Coral & Pressure

I just watched some documentary about coral reefs on discovery. As usual during it I was in awe at the vast amount of life found on our natural reefs. But then I got to thinking. Im sure its safe to assume that everyone knows that pressure increases as depth increases in the ocean, pools, rivers wherever.

Here's my question, when we put the coral in our tanks is it at all possible that the pressure found in our tanks, or lack there of, could affect corals? I mean in nature some are found in some depths that pressure is evident, how ever many psi it may be.

Also lets say here in Florida Im maybe 2-3 feet above sea level, if im lucky. Lets say Billy that lives in the hills of Cali, or Colorado ( my home state) or anywhere where elevation is above a few 100 feet. Can corals feel that there not in the depths of the ocean and on the contrary far above their natural habitats? I know some marine animals are very susceptible to pressure. Some snappers that are caught inflate their bladders to compensate with the pressure. You have to "pop" it for a proper release. Corals must have some way of judging their surrounding water pressure, right?

Can corals be affected by elevation and pressure that are in our home aquariums. Obviously people keep them successfully in a variety of locations, so its not that its a bad effect, but you think something could occur here?

Are there studies done on this topic that anyone is aware of?

 

Good old PV=nRT

The only thing I could see affecting the tank would be the oxygen levels at high altitude. Air is thinner at high altitude. I have heard of some people keeping salinity levels and the temp lower because of the primary concern of dissolved oxygen content. At higher altitudes, oxygen would seem to be slightly different than at sea level. I'm not sure of an equation to figure out what you need. Test your levels, and if everything seems ok leave it. If the fish and corals seemed to be in poor health, I would first slowly lower the specific gravity, and temperature to help with dissolved oxygen levels.

 

I understand what you are saying but im afraid its not really what i asked...

Forget the altitude portion, thats just a side idea i had as well. But what i was trying to say is that when a coral is harvested from the ocean, obviously the pressure which aquariums are at isnt anywhere near the pressure found in the ocean. Not sure how o2 levels have anything to do with the actual pressure. Im sure its much different than in shallow water areas but im predominantly focused on how the pressure from the natural habitat is affected in the transition to your tank.

I dont need anything, there is no issue in my tank. I was just curious if pressure was an impact on coral health, structure, and longevity in home aquariums and if any studies have been conducted in regards to this.

 

That's very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if it affected the corals skeleton that's so used to having pressure all around it. I don't think altitude would affect it though. Imagine a lake in Florida and a lake in Colorado- no pressure difference a few feet below the surface I would imagine. I think that the pressure difference is where the coral from 30ft below the surface is move to the tank where it's 24 inches from the surface. Hope that made sense...

 

I don't think so since corals so not have swim bladders and regulate he pressure with water. The pressure will be the same inside the cells as outside.

 

I honestly dont think that they would be able to tell. because, technically your talking a max of 3-4 atmospheres difference... practically nothing.

As altitude increases, the dissolved oxygen content of the water decreases, however it still has relatively close water pressure as that of sea level. When you go deeper in the ocean, you increase an atmosphere approx. every 33ft. The majority of our corals collected in less than 33ft of water anyways so they dont even experience a pressure change. for the deep water ones that are at say over 99ft, that is still only a decrease in two atmospheres worth of pressure (worst case is that the coral has to slightly adjust the concentration of dissolved gasses in and around it due to the partial pressure changing).

I would be more worried about the coral adjusting to changes in much higher light around it.