SPS question...

[Dez]

You would think that the maricultured colonies wouldn't be so "perfect." Since they are growing them out from frags right? I know when my corals are growing without even looking at pictures when the shape is "uneven". When I buy a colony it's usually perfectly shaped, then a couple of weeks later it's all uneven because some tips are growing faster than others. Some of my frags haven't shown much "growth" but they have definitely become super thick but not growing in length. Wasn't it Lastlight or someone that said girth was more important than length? I guess my corals have the best of both worlds so I don't have to worry. Anyway, I'm still confused as to how to culture perfectly spherical mini colonies before they go into the aquarium trade.

[JDigital]

Sunlight is much more natural as well... Corals get uniformly lit by the sun as it crosses the sky during the day. Pretty hard to do that with our current tank lighting systems, unless your willing do a motorized system, so you get hot spots or dead spots of light which directly affect coral growth.

Can't forget, Mariculture facilities may also "prune" corals as they grow to give them uniform growth pattern. That's just a guess though.

[imcosmokramer]

yes, flow and light are the main reasons for even growth.
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