Jovreefer
Active Member
Do you ever wonder why your corals seem to grow at a snail’s pace while your buddy seems to be adding miracle grow to his corals and has an overgrown tank? He rarely ever frags his corals and just lets them grown into each other and war it out. You ask his advice, and copy his equipment, dosing and feeding schedule yet you cannot get a big beautiful garden.
Are you constantly rearranging those corals and plugs in hopes of the perfect aquascape?
Opps! Did a coral fall to the side?
Get your hands out of your tank!
Leave it alone, corals move, they fall over, things are not perfect in nature, but nature evolves. A coral will still grow if he tilts or falls over. If they fall into each other yes they will probably die off in the touching area, but they will evolve and grow new areas and patterns. Mother Nature is a wonderful thing and wants to survive. You might be surprised at the outcome.
I sadly cannot site who discovered it first, but hobbyist noticed years ago that if they let their orange and green montipora caps grow into each other they would graft into each other instead of war. Now we have beautiful grafted corals.
Don’t worry about that perfect coral position so much, worry about what is on your hands when you are rummaging around in your tank.
That hand lotion, and aftershave you applied hours prior will still be on your skin when you go rummaging in your tank. Natural body oil and deposits from foods you ate also get into the tank every time you stick your grubby little fingers in there. Let’s not even talk about what might be under those dirty fingernails and other hygiene practices you may or may not have.
If you do not believe me, take a sniff of your hands right now. Do they smell fragrant? If so, that will come off into your tank. Run a little water over your hands and rub them together, can you feel lotion from hours ago? Again, that will come off into your tank.
This is the reason your skimmer will take hours to adjust its self after you’ve had your hands in the tank.
If you absolutely must plunge into your boxed reef, wash those paws with unscented hand soap up to the elbows before doing so. Yes even scented hand soaps can leave residue on your skin that can affect your tank.
I challenge you to keep your hands completely out of your tank for 1 month and see if your tank responds in a positive manner.
This does not mean stop all maintenance, you can still do your water changes without actually touching the water. Remember to wash your hands before mixing that fresh batch of water though. For glass cleaning you can get by with those magnet cleaners month to month. As long as you give it a swipe every day or two the coralline should not get bad enough to merit hand scraping it off.
Are you constantly rearranging those corals and plugs in hopes of the perfect aquascape?
Opps! Did a coral fall to the side?
Get your hands out of your tank!
Leave it alone, corals move, they fall over, things are not perfect in nature, but nature evolves. A coral will still grow if he tilts or falls over. If they fall into each other yes they will probably die off in the touching area, but they will evolve and grow new areas and patterns. Mother Nature is a wonderful thing and wants to survive. You might be surprised at the outcome.
I sadly cannot site who discovered it first, but hobbyist noticed years ago that if they let their orange and green montipora caps grow into each other they would graft into each other instead of war. Now we have beautiful grafted corals.
Don’t worry about that perfect coral position so much, worry about what is on your hands when you are rummaging around in your tank.
That hand lotion, and aftershave you applied hours prior will still be on your skin when you go rummaging in your tank. Natural body oil and deposits from foods you ate also get into the tank every time you stick your grubby little fingers in there. Let’s not even talk about what might be under those dirty fingernails and other hygiene practices you may or may not have.
If you do not believe me, take a sniff of your hands right now. Do they smell fragrant? If so, that will come off into your tank. Run a little water over your hands and rub them together, can you feel lotion from hours ago? Again, that will come off into your tank.
This is the reason your skimmer will take hours to adjust its self after you’ve had your hands in the tank.
If you absolutely must plunge into your boxed reef, wash those paws with unscented hand soap up to the elbows before doing so. Yes even scented hand soaps can leave residue on your skin that can affect your tank.
I challenge you to keep your hands completely out of your tank for 1 month and see if your tank responds in a positive manner.
This does not mean stop all maintenance, you can still do your water changes without actually touching the water. Remember to wash your hands before mixing that fresh batch of water though. For glass cleaning you can get by with those magnet cleaners month to month. As long as you give it a swipe every day or two the coralline should not get bad enough to merit hand scraping it off.
