What Exactly Happens When A Polyp Or Other Soft Corals

[fish_keeper2]

im just being curious. do they just do poorly and growth is impairded or do they die or what?

 

[parker313]

It depends on the type of coral. If it's a coral that needs light, then depending on the amount of light shortage, it could grow poorly or if it's not getting nearly enough light then yes, it could die. There are a few corals that are more filter feeding and if they don't have enough light, then they may be able to get what they need from the water column.

In contrast, I had too much light (or the wrong spectrum or something) and it totally bleached everything out in my tank. My corals lost a lot of their color, as did the coraline algae and that's when I really had the explosion of hair algae. Since I went back to my older light fixture, the tank is much more colorful again.

 

[fish_keeper2]

oh ok.

would polyps be filter feeders or photosynthesizers?

what light fixture are you using parker313?

 

[parker313]

oh ok.

would polyps be filter feeders or photosynthesizers?

what light fixture are you using parker313?

"Polyps" is a pretty broad category of coral - from zoanthids to the button polyps to starburst polyps and others. Generally though, polyps contain symbiotic algae which is photosynthetic and then some polyps require additional feedings of meaty foods like brine shrimp or plankton. I have zooplankton in a bottle that I spot feed my button polyps and mushrooms every once in a while through a syringe.

I have the Coralife 50/50 bulb:

50/50 Fluorescent Lamp

The Coralife 50/50 lamps are a mixture of 50% 6000 Kelvin natural daylight and 50% Kelvin Actinic 03 blue. These full-spectrum lamps enhance color and clarity while providing the tank's inhabitants with the proper light required for essential biochemical reactions. Ideal for saltwater and reef aquariums. Available in 18", 24", 36" and 48" sizes. Available with an 180 highly polished external reflector or without reflector.

The nice thing about this bulb is that it fits into the standard AGA 10 gallon hood and doesn't need a special fixture. I don't really plan on keeping anything other than soft corals, so this fits my needs just fine.

Here's a description of it from another online store:

Coralife 50/50 Flo. Lamp 18"

The Coralife 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp 18" by Energy Savers Unlimited is ideal for saltwater, reef and freshwater aquariums. The Coralife 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp 18" is 50% natural daylight 6000K and 50% Actinic 03 Blue and also contains rare Earth color-enhancing phosphors that provides the required light for essential biological functions. The Coralife 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp 18" with its full-spectrum high-intensity output enhances color and clarity in your aquarium. It is a rapid-start lamp that fits all compatible standard and electronic ballasts, and with its rugged construction will have a long dependable life.

# Ideal for Saltwater, Reef and Freshwater Aquariums
# 360 Degree Output
# 1" Diameter (T8)
# 18" Long
# 15 Watts

 

[fish_keeper2]

you have only one 15 watt bulb and your corals do just fine? if so that may just save me some money and time. I was only planning on soft corals also......no hard corals, anemones, or giant clams.

 

[parker313]

Yup. I was very skeptical when the lfs employee (the owner's wife who I didn't see there often, so I didn't know if she knew what she was talking about, but she is very knowledgeable) recommended this bulb as I was thinking I'd need something much more intense.

I know that I can't keep anything more light demanding than what I've got, but that's fine with me.

 

[fish_keeper2]

I just picked up a 50/50 bulb for my tank

this is what the package says:

50/50 combination of 6500K trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 phosphor in the same lamp.
Ideal for all marine aquariums, reef aquariums, African cichlids, and discus fish.
Provides high intensity full spectrum illumination, strong in the short wavelength blue region essential for photosynthetic corals and invertebrates, balanced with 6500K daylight for natural color enhancement and viewing pleasure.
Long Lasting: effective for up to 10,000 hours.

is this about the same as yours?......i couldnt find the one from coralife in either of the closest lfs to my house that were in walking distance.

 

[parker313]

Hmmm... I don't know enough to know the difference b/n what you got and what I got:

50% natural daylight 6000K and 50% Actinic 03 Blue

)

 

[Navarre]

There are many different types of corals and thus many different needs for these creatures.
If we look at the most usual types found in home aquariums then they need light, (in varying quantities).

A coral needs light not for itself but for the zooanthea that lives within it as its a symbiotic relationship. The coral uses its polyps to capture prey but it needs the energy from the zooanthae (which in turn gets its energy from light) to give it enough energy to digest the captured prey.

So light is very critical.. too much light and the symbiotic alge can smother the coral and sufocate it.. to little and the coral simply doesnt have enough energy reserves to digest food. Of course the coral can effect this to a degree but changing colour.. when you see hard corals like acros that are brown in colour it simply means that there is not enough light and its bringing all its zooanthae to the surface to absorb it or there is too many nutrients in the water and the algae are feeding on this in great quantities. When the acros start changing colour then this is a sort of sunblock, a way or regulating how mugh light reaches its symbiotic algae. This is fine over the course of a few months but sadly people change lights to higher//lowerpowered all too fast and the corals can easily go into light shock as it simply cannot adjust fast enough.. the only way it can regulate then it to eject the algae but this is risky and can result in bleaching and having no algae left to assist the coral. End result.. death if it cannot replace the algae it ejected.

For soft corals, this is a si milar case thoough their requirements are usually different to hard corals. They seem to prefer a slightly higher nutrient water than hard corals and tend to be far hardier. Lighting is still important but you can usually get away with running a lower powered bulb than what would be needed for hard corals.

As for corals that are non photosensitive.. Dont touch em.. they require huge amounts of plankton to survive and sadly very few tank can support this and very few hobbiests have the knowledge on hos to care for them. The exception to this is the sun coral but this still requires stringant feeding forit to survive.

 

[fish_keeper2]

Thanks nav.

How different is my lighting from Parker313?

Mine: 50/50 combination of 6500K trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 phosphor in the same lamp.
Ideal for all marine aquariums, reef aquariums, African cichlids, and discus fish.
Provides high intensity full spectrum illumination, strong in the short wavelength blue region essential for photosynthetic corals and invertebrates, balanced with 6500K daylight for natural color enhancement and viewing pleasure.
Long Lasting: effective for up to 10,000 hours.

Hers: 50% natural daylight 6000K and 50% Actinic 03 Blue

What soft corals and polyps can I support if any with this lighting? Btw my tank is a 10Gal and the bulb is a 15 watt florecent.

 

[steelhealr]

Hi....15 watts of light on a 10 gallon tank is very low by most standards. 10,000K is a better spectrum for photosynthetic coras than 6700K as I understand it. I believe there is less wattage to fit a 10 gallon if 96 watts is too high. Even lowlight corals such as zoanthids, ricordea and leathers will need more than this lighting setup. SH

 

[fish_keeper2]

thanks SH. sorry i didnt reply sooner. How many wats/gallon do u suggest for ricordia, zoos, leathers, mushrooms, super colored polyps and such.



based on liveaquaria.com this is what i like: actinodisus sp, ricordia yuma, yellow fiji leather, kenya tree coral, cauliflower colt coral, and zoanthus sp.

 

[fish_keeper2]

while im on the topic of the corals i like........what are the most common ones that a clown fish will possibly host in?

 

[parker313]

A clownfish will host a toadstool leather mushroom sometimes. Navarre's clowns do.

With tank bred fish, they're likely not to host anything, even if you had an anemone. I had a toadstool leather mushroom for a long time and my clown never hosted in it. He likes the corners of the tank, but doesn't pay attention to any of the corals.

 

[fish_keeper2]

thanks parker.........im sure mine is tank raised/bred. it didnt stress very much even with almost an hr drive home through traffic. maybe ill get a toadstool leather mushroom just to see what happens.........