A member over on my Ecotech site posted a great video. He caught the acropora in his home aquarium spawning New Years Eve/Day.
Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
Acropora Spawning In Home Aquarium
- Thread starter TORX
- Start date
Matt1997
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
- Location
- Barrie/Sudbury
Amazing. Hope he took measurements of all parameters
I still have to look up his tank etc. Waiting for more details
Sent from my SM-G950W using Tapatalk
I like a good coral spawn so this rocks. 
Based on my experience it is less about system parameters and more on seasonal temperature fluctuations, waxing and waning of the moon and availability of food.
Years ago it was popular to include moon lighting and follow a warming and cooling of the reef temperatures throughout the year. We would decrease the temperature in Jan to beginning of May to about 75 F. Then in May jump the temp up a few degrees to about 77 F. Then June to Oct we jumped it up to 80 F to 82 F. In Nov and Dec we dropped it back to 77 to 79 F and started all over again in the new year. The corals would typically spawn about a week after the first full moon in Oct. But depending on where the corals are collected from this time line changes. The corals that were collected from the inshore reef would be Oct but the ones from the outer reefs could be later like end of Nov to Dec. Back then all corals were wild collected so today with captive propagated I am sure you could get them to go all at the same time.
During the warmer months we increased feeding to allow the corals to produce gametes. Because of the extra energy stores they were able to switch from growth phase to sexual reproduction. The higher energy levels would allow them to produce the gametes and allow them to spawn. I used more nutrient dense foods during this time and made our own coral food. But we lacked all the prepared and frozen foods that we have today so this shouldn't be an issue now.
Nowadays it is pretty east to add moon lighting with LED to simulate the full\ no moon and use controllers to control the temperature. I used to have to use a dimmer switch that I installed into a electrical box on a power cord with three blue incandescent bulbs that are for reptiles on my 180. One bulb for every two feet and hung about a foot and a half above the tank. I installed them in those clamp on shop lights with the shrouds or the reptile ones that they use for heat lights. Then manually every day I moved the brightness up a degree. After the full moon I had to reverse and drop the brightness down. Like the wax and wain of the moon. I had it marked with a marker on the dimmer switch so I knew how much to bump or lower the intensity.
I also typically stopped about a month before the spawn things like carbon and other chemical filtration. I found it allows the chemical cues and hormones of the corals to build up a little better and it produces a more unified spawn and a stronger one. It lets them all sync into the same rhythm as the cues for spawning are more intense. During the spawn I start using the chemical filtration again to get things back to stable levels and help get ahead of the potential water quality issues.
Doing things this way you don't just get the corals to spawn you get the tank to spawn. It causes the bivalves like clams, polychaete worms like fire worms and feather dusters, soft corals, LPS and SPS all go at the same time. You really have to watch it because after a tank spawn it does increase your bioload quite huge and fast.
Within a few days after the spawn I recommend to do a big water change and keep the skimmer cleaned and running throughout the process. For those who don't run a skimmer do a large and then a few small water changes. If you have an overflow keep the current going strong as the gametes have fatty acids in them and they are designed to float up to the surface into the water column. This increases the chances of fertilization and stops the eggs and sperm from just sinking to the bottom. This will let the gametes go over the overflow to be removed by a filter soc and other mechanical filtration. I have seen people crash a tank after a huge spawn because they didn't do maintenance after and didn't properly export the added nutrents.
Based on my experience it is less about system parameters and more on seasonal temperature fluctuations, waxing and waning of the moon and availability of food.
Years ago it was popular to include moon lighting and follow a warming and cooling of the reef temperatures throughout the year. We would decrease the temperature in Jan to beginning of May to about 75 F. Then in May jump the temp up a few degrees to about 77 F. Then June to Oct we jumped it up to 80 F to 82 F. In Nov and Dec we dropped it back to 77 to 79 F and started all over again in the new year. The corals would typically spawn about a week after the first full moon in Oct. But depending on where the corals are collected from this time line changes. The corals that were collected from the inshore reef would be Oct but the ones from the outer reefs could be later like end of Nov to Dec. Back then all corals were wild collected so today with captive propagated I am sure you could get them to go all at the same time.
During the warmer months we increased feeding to allow the corals to produce gametes. Because of the extra energy stores they were able to switch from growth phase to sexual reproduction. The higher energy levels would allow them to produce the gametes and allow them to spawn. I used more nutrient dense foods during this time and made our own coral food. But we lacked all the prepared and frozen foods that we have today so this shouldn't be an issue now.
Nowadays it is pretty east to add moon lighting with LED to simulate the full\ no moon and use controllers to control the temperature. I used to have to use a dimmer switch that I installed into a electrical box on a power cord with three blue incandescent bulbs that are for reptiles on my 180. One bulb for every two feet and hung about a foot and a half above the tank. I installed them in those clamp on shop lights with the shrouds or the reptile ones that they use for heat lights. Then manually every day I moved the brightness up a degree. After the full moon I had to reverse and drop the brightness down. Like the wax and wain of the moon. I had it marked with a marker on the dimmer switch so I knew how much to bump or lower the intensity.
I also typically stopped about a month before the spawn things like carbon and other chemical filtration. I found it allows the chemical cues and hormones of the corals to build up a little better and it produces a more unified spawn and a stronger one. It lets them all sync into the same rhythm as the cues for spawning are more intense. During the spawn I start using the chemical filtration again to get things back to stable levels and help get ahead of the potential water quality issues.
Doing things this way you don't just get the corals to spawn you get the tank to spawn. It causes the bivalves like clams, polychaete worms like fire worms and feather dusters, soft corals, LPS and SPS all go at the same time. You really have to watch it because after a tank spawn it does increase your bioload quite huge and fast.
Within a few days after the spawn I recommend to do a big water change and keep the skimmer cleaned and running throughout the process. For those who don't run a skimmer do a large and then a few small water changes. If you have an overflow keep the current going strong as the gametes have fatty acids in them and they are designed to float up to the surface into the water column. This increases the chances of fertilization and stops the eggs and sperm from just sinking to the bottom. This will let the gametes go over the overflow to be removed by a filter soc and other mechanical filtration. I have seen people crash a tank after a huge spawn because they didn't do maintenance after and didn't properly export the added nutrents.
Kevin Cantelon
Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2016
- Location
- cambridge
That would be awesome to see.