Corals and bio-loading

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lynxpilot

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 4, 2008
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Ava, MO
How do corals affect bio-load?

I have a 120 gallon with 1 yellow tang, 1 hippo tang, 4 clowns, 1 tiger watchman goby, and 1 six-lined wrasse. Also 1 BTA and 1 carpet anemone with a large cleanup crew.

So far on corals I have 1 toadstool, 1 candycane, 1 finger leather, 1 torch, 1 small zooanthid colony, 1 large red brain, 1 small bullseye mushroom colony, and two colors of frags of acanthrastrea, (and one little xenia hitchhiker).

Is the sky the limit on corals?
 
I wouldn't necessarily say that sky is the limit when you consider the effect each coral may have on another whether it be through encroachment, reproduction, physical confrontation, or allelopathy along with being aware that certain corals may stimulate an appetite in specific fish. There is quite a bit of aquatic chess being played in our little glass boxes and it is an endless game.
 
I'm still wondering where they fit into the bio-load situation. And along the same lines, can one coral colony nuke the tank? I had a bottlebrush SPS that showed signs of shedding and the tank started to stink. I didn't take a chance and I removed it. I'm wondering what sort of toxins they exude if they are sick or dying. This one might have pulled through, but I didn't want to take a chance.

I'd assume that they would settle their own encroachment conflicts by growing in the other direction, no?
 
They create a bio-load in essence of what I previously mentioned including salt mix constituent uptake (calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc.), but very little in concerns of NH3. Many sps such as acropora, millepora, pocillopora, seriatopora, etc. will slough their tisssue (necrosis) creating a chain of death if their health is impacted (great water parameter swings, physical trauma, allelopathic trauma...). The waste generated is highly contagious ime. Of course, many soft corals such as sarcophytons and especially sinularias can have traumatic impacts on sps and even lps health. There is usually only two outcomes in terms of encroachment: One coral continues to grow over another coral and kills it or they fend each other off with each taking turns damaging the other over time.
 
So with a dying sps, if I caught it early and ditched it followed by an immediate 30% water change, should I be OK?

I'm currently doing 30% weekly.
 
I would pay close attention to any other sps you may have and corals in general, run carbon heavily, and perform frequent 25%-50% water changes depending on the outcome.
 
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