SPS, LPS and softies

[ZebbyD]

Hi all

Has anyone ever produced a coral compatibility chart for corals? Just reading up on SPS as I dive further into the world of SPS and noticed most people are saying that SPS and softies is a no no.

I have an extremely large colony of star polyps and also some pulsing xenia which I'm not scared won't be doing any good for my new SPS.

Any suggestions on this front?

Regards

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Seb lots of members have "mixed coral" reef tanks... some of the prettiest sps tanks are dedicated just to sps corals & some sps corals are "difficult", imo - if you wanted "the best in sps corals" a dedicated sps tank would be first choice, but there are a good selection of sps corals that will do well in mixed tanks.

 

[ZebbyD]

My concern comes from my xenia as both pulsing and green xenia colonies are spreading like wild fire. In the last few months I purchased a few SPS frags to see how they did. I've had amazing growth from my hystrix and red montipora, but sadly my green acro has started to bleach. Never saw any polyp extension and it has started to die off. My other SPS are doing very well. I have just added another aquaray to supplement the light for the hystrix and I am going to by some monti digitata and stylo. Does this sound alright to you for a RSD130D with 3 supplement aquarays?

Regards

 

[BigAl07]

There are a few reasons why it's not always "ideal" to mix SPS and LPS/Sofites:

1) Some LPS and softies can't tolerate a lot of flow (frogspawn, hammer, DUncans, etc) where as most (not all) SPS love about as much flow as you can get to them and THEN SOME!

2) Some softies will exude toxins into the water in order to inhibit growth or kill other coral near by. In the ocean it's usually no big deal (Dilution is the Solution to POLLUTION) but in our lil closed glass boxes these will build and effect other coral greatly.

3) Some softies don't really like overly INTENSE light where-as most SPS like a LOT and then some.

4) Many LPS have potent stinging capabilities and will literally sting and kill most any coral it can reach (and it's usually your favorite most prized and most expensive SPS it can reach)

Most of us do have a mixed reef but by doing this we're accepting that it's a compromise between what's best for SPS and LPS/Softies.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

I run stock, but in my 130D only a couple of my sps corals did well, in my RSM 250 with 6 T5's my sps are doing much better, seems the more light the better with most sps corals. Sure the added lights help - maybe some members running them or similar can jump in with some advise.

I had xenia in my 130D & it grew like weeds too... I left behind $400 of tonga branch LR, so as to not bring it into my RSM 250 - it was a cool pulsing beginners coral - that I ended up regretting that I adding & no longer recommend, to prolific, though pretty.

 

[ZebbyD]

Thanks BigAl!

See I have done a lot to my system recently to ensure it can support SPS. I have improved the lighting, both the tubes and the aquarays, and also got a Tunze 9002 and Vortech MP10 to ensure I have enough flow.

It's a shame I couldn't support the green acro, I believe this is due to insufficient light and will avoid acro for a while. Want to try my hand at the others first. Think I will be getting rid of my pulsing xenia to fund a few more SPS frags. As for my LPS I'll keep them for now as its the softies that seem to be the worst for SPS, especially the leathers.

I've always said in reef keeping that the difference between one tank to another is so varied though. Look at Nexodos and his SPS success with softies and LPS. Crazy really.

Still waiting on my new camera before I can get some decent pics up.

 

[ZebbyD]

I got mine as two tiny little frags, they are no huge, but worth a lot more to sell on to beginners.

 

[BigAl07]

As far as SPS generally speaking (Very generally speaking) Monti-Cap are some of your easier to grow SPS. In fact I know of a local guy here with a nanocube running stock PC bulbs (and they're old at that) and he has monti-cap doing great. On the flip side some Acro are the toughest to grow. They require the best of everything and wont tolerate much deviation from perfection. I just added some SPS to my 130D in the last couple of weeks including "Green Slimer", Red Planet, Blueberry Acro and a few others I can't remember here at work. I need to take some "Starting Off" pics of them and then take weekly (or monthly) shots to compare. I've have monti in there since the first month and it's growing like CRAZY! I guess it's time to place it somewhere besides the Frag Rack :LOL:

 

[ZebbyD]

Does anyone have any experience with Stylopora?

Let me know how you get on with the acro Al. Be interesting to see if they do well.

 

[BigAl07]

I have. It grew like CRAZY on my sandbed in my 90g tank. Went from a receding frag the size of a 1/2 crayon to a mass of SPS beauty the size of a volleyball in about 2 years. Unfortunately I lost the whole colony when I had to move my tank. I think a local reefer has a soul piece of frag of it left I will probably introduce later this year.