deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 In the wild a lot of sps colonies are exposed to air when the tides change,would sps benefit in any way if when i waterchange i drain the tank down each time and let em sit out for 5 minutes?I havent heard much on this topic but it makes sense as its pretty much replicating nature?A few ppl think it may lead to more hearty corals,but i havent seen evidence of it. So speak up and post your thoughts.It's hard to post something in advanced forum that hasnt been brought up b4! lol Link to comment
p.o.t.u.s Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 i have no idea, but the idea is interesting. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Thanks dude,i thought this would be an advance topic. Im betting nobody will even have input on this subject though. It does make sense,if we try and replicate where all our corals come from this might be a major overlooked detail to sps.Then again might not even matter. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 update your 2g SPS thread! =D Link to comment
nUgZ Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Go ask that on RC and post a link. Very interesting thought. I doubt many people here could offer more than an opinion on whether that is beneficial or not. There are more experienced reefers that browse there than most of us here. No offense to anybody here, but many of us(especially me) are true newbies compared to some of the reefing veterans out there. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 I know RC,but im assuming nobody has done it there either because there tanks are so big and its nearly impossible. But they probably would have atleast some good thoughts on theory and if its worth a try. Semi - I will update it very soon i promise. Link to comment
sheen Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Hmm as long as they don't get burned by the MH it should be okay, couldn't hurt at least. What do you think it could accomplish though? Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I know RC,but im assuming nobody has done it there either because there tanks are so big and its nearly impossible. But they probably would have atleast some good thoughts on theory and if its worth a try. Semi - I will update it very soon i promise. hurry up =D in the wild, when the SPS come out the water, are they fully out the water? and wouldnt the waves splash it? to keep it moist Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 I think it may lead to a hardier coral in general,maybe able to withstand more flucuations in parameters?.It may do nothing,it may upset the tank,but it does happen in the wild so i doubt it would hurt. Im posting this in the good ole sps forum on RC so that the guru's might be able to enlighten me/us. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Yes sps sit out in the sun dry for a long time,and some ppl use the let sit out dry to acclimate method for introducing sps frags. ive posted it on rc so we'll see. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Yes sps sit out in the sun dry for a long time,and some ppl use the let sit out dry to acclimate method for introducing sps frags. ive posted it on rc so we'll see. interesting... anytime for the update on your tank Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 There was a thread on RC about this - someone wanted to replicate tidal changes like you suggest. I think the consensus was that unless you could replicate the atmospheric conditions of an equatorial locale (80-100 degF, >50%RH, maybe direct sunlight) in your crib it's a little risky. If it wasn't so damned impossible to search RC I'd look for it - I'm not even going to try... Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 There was a thread on RC about this - someone wanted to replicate tidal changes like you suggest. I think the consensus was that unless you could replicate the atmospheric conditions of an equatorial locale (80-100 degF, >50%RH, maybe direct sunlight) in your crib it's a little risky. If it wasn't so damned impossible to search RC I'd look for it - I'm not even going to try... i hate how you cant search in RC Link to comment
RobD Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I think it may lead to a hardier coral in general,maybe able to withstand more flucuations in parameters?.It may do nothing,it may upset the tank,but it does happen in the wild so i doubt it would hurt. Im posting this in the good ole sps forum on RC so that the guru's might be able to enlighten me/us. The corals that have a natural mechanism for dealing with this would have a response, but I don't think it would be beneficial for a couple of reasons. For example, if you had an acropora, I'm not sure the exact scientific name, but it's fish store name is bali green slimer acro. It will produce a large amount of viscous material like thick clear snot. You'd be stressing the coral by the situation to produce this, and also depleting its reserves, by making it produce this substance. Then you'd have the issue of having this waste product in your tank, which is a small closed system. The second issue would be the effect on corals that don't have this mechanism. From my first hand experience, air exposure will kill off the new growth areas of some corals. This doesn't seem like a good result either. In this case the example I have seen this on was Montipora Digitata. I think if you had many similar samples, you would know which was hardiest by killing off the ones that were not with this kind of stress. This doesn't seem to take into account long term acclimation of corals and what makes a coral thrive over time though. It might help you find which coral to cultivate if you wanted to propagate a coral that shipped well though. This isn't "science" but I thought I'd just report my first hand observations and what my thoughts were on it. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Hmmmm thanks Mr. anderson for your reply,it seems as though nobody wants to answer this on RC now or yet.I wasnt even thinkin about air/climate conditions i was mainly just going to do this once a week,but in wild it happens daily.I probably wouldnt even have let them sit under the lights,just before the lights came on so not to risk burning them.The ART would also have to be pretty high along with higher humidity to fully replicate it. With all the variables in sps keeping i thought it would be an interesting subject tho as sps reefing is still in whole relatively new (6years-ish) Link to comment
MrAnderson Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 I definitely think it's an interesting idea from a bio angle. You're right, I've seen pics of massive stretches of corals just sitting out there seemingly baking in the sun. They evolved to deal with it, and may even have some undiscovered, non-stress related physiological response to it. It might even be a favorable condition for a biological function. I think it would be worth experimenting with, too. But maybe in a hothouse environment or something similar (high Relative Humidity) just to be on the safe side. And if you can't set up a tank in a hothouse, I'm sure a super-diesel DIY humidifier for open-air corals could be cooked up by one of the resourceful reefers around here. You'll have water dripping down your walls in no time! Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Very good points RobD,some of which are my point.The sliming thing i know about first hand,but i think that with running carbon and having a skimmer that holds as much water as my display plus sump 4 times the display could take care of the sliming involved.Also as Mr.A points out humidity would be non existant in a house but then again im not leaving them out for hours either,mearly 5 minutes. With the sliming and stress may induce the coral to improve its heartiness and would probably adjust to this happening.I mean coral in the wild hardly have a say as where they end up and have to adjust to what nature gives them,exept water quality which would be there anyways. Heres another interesting point.....When you frag an sps coral say an acro,you take them out of the tank snip a peice off then put the colony back in correct.So could this not have an effect to whether or not a colony gets more hardy to aquarium life? It's a known fact that tank raised do way better than wild in aquariums,because of the adjusting they have already acclimated to. EDIT: Im also aware that a lot of sps are different and its really impossible to tell which come from exposed areas if any,or if it even makes a difference? It seems table acros are the ones you see in pics that are often exposed,but ive seen montis exposed too. All my thoughts are just ramblings so feel free to pick them apart! please do. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 its almost midnight where i live deacon, wheres the update? Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Sorry semi not tonight....but as soon as i possibly can i will,i want to make it a good one with water running,and lighting over it. I got a reply on RC,sps addict a seasoned sps'er lets his sps be exposed on water changes and has had no bad signs of anything.Infact his tank is one of the nicer sps monsters over there. Link to comment
Biotoper Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 Cool idea - I've thought about this a bit before. I think the best way to try it would be doing a tidal setup on a 1 or 1/2 day cycle, rather than a weekly draw down during wc's. What I would do is place some sps frags up near but below where the "low tide" height is and watch them grow to see if they actually grow into the intertidal zone, rather than forcing air exposure on tissue that grew under fully submerged conditions. You might get some interesting morphology that's not commonly observed under normal aquarium conditions. I would hypothesize that most coral found in the intertidal zone are there because although they would grow better lower down but are outcompeted by faster-growing species like elkhorn and staghorn acro - hence I wouldn't predict much benefit in terms of growth or health from air exposure under aquarium conditions, but definitely interesting changes in morphology. Ryan Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 Wow now thats a respone i was looking for.... I wish i could do a tidal cycle like you mentioned,but my tank doesnt permit it.Something like Grizzlebees pico idea,would be a perfect setup for this. Growth changes are not even one thing i was thinkng of,very interesting. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 did you ask how long? its prob just a minute or 2 Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted March 24, 2006 Author Share Posted March 24, 2006 no...its a huge tank and they are exposed for 5 to 10 minutes he said. Link to comment
Haagenize Posted March 24, 2006 Share Posted March 24, 2006 oh cool, are you going to try that? It might get dangerous due to your massive 400w of Metal Halide Link to comment
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