扎克·福斯曼（Zac Forsman）和许多同事就光，流量和人造食品对珊瑚生长的影响发表了有关珊瑚农业的最新科学论文。珊瑚农业研究的目的是查看三个用于该实验的夏威夷石质珊瑚的光，水运动和食物是否可以不同。Montipora Capitata，Pocillopora damicornis和Porites Compressa。
对于平均SPS业余爱好者来说，珊瑚农业研究的结果非常有趣，而且非常值得注意。虽然您应该亲自阅读整个九页的纸张，但感兴趣的部分是流动对光压力的影响，哪些食物在农场珊瑚中的增长增加。
In regards to light and flow, it became apparent that some corals adapt very well to intense light with low flow, while others did not. While the study pointed out that increased flow reduced photo-inhibition for this Montipora species, it is certainly plausible to be the case for other corals like Acropora species as well.
“Porites compressa grew best in high-light, low-flow conditions, while M. capitata did the worst under these same conditions….Increased flow at high light levels reduced the effects of bleaching for M. capitata, which has been seen in previous studies on photo-inhibition (Finelli et al., 2005; Nakamura et al., 2005). This reduction could be due to a variety of factors such as decreased irradiance from increased surface turbulence, an increased rate of gas exchange, or a slight decrease in temperature.”
The most interesting development came with coral feeding. “This study demonstrated that some commercially available artificial coral foods can have a large positive effect on the growth of some species of scleractinian corals. According to the growth data (by weight and displacement), Roti-Feast, Reef Chili and Reef-Roids increased the average growth rates of theM. capitata and P. damicornis片段（图4）。尽管是最昂贵和天然产品之一，但用牡蛎彩蛋喂养的储罐与对照箱没有显着差异。不幸的是，他们在这三种物种上没有看到Microvert，Marinesnow Plankton Diet，Phytoplan和Salifert Coral Food的好处。
“我们没有看到的制造商的推荐剂量effect of these foods on coral growth above the negative control (filtered seawater). It is important to note that this experiment took place in an open system, with coarsely filtered seawater, and these results may differ in a closed system.”
值得注意的是，我们在这里谈论三种不同的珊瑚。如此有限的珊瑚的增长结果不能超越任何珊瑚食品的成功或失败。我们必须考虑到，当然，SP，软质和LP之间的食物优先含量和息肉大小会有所不同。正如作者雄辩地说的那样
“强大的物种特异性作用暗示珊瑚适应在高度异质环境中专门针对特定的细分市场。需要进一步的研究来解释这些差异背后的机制（例如息肉和粒径，触手和 /虫细胞的大小和排列，或Zooxanthellae类型和密度）。”
然而，从这样的研究中取得重要的重要性是，珊瑚种植肯定可以调整食物，流量和特定于珊瑚物种的光，以优化生长速度。考虑到群众的受欢迎程度Acropora物种，我们希望看到该测试在几种不同的Acros上重复。
Reference: Forsman et. al. 2012.Coral Farming: Effects of Light, Flow and Artificial Food。英国海洋生物协会杂志。
