Coral Growth - guidelines/charts?

jacquesb

jacquesb

Retired Moderator
Joined
29 May 2007
Posts
17,867
Reaction score
73
Location
Cape Town
Hello Hennie -

Please see a question that came by Warr below:
jacquesb said:
You quite right Warr - that's my deduction too - I think that it would have moved if it was "unhappy"..... As I said - I think that if you take the comment from Alfie into account that states that corals do not require so MUCH light as we seem to think they do, then I would say - keep what you have (in lighting) and just monitor your life-stock closely - you should see if they do not grow quick enough, or deteriorate... Then you would know if you should be upgrading or not....
;)
Click to expand...

OK, On that point is there a table/info on what one should expect growth wise for different coral species ?

And:
jacquesb said:
NOW THAT - is an interesting question - perhaps someone like Hennie could elaborate on this? Or even perhaps Sara/Jake? I too would like to know/see something like this.
Click to expand...

It would help, you read posts about "amazing growth", but then a noobee (like me) can't put this into any kind of context. Is good growth like a plant? or a human ?

10mm in a month for a LPS - good or bad ??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Could you Hennie, or perhaps some of the other "guru's" please assist with this for us?

How do we know what is "good" coral growth, average and bad coral growth?

Many thanks.
 
Bristlebasher said:
As far as I'm concerned it is not about coral growth but about coral health.

As long as the coral is healthy,extending polyps,show colour,feeding etc who cares at what rate it grows ?
Click to expand...

I agree, coral health is the best, but from my limited experience I have no gauge at what is healthy.

Example, I had a Bird's Nest, looked in my coral book, says colour varieties include pink, orange,green,yellow and brown. So I looked at my Brown coral and thought cool all is well. I had no idea it was really sick (should have been pink). I noticed very slight growth, but thought no problem, sps grow very slow ?? 2-3mm a year. One again I was wrong. If I had known earlier I would have saved more of the pretty beast.

I think a growth chart will just compliment good coral husbandry.
 
jacquesb said:
Just another question I would like to pose here - how do we REALLY know that a coral is "healthy" - what definition can we add to the word healthy?
Click to expand...
i would think the same.Growth and colour are signs of a healthy coral and i guess the + will be PE
 
Hi Mekaeel - I have read at some stage that someone posted that polyp extension on a coral does NOT ALWAYS mean it is healthy - was this incorrect then?

No problems - BUT, we are waiting for Hennie to jump in and assist ;-)
 
jacquesb said:
How do we know what is "good" coral growth, average and bad coral growth?

...is there a table/info on what one should expect growth wise for different coral species ?
Click to expand...

Good question, but unfortunately very difficult to answer... and I guess that's why I've never seen a "coral growth chart" yet.

I agree with bristlebasher that coral health is more important than coral growth, but then again healthy corals do tend to grow quicker than unhealthy ones...

I would suggest that one could perhaps compare growth rate, colour and polyp extension between various specimens of the same species (or perhaps the same genus?), but not between totally different corals. Remember, though, that even in the same specie growth rates can vary (us Homo sapiens have pigmies AND giant rugby players, and you could find healthy AND unhealthy "specimens" in both groups), and the same would be true of our corals.

To further complicate matters, coral growth rates (and health...) is influenced by the intensity and duration of the photo period, the concentration of dissolved chemicals, the availability of food, water flow rates, even the "disturbance" of the coral by fish perhaps staying in it (clowns often host in corals) or pecking on the polyps.

I have read of some rather remarkable growth rates recorded in aquaria, but I would caution against fixating on actual growth-rate figures because we have such varying environments - what is ideal for maximum growth rate of (say) an Acropora will be rather restrictive to the growth rate of (say) a bubble coral.

So no, I don't think I can answer this question - sorry

Hennie
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom