The significance of maturity of a reef tank and coral growth

[Ballyhoo]

this I'm sure has been discussed a lot but I get kind of different answers and well a newly cycled tank doesn't provide the necessary environment for corals to thrive does it? I mean, what is it about a reef tank environment that promotes growth? stability in parameters? Or does there also need to be a certain maturity in terms of microbacterial and or microorganism culture ? would love to get some insight on what is it about a more mature tank that allows corals to thrive versus like a 10 week old tank like mine where the corals just kind of seem the same every day and SPS don't really survive. BTW, I finally gotten to the point of I think not meddling so much as meddling has really gotten me not very far with my corals. In saying that however, a couple of days ago I decided to remove a bunch of Cano and dyno strings and siphoned them out and replaced with a beautiful layer of live sand. Tank got crazy cloudy for a few hours and next day an sps Agro bleached white!. tank does look a whole lot better though with new live sand bed . I imagine if there was a more stable environment, my SPS would've withstood the addition of a cup of live sand.

 

[Timfish]

There's a lot of research on the microbiomes in reef systems. Rower in his book "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" discusses how ecosystem can have different equilibriums and those will promote one group of organisms over another. We also know the different organisms in a reef system will promote different groups or types microbes in the water around them (Aurabiomes). Looking through Veron's work we find corals that are only found in association with sibling species of their own genus and not in assocation with species from other genus. And work done at UT Austin shows there can be significant differences between the immune systems of different genotypes within a species. So success different species of coral in aquaria does really depend on having the right microbes thriving and undesrable microbes not so much. Here's some links to start with:


"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas " This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC (carbon dosing) in reef ecosystems and how it can alter coral microbiomes. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems and are an excellent starting point to understand the conflicting roles of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC, aka "carbon dosing") in reef ecosystems.

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Microbial view of Coral Decline

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

this I'm sure has been discussed a lot but I get kind of different answers and well a newly cycled tank doesn't provide the necessary environment for corals to thrive does it? I mean, what is it about a reef tank environment that promotes growth? stability in parameters? Or does there also need to be a certain maturity in terms of microbacterial and or microorganism culture ? would love to get some insight on what is it about a more mature tank that allows corals to thrive versus like a 10 week old tank like mine where the corals just kind of seem the same every day and SPS don't really survive. BTW, I finally gotten to the point of I think not meddling so much as meddling has really gotten me not very far with my corals. In saying that however, a couple of days ago I decided to remove a bunch of Cano and dyno strings and siphoned them out and replaced with a beautiful layer of live sand. Tank got crazy cloudy for a few hours and next day an sps Agro bleached white!. tank does look a whole lot better though with new live sand bed . I imagine if there was a more stable environment, my SPS would've withstood the addition of a cup of live sand.

To add to Timfish's comment:

-Stability does reportedly seem to be key in a lot of cases.

-The microbiome in our tanks literally changes over time and seems to converge to a similar point/mix of bacteria for most tanks (discussed in the thread linked below); this convergence does provide a more stable microbiome over time.

"Biodiversity is dead, long live biodiversity" 10 month microbiome data from BRStv.

I've meant to start this discussion thread for a while... so here we go. Reef hobbyists have a lot of ideas about biodiversity and what it means in a reef system. A lot of these ideas (mine included) are reasoning from personal experience of myself and others, and how we think it ought to work...

www.reef2reef.com

-The aquarist typically matures with the tank, so they become more skilled and less likely to kill corals as the tank ages; this is at least a part of why there are examples (that are few and far between) out there of aquarists loading corals and livestock into a brand new tank (instant cycled with bottle bacteria or live rock) and being able to keep everything alive and well despite the newness of the tank.

-Another thing to keep in mind is that the longer corals and other critters are in a tank, the longer they have to adapt to the conditions of the tank (particularly important for corals with things like photoacclimation, adapting to the flow and various different parameters, etc.); the more adapted they are to the conditions of the tank, the more likely they are to do well in them.

 

[BeanAnimal]

~20 year old tank. I can tell you that the system is far more stable and resilient now than it was 10 years ago.

That said, I am sure that there are old systems (the exception not the norm?) that settle into bad places as well. Maybe an accumulation of some bad or unwanted compounds and or a fauna or microfauna that thrive in those conditions (to the detriment of the tank).

But, all in I would lean toward mature systems being far more stable and predictable than younger systems.