Home Large Polyp Stony Corals Our Turbinaria Coral Frags Become a Distinctive Feature in Any Reef Tank

Our Turbinaria Coral Frags Become a Distinctive Feature in Any Reef Tank

Turbinaria colonies are called a number of common names including scroll corals, cup corals, turban corals and even bowl corals for the distinctive shapes they resemble as the colony grows over time. The shape that any Turbinaria colony takes on is somewhat determined by the type of flow patterns swirling around it as it grows, along with the type of lighting in a display. However, there really is no way to safely determine what shape the colony will take on over time and watching the contours of the colony change over the months and years in your display are one of the many pleasure of patient and careful reefkeeping.

Turbinaria Coral Care Guide

Experience Level

We find that our customers with success keeping other corals are much more likely to have success growing their Turbinaria frags into thriving colonies. There are a number of reasons for this but one of the primary reasons is that as the colony grows over time, it begins to catch more and more of the current, which can break the colony at the point of attachment to the rockwork. Also, moderately experienced reefers tend to monitor and take better care of their water chemistry, allowing the Turbinaria to build a stronger, thicker skeleton over time.

Optimal Water Quality Parameters

Temperature: 72-78F, 22-25C
pH: 8.1-8.3
dKH: 7-11 (125-200ppm CaCO3 equivalent)
Calcium: 375-450ppm
Magnesium: 1275-1350ppm
Salinity: 35ppt
Ammonia (NH3): less than 0.1ppm
Nitrite (NO2): less than 0.2ppm
Nitrate (NO3): less than 0.2ppm
Phosphates (PO4): less than 0.03ppm

Lighting Preferences:

As Turbinaria is a zooxanthellate coral, with symbiotic photosynthetic algae living in its tissues, this coral prefers lighting in the middle of the intensity spectrum or slightly higher. Much will depend on the type of lighting and depth of your reef display but initially choose a spot in the middle of the tank and (carefully) adjust accordingly from there.

Water Flow Preferences:

As Turbinaria is an SPS coral, it tends to prefer stronger shifting, laminar flows. As we mentioned, closely monitor the point of attachment as your Turbinaria colony grows and consider adding support over time to help bear the weight of your growing colony. Over time, your growing scroll coral acts like a sail, catching more and more of the full force of the powerheads and stressing the skeleton near where it has grown onto the rockwork.

Placement Considerations:

Turbinaria is not an aggressive coral but it can be easily injured by the stings of neighboring coral species. Look for tiny spots of discolored tissue on the margins of your Turbinaria colony, which can indicate stings and take steps to mitigate the damage before it leads to a disastrous bacterial infection. Turbinaria will also grow outward like a shelf, starving corals beneath it, so plan accordingly.

Feeding Considerations:

If your Turbinaria is happy and you get good polyp extension, consider feeding them occasionally by softly squirting small, planktonic coral foods upstream and let the current carry the food to the tiny tentacles on each polyp. Just remember that any nutrients you add will have to be offset by additional maintenance and water quality monitoring lest you trash the health and chemistry of your system.

Stunning Online Turbinaria Coral Frags from CoralFrags.com

If you are ready to take your reefkeeping skills to the next level by adding one or more Turbinaria frags, please browse our selection at your leisure and buy with confidence. Our scroll coral frags are propagated in-house and held in our holding systems until they are completely healed to help ensure that our customers get a running start on a healthy, thriving Turbinaria colony in their displays. This is one of the many measures that we take to ensure that our customers and their reef tanks are set up for success before our frags appear at their door. Thanks for looking!

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