This has been bothering me for over ten years now...

[spamreefnew]

Why do some corals do well and some do not? Why do certain corals die when other corals grow like weeds. In my own tank I have never been able to keep ALL the corals happy at the same time. Years ago when I had a skimmer and cheato my hammer coral,montiporas,and Xenia would grow like weeds but I could not keep leathers and shrooms alive. A while later I switched to ATS only filtration and after a while my mushrooms,leathers,and Kenya tree exploded with growth while my hammer,montiporas,and zoos started to slowly fade away. Now I run an ATS and a skimmer and most coral are doing great with the exception of a monti cap and zoos who are fading away. I hear fellow reefers say it all the time,that some corals just won't live in their system,there has got to be something we are missing....

 

[gbru316]

We often try to force coral to live in environments that they may not normally live in. I'm not talking about "in a glass box," rather, we place species different biomes in an artificial biome which may or may not satisfy their requirements.

What we're "missing" is common sense and responsible planning.

 

[hart24601]

I notice that if I get aquacultured coral I have very few losses if any. Some species don't like my tank as much and grow super slow, but live. If I get coral from a store that is either maricultured or wild then it can be hit or miss. I try to get only aquacultured anymore, but sometimes I am weak at the LFS and don't know the origin. Well xenia has melted away in every low nutrient system I have had, but currently I have a mixed reef and while it has taken a while to get the flow and lighting right for the different guys they are all doing well. The leathers don't seem to like the low nutrients and grow super ultra slow, but are alive and growing.

 

[m0nkie]

I read that SPS and LPS don't mix well.. it's either you have a majority SPS tank or majority LPS tank. can't really keep everyone happy. maybe that's why your monti cap is not flourishing with the LPS.. zoos, iono.. they all seem to grow well in my tank

 

[gogo7]

it all comes down to light and water movement.. and food.

 

[overskim]

there has got to be something we are missing....

I agree.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Different reef environments in nature tend to favor certain types of corals. Considering just stony corals, high wave and light energy fore reefs tend to favor what we call SPS (Acropora, Pocillipora, etc.). LPS tend to be found in quieter, more nutirent dense locations. While there are exceptions to every rule, this is generally what I found in my last trip to Palau.

Combining various types of corals to create a mixed reef and have them all do well is challenging, but possible. I've been at it for over six years in my mixed reef nano and I can say that once a 'middle ground' is established regarding flow and light, then proper coral positioning and other subtle tweaks can make all the difference.

 

[Fredfish]

There is also allelopathy (chemical warfare). I think it is all (or mostly??) soft corals that exude chemicals to ward off other corals. Algae do this as well.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00571194

 

[Decadence]

I think that you are focusing too much on nutrients and not enough on other factors. Light, flow, alk/cal/mag levels, major/minor ion stability, trace element levels, etc… all factors. Not only are all of these factors but a lot of them change with differences in each other.

 

[snorvich]

While it is possible to replicate the contents of NSW, it is less easy to replicate the environment that the coral finds ideal if we know it at all. Couple that with the factor of allelopathy and we have a multi-variate puzzle.

 

[HumbleFish]

There's always some missing piece of the puzzle that we don't know about, aren't testing for, etc. Bottom line is we don't understand as much about the care of the corals we keep as we sometimes think we do.

 

[Ldagger]

Just buy another fish tank and sit it beside the one you have. I did and have never been happier. You can have the best of both worlds.