

Found this on youtube, my fish would hate and splash me if ive done this every night lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There is more to do with dissolved O2 increase than floating the proteins IMO. I did O2 (o2 concentrator) bubbling for a while during my peroxide testing to keep PH high when the glycerine was causing masses of bacteria to produce lots of CO2. What would be interesting is to bubble Argon and see if the protein point is valid base on skimmer reaction. I just happen to have an 80lb cylinder I bought today for my TIG welding setup. LOL

FWIW, I'd be wary of bubbling pure nitrogen or argon because it could drop O2 and CO2 very low (and low CO2 will raise pH).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Randy,

Are the temperature variations you mention random or part of some cycle? A daily temperature drop (at night?) or maybe a seasonal change could be implemented with a sophisticated timer, but a random change might be more difficult. Also, what is the temperature range of the variations you refer to?

Thanks,
Bob

I'm not sure it matters, but generally the idea is frequent smaller variations protecting against the rarer big events.

Here's one such study. I bolded the final conclusion:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-011-0721-y

Do fluctuating temperature environments elevate coral thermal tolerance?

Abstract
In reef corals, much research has focused on the capacity of corals to acclimatize and/or adapt to different thermal environments, but the majority of work has focused on distinctions in mean temperature. Across small spatial scales, distinctions in daily temperature variation are common, but the role of such environmental variation in setting coral thermal tolerances has received little attention. Here, we take advantage of back-reef pools in American Samoa that differ in thermal variation to investigate the effects of thermally fluctuating environments on coral thermal tolerance. We experimentally heat-stressed Acropora hyacinthus from a thermally moderate lagoon pool (temp range 26.5–33.3°C) and from a more thermally variable pool that naturally experiences 2–3 h high temperature events during summer low tides (temp range 25.0–35°C). We compared mortality and photosystem II photochemical efficiency of colony fragments exposed to ambient temperatures (median: 28.0°C) or elevated temperatures (median: 31.5°C). In the heated treatment, moderate pool corals showed nearly 50% mortality whether they hosted heat-sensitive (49.2 ± 6.5% SE; C2) or heat-resistant (47.0 ± 11.2% SE; D) symbionts. However, variable pool corals, all of which hosted heat-resistant symbionts, survived well, showing low mortalities (16.6 ± 8.8% SE) statistically indistinguishable from controls held at ambient temperatures (5.1–8.3 ± 3.3–8.3% SE). Similarly, moderate pool corals hosting heat-sensitive algae showed rapid rates of decline in algal photosystem II photochemical efficiency in the elevated temperature treatment (slope = −0.04 day−1 ± 0.007 SE); moderate pool corals hosting heat-resistant algae showed intermediate levels of decline (slope = −0.039 day−1 ± 0.007 SE); and variable pool corals hosting heat-resistant algae showed the least decline (slope = −0.028 day−1 ± 0.004 SE). High gene flow among pools suggests that these differences probably reflect coral acclimatization not local genetic adaptation. Our results suggest that previous exposure to an environmentally variable microhabitat adds substantially to coral–algal thermal tolerance, beyond that provided by heat-resistant symbionts alone.

 

[dricc]

I think it's a great topic. When I set up the new systems it basically did a full cycle. Many water changes, pre, and bio to get by. Again, I am no pro. But with this seller and the rep at the store I only lost a leather coral....probably luck more than anything though. It does raise the question. In areas in nature that have natural disasters not involving chemical but impacted reefs what happened in say a year?

Could it be that losing the leather helped negate some allopathy? Thus an improved environment for other corals?

 

[sundog101]

This is an interesting study.
http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v307/p69-84/u

It discusses how coral mucus acts as a kind of "natural glue" and traps various particles. So I could see if combined with a good protein skimmer there could something to this. It also states that this could be a potential food source for other organisms. However the study was done on acros and I don't know how other corals would like being blasted by air bubbles.

 

[Triggerjay]

So I picked up a pump and wood diffuser today. I set the diffuser directly in front of the intake for the pump. I used a Wemo I had laying around and put it on a timer from 9pm to 5am. I ran it for about an hour earlier while the lights were on and after I shut it off I noticed my skimmer was working up a little more sludge than normal. Water clarity has also improved. PE looks good. Curious what things will look in the morning after 8 hours of run time. I'll update this thread with any new developments.