Newbie Coral question...please provide clarification

[mg1197]

I have several corals in my reef tank and while I have done a fair amount of reading and talking with "LFS" types, I am still not completely clear on a few issues. While I am clear on tank placement relative to lighting, I am not clear on water flow.
I have the following corals Colt, Plate, long tentacle mushroom, fuzzy shroom, umbrella and bubble and finger leather. Can someone firm this up for me please - I am going to go out and buy "another" book, but am hoping someone can help me in the meantime. Thanks!!!!!
Mg1197

 

[10k]

I'm not sure I see a question here. Maybe you could clarify a little? I assume you have a question about current, just not sure what exactly it is...

 

[nm reef]

In my opinion all the corals you've listed would do well in a moderate current. Don't help much huh?
As long as the current is not so strong that the corals withdraw or seem stressed they should be fine...the leathers may require a bit more current since they will shed from time to time...but as long as the water flows over/around each of your corals without causing stress/damage they should be fine.My plate actually prefers a mild current...too much and it will shrink and look rough.......its located on my sand bed in a sheltered area and does fine. My colt is higher up and has a bit of a stronger current....sometimes you just need to carefully watch how the coral reacts to the current and reposition as needed......but as a rule none of the corals you mentioned should be in a very high current. Hope that helps a bit...

 

[mg1197]

NM - you mentioned that you put your plate on the sand bed, I was told by LFS to place my white(long tentacle) plate as high up in the tank as possible and in a fair amount of current/flow. See - this is the problem I am having - I hear so many conflicting things that I don't know which to follow?!?!
Is there a good authoratative source book for corals that anyone can recommend?

 

[nm reef]

There are several good books available that ID corals and provide general information on care/feeding/light requirements/placement etc.
I have "Corals a Quick Reference Guide" by Julian Sprung...it is a good source of info. Other options would be "Aquarium Corals:Selection, HUsbandry, and Natural History" by Eric Boorneman.
Most of the information I've seen indicates that plate corals(Fungia / Cycloseris / Herpolitha ) prefer to be located in moderate/high light...moderate currents...and placed lower on the sand bed. I'm sure there are exceptions but thats the information I've seen....

 

[slowest is fastest]

FWIW
While there are many exceptions here are a couple VERY BASIC general things I use for determining how much current to put my corals in.
1. Type of coral...SPS, LPS, Soft, Other
2. Shape of coral...branching, encrusting, disk, other
3. Feeding requirements...filter, light, target, other
4. Overall size of coral
5. My personal expierence...sorry
1. The type of coral you have is important when considering current. Ask yourself the question " Can to much current damage the coral?" for example a branching coral like your colt recieving even strong current, likely will not get damged. LPS corals like an open brain, hammer, frogspawn or your plate where a hard "skeleton" and a large meaty soft polyp could separate from each other in strong current. This potentially could cause lethal damage. Cynarina (jelly brains) are very delicate and will not survive in anything but low current areas.
2. The shape of a coral is important as well. A branching coral provides less resistance to flow by definition, than say one with a disk that forces water around it. So a leather coral needs some current to keep the detris from settling in its disk but not so much as to prevent the polyps from fully extending. Encrusting corals like star polyps, gorgonian, montipora etc like strong current and will thrive with it.
3. Feeding requirements need to be considered when you have filter feeding corals. Without sufficient water flow to strain food from they may slowly starve. If target feeding is necessary (like with sun polyps) too much current may make this very difficult.
4.Overall size is common sense. While a 10" tall colt may survive direct strong current , a new 1" frag might simply blow away.
NM was correct...The plate should go in the sand bed. My guess is your lighting will not support it there and thats why the LFS told you to put it at the top. Because it extends polyps to feed it needs moderate flow but because it is also attached to a hard "skeleton" the flow must be either strong AND indirect or moderate enough as not to cause tissue damage...get the idea?
Sorry if this seems confusing.
SiF