Has anyone put together a coral pruning guide?

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I’ve always been curious about the proper pruning of corals and never found a guide/instructional on the topic. There’s tons of info for trees on how and when to prune, opening up the canopy, etc.. Not so much on coral. A bonsai guide of sorts, how to get the shape and structure, opening up for light and flow, maintaining size, and all that. Beyond my capacity but I would like to read up on it. I hear all kinds of people giving a trim or haircut, but no detail on the how and why. I’ve always just randomly snipped here and there with no rhyme or reason, some things looked fine while others had weird growth patterns. Too late for me nowadays but I’m always game to learn a thing….if for nothing else, to have something to forget about tomorrow. Ha

 

[Reeferbadness]

Cool idea! Following. My tanks are 3 and 4.5 years old and i'm def in the trimming to avoid overcrowding issues stage. I kind of just trim when they get too close or i see some coral wars inflicting damage to points of contact.

 

[exnisstech]

Following. I've been thinking about pruning this miyagi tort but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

EDIT : It isn't touching anything but I would like it shorter and broader vs the long tall pattern it has now and I'm not sure if coral can be pruned to encourage different growth patterns.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Cool idea! Following. My tanks are 3 and 4.5 years old and i'm def in the trimming to avoid overcrowding issues stage. I kind of just trim when they get too close or i see some coral wars inflicting damage to points of contact.

Yeah, I’m guessing that’s exactly what most of do. Something gets too close, here a snip, there a snip. I would wager that most of us are just guessing, kinda Willy Nilly. I know I’ve seen some amazing corals in the past and just thought that’s how they grow, naturally. Over the years, I for sure haven’t had anything just naturally grow into a perfect specimen. That’s me being ignorant though. I know all kinds of things affect growth patterns but honestly have zero knowledge on how to correct it.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Following. I've been thinking about pruning this miyagi tort but I'm not really sure how to go about it.

EDIT : It isn't touching anything but I would like it shorter and broader vs the long tall pattern it has now and I'm not sure if coral can be pruned to encourage different growth patterns.

Exactly what I’ve wondered for years….can they be pruned to encourage that perfect shape? My mind thinks absolutely yes….but I’m not the brightest tool in the shed!

 

[exnisstech]

Exactly what I’ve wondered for years….can they be pruned to encourage that perfect shape? My mind thinks absolutely yes….but I’m not the brightest tool in the shed!

I mean they do it with plants and I always tell people corals are just my underwater garden. If I wait long enough I'll probably end up accidentally pruning it because I'm clumsy lol

 

[DanyL]

Yeah, I’m guessing that’s exactly what most of do. Something gets too close, here a snip, there a snip. I would wager that most of us are just guessing, kinda Willy Nilly. I know I’ve seen some amazing corals in the past and just thought that’s how they grow, naturally. Over the years, I for sure haven’t had anything just naturally grow into a perfect specimen. That’s me being ignorant though. I know all kinds of things affect growth patterns but honestly have zero knowledge on how to correct it.

They do grow that way naturally, just look at wild colonies.

That being said, growth patterns can be affected by light spread and intensity, as well as flow, or the lack of it.

However, fragging can indeed affect this to some degree, causing a deformed growth pattern as well as “fix” it, or rather accelerate what would’ve happened naturally given enough time.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I mean they do it with plants and I always tell people corals are just my underwater garden. If I wait long enough I'll probably end up accidentally pruning it because I'm clumsy lol

Ha, yeah that’s me now. I try to stay out of the tank unless it’s absolutely necessary. Not seeing for s$&*and tremors are cause for some very interesting coral shapes. I’m just happy I don’t have any carnivores that are attracted to blood as I tend to always hit my knuckles on something in the tank, breaking off things completely accidentally. I think I have a slew of the same coral around the tank as things land in different spots. If the piece was large enough for me to find, I’ll often wedge it in or glue it down somewhere.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

They do grow that way naturally, just look at wild colonies.

That being said, growth patterns can be affected by light spread and intensity, as well as flow, or the lack of it.

However, fragging can indeed affect this to some degree, causing a deformed growth pattern as well as “fix” it, or rather accelerate what would’ve happened naturally given enough time.

In the wild for sure. My tank is a bit small to house a single coral the size of a vw bug. The scale is a bit off. I’m sure I’ve been doing things wrong but there’s no way anything would ever grow into a picture perfect specimen, all on its own, with no intervention by me, in any tank I maintain, ha!

 

[ShakeyGizzard]

Following along

 

[DanyL]

In the wild for sure. My tank is a bit small to house a single coral the size of a vw bug. The scale is a bit off. I’m sure I’ve been doing things wrong but there’s no way anything would ever grow into a picture perfect specimen, all on its own, with no intervention by me, in any tank I maintain, ha!

I can personally attest that as long as I provide the right environment for my corals, they will eventually form the correct growth pattern for that specimen naturally, even at small scale.

When I do see a weird growth pattern, I know for sure that something is up and try to correct it, and sure enough - even without fragging it’ll eventually correct itself.

Sometimes it is useful to shape it yourself to accelerate this process, however - it won’t fix the underlaying issue that caused this deformation in the first place, and if not fixed - it’ll grow back to it’s original deformed shape once again.

One more thing to note - sometimes when you move a coral from one place to the other, or drastically change the angle from which the light or flow is coming from can cause a deformation as well, which many tend to overlook. This as well fixes itself given enough time.

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I can personally attest that as long as I provide the right environment for my corals, they will eventually form the correct growth pattern for that specimen naturally, even at small scale.

When I do see a weird growth pattern, I know for sure that something is up and try to correct it, and sure enough - even without fragging it’ll eventually correct itself.

Sometimes it is useful to shape it yourself to accelerate this process, however - it won’t fix the underlaying issue that caused this deformation in the first place, and if not fixed - it’ll grow back to it’s original deformed shape once again.

One more thing to note - sometimes when you move a coral from one place to the other, or drastically change the angle from which the light or flow is coming from can cause a deformation as well, which many tend to overlook. This as well fixes itself given enough time.

What is this magical “right environment” you speak of? Ha

 

[DanyL]

Nothing magical, each coral has its own preference for lighting and flow, but all love even coverage, which the lack of is the most often cause for deformed growth.

The way I do this is simple - I give each frag a couple of months time to show signs of growth, and follow the pattern and colors.
If everything is good - I leave it there.
If something doesn’t look right and I have another place for it, I’ll give it another couple of months in the new location, and so on and so forth. If I don’t have space available for it in another location - I would either make it by heavily fragging other colonies or shuffling corals, otherwise - I increase light/flow intensity or add another fixture or wave maker to compensate.