Less light = healthier tank??

[davelin315]

It's your corals trying to expand to create more surface area to absorb light and also trying to reach up towards the light for more exposure. It's not a healthy thing for them to expend the energy to push themselves up. If you shop at stores with inadequate light, you'll notice that the stuff is always bigger there than when it's in your tank, that's because it's not struggling to survive. Bigger more expanded polyps does not necessarily mean healthier.

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

It's not a healthy thing for them to expend the energy to push themselves up.

Yeah and that too....

 

[chris_h]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by davelin315:
<strong>It's your corals trying to expand to create more surface area to absorb light and also trying to reach up towards the light for more exposure. It's not a healthy thing for them to expend the energy to push themselves up. If you shop at stores with inadequate light, you'll notice that the stuff is always bigger there than when it's in your tank, that's because it's not struggling to survive. Bigger more expanded polyps does not necessarily mean healthier.</strong><hr></blockquote>Expending energy to push themselves up? I would assume the coral's tissue is practically weightless under water, so it would take very little energy to push themselves up, if they did push themselves up. I think instead of pushing, they just absorb more water.

 

[Anonymous]

OK so maybe "pushing up" is the wrong way to put it, but the processes required to regulate size would be energy dependent, thus a bigger coral requires more energy to maintain. As long as the coral captures more energy than it expends then it is okay, but if it has to expend more energy because the quality has deteriorated and then doesn't capture enough it's in trouble.

 

[chris_h]

So when a coral absorbs more water, why would it need more energy? It has no more cells to feed, just extra water. If I double my fluid intake, do I also need to eat more food? I dont think so.

 

[Anonymous]

The point is that this condition is not indicitave of a healthy coral - nuff said.
Jim

 

[fishpoo]

i can never quite figure that out. Sometimes a mushroom is expanded to the point it's footing is stretched to reach at the mh lighting. Other times they seem to shrivel close to the rock when lighting is strong. I have a colt coral 10" from 250watts of mh and it is extremely expanded. it couldn't possibly want more light, could it?
also i don't think your corals are in any danger of low light. I had dinoflaggellates and kept my tank in the dark for 3 days and not one coral suffered. It would take much longer time for your corals to need expansion to survive. IMHO

[ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: fishpoo ]</p>

 

[skeeter1]

My chiller crashed last Monday, temp went to 85, and I just about s%$#. I shut off the MH (3 250w)to reduce heat until I get my chiller fixed, and only have been running my 4 110 w flours. My tank is made up of mostly LPS. All residents since I shut off the MH's are looking better than ever, torch os twice the size as before and the anchor has exploded. I always heard the more light the better but in my tank its like party time , the lights are out

WHAT'S UP???????? Advice from you old salts would be welcome

 

[Anonymous]

Because of the lower light the corals have to expand more to absorb it. Similar to a plant in low light conditions that has to stretch to get to the sun. IMHO

[ November 26, 2001: Message edited by: Rover ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
It seems that my hammer and frog spawn are large when lights are out for the "night-mode." That's maybe your case.

 

[davelin315]

Healthy corals can want more light too. It's not problematic in that case because they are growing, versus lower light conditions where they are expanding to get more access to light. Does that sound technically better Chris?

 

[chris_h]

Yes, that makes mores sense.

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by JimM:
<strong>nuff said.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Always one of my favorite intellectual quips.