Heres a stumping question

[ReeferDude]

Ive notice dsince im in a high level biology class and were learning about plat cells and animal cells. Why do all these corals need such super duper high powered expensive to buy and run lights if there not plants and they eat microscopic organisms and they dont need to make there own food for survival cause the last tme i check the animal cell had no traces or chlorophyll

 

[~Flighty~]

The coral have symbiotic algae which lives in their cells called zooxanthellae. They are brown and roughly equivalent to chlorophyll in plants. The coral use the sugars that the zooxanthellae manufacture from the sunlight to grow and build more tissue. When a coral "bleaches" that means that because of some sort of stress, the zooxanthellae has left the coral's tissues leaving it white and with no way of producing the food it needs to survive. You often see that happen in anemones.

 

[RedTide]

I'm far past any biology class, but perhaps consider the term ecosystem.

Our tanks/reefs are miniature imitations of pieces of the oceans. Remove the sun, and it's cycle, from the ocean's balance and how many species that you have in your tank will die?

The level/type of light should be considered with respect to it's impact on the entire system, not one component thereof.


My 2 cents.

 

[deadhermitwalkin]

Thats All SHE wrote

The coral have symbiotic algae which lives in their cells called zooxanthellae. They are brown and roughly equivalent to chlorophyll in plants. The coral use the sugars that the zooxanthellae manufacture from the sunlight to grow and build more tissue. When a coral "bleaches" that means that because of some sort of stress, the zooxanthellae has left the coral's tissues leaving it white and with no way of producing the food it needs to survive. You often see that happen in anemones.

Summed up in one nice paragraph.

 

[~Flighty~]

I feel validated

 

[ReeferDude]

thank you flighty

 

[Calciumbuf]

If anyone is in for some stunning reading you can follow this up on RC

iwan
Registered Member

Registered: Sep 2005
Location: Switzerland
Occupation:
Posts: 224


In my article I make the following central statements :

The corals have the ability of the color production by the production of chromoproteine (pocciloporine)

We can distinguish striking and flourescent pocciloporine

The corals use the energy for the color production only when they are fed sufficiently.

The light quality is one of the elementary factors for the production of pigments.

Not all corals have the genetic competence for the color formation

A balanced nutrient availability is important.



The colorfulness depends on the following factors:

The quality of the incident light: Light quantity and radiation spectrum

The available nutrients in the water. A high nutrient occurrence causes an increase of the zooxanthels and therefore a covering of the colors

The diet condition of the corals: Corals which suffer from a diet limitation don't use the available energy for the production of pigments

The genetic competence for the color formation. If the genetic competence is missing, you cannot get colored corals. Even under optimal conditions