Coral rich and space poor

BestMomEver · May 10, 2019

I have so many SPS frags/ colonies in my tank it’s absurd. So many in fact that when they grow bigger they’re gonna be all over each other. I even have frags glued to the back wall and on frag racks. Short of buying a bigger tank or buying another tank, do you guys have any suggestions? If I had a bare bottom, I would glue some there, but I keep sand. So ideas please?

Mikedawg · May 10, 2019

Understand your "pain." I will probably have to evict some corals soon as well. To combat/mitigate chemical warfare, I try to be very careful in their placement, study flow patterns to keep torches, etc. blowing away from other corals, and use a good quality carbon to remove toxins. And, I have found that sometimes the books are wrong; some corals identified as aggressive don't bother other corals within striking distance, and I've found some combinations that aren't supposed to work but do. Still, hard to predict behavior.
Might find this interesting: https://www.petcoach.co/article/mechanisms-of-coral-aggression-and-how-to-control-it/

Good luck.

Dr. Dendrostein · May 10, 2019

BestMomEver said:
I have so many SPS frags/ colonies in my tank it’s absurd. So many in fact that when they grow bigger they’re gonna be all over each other. I even have frags glued to the back wall and on frag racks. Short of buying a bigger tank or buying another tank, do you guys have any suggestions? If I had a bare bottom, I would glue some there, but I keep sand. So ideas please?

Yea, stop buying frags, give us a chance to buy first.

BestMomEver · May 10, 2019

Jomama said:
Yea, stop buying frags, give us a chance to buy first.

It’s an obsession really. I recently upgraded to a larger tank. I remember thinking how much more room my frags will have to spread out a bit. Nope! I just bought more. Recently I ordered some stylo frags and had to study the tank for days before I got them just to figure out where to place them. You are right about aggression being misunderstood sometimes. One thing I have found is that any coral from the family Pocilloporidae will sting anything, even each other. Stylos, pocillopora, and seriatopora are really in need of more space. All my LPS and softies are glued to rock either low down or placed on the sand bed. But I do have a duncan that is quickly getting huge. That might be a problem. Good thing it’s the only long tentacle thing I have attached to a rock! I can send you stuff if you want!

Mikedawg said:
Understand your "pain." I will probably have to evict some corals soon as well. To combat/mitigate chemical warfare, I try to be very careful in their placement, study flow patterns to keep torches, etc. blowing away from other corals, and use a good quality carbon to remove toxins. And, I have found that sometimes the books are wrong; some corals identified as aggressive don't bother other corals within striking distance, and I've found some combinations that aren't supposed to work but do. Still, hard to predict behavior.
Might find this interesting: https://www.petcoach.co/article/mechanisms-of-coral-aggression-and-how-to-control-it/

Good luck.

I really don’t want to evict anything right now. I guess there are some things I can part with... corals that never colored up like I wanted. But, still I like them. Truth be told, I could have a tank dominated with stylos. They are way cool. I also like monti caps. And euphyllia. LOL. I guess I like lots of them.

Oh... what to do?

MissyTwitch · May 10, 2019

trim your corals back if you can. I have to do it. Sometimes I make frags of my larger colonies, if it becomes to big I donate it to someone or move it to a bigger tank and replace it with its smaller clone.

VSVP bet · May 10, 2019

I have so many sps colonies, I just frequently frag them, they never get bigger than 4 inches across, I just combat growth that way, and make money at the same time.

Xanthurum · May 10, 2019

I am willing to help! I recently had to restart my tank and have very few corals and you have too many so...

Xanthurum · May 10, 2019

I am willing to help! I recently had to restart so I have very few corals and you have too many so...

BestMomEver · May 10, 2019

Duncan... abt 40 heads. Bought it last year and it had 4 heads.

Bad shot of a large stylo colony.

And you can see a purple and green Acro sandwiched between it and another olive green stylo. Geez...

Xanthurum said:
I am willing to help! I recently had to restart my tank and have very few corals and you have too many so...

pm me and give me your address. I’ll work on sending them.

jda · May 10, 2019

Step 1: get rid of anything other than SPS
Step 2: get rid of all Montis, Birdsnest, Stylophora and Pocillipora
Step 3: get rid of any acropora that are common and you can get back in an instant
Step 4: since now you only have nicer acropora, trim them and sell frags

BestMomEver · May 13, 2019

jda said:
Step 1: get rid of anything other than SPS
Step 2: get rid of all Montis, Birdsnest, Stylophora and Pocillipora
Step 3: get rid of any acropora that are common and you can get back in an instant
Step 4: since now you only have nicer acropora, trim them and sell frags

But.... I love pocilloporadae family corals! And, all I have really is common stuff. If I did all that, I’d have nothing left.

jda · May 13, 2019

This is a long-term progression that most people follow if they love sticks. We all loved Pocis and Stylos once... and now many people will not allow them in their tanks. Just wait until they spawn and you will be cussing them out.

BestMomEver · May 13, 2019

jda said:
This is a long-term progression that most people follow if they love sticks. We all loved Pocis and Stylos once... and now many people will not allow them in their tanks. Just wait until they spawn and you will be cussing them out.

I know... I’ve heard..... I’m not sure how I’ll feel about them then.

chicago · May 15, 2019

cut and share has solved my problem with space for 15 plus years.. Of course you could buy another tank... LOL

Jon Fishman · May 15, 2019

BestMomEver said:
Short of buying a bigger tank or buying another tank, do you guys have any suggestions?

It's a great time of the year temperature-wise to send some up to Cleveland.........

ReefDemon · May 15, 2019

jda said:
This is a long-term progression that most people follow if they love sticks. We all loved Pocis and Stylos once... and now many people will not allow them in their tanks. Just wait until they spawn and you will be cussing them out.

I know Pocillopora can become a bit of a pest when it start to spawn and pop up everywhere, but I didn’t know this could be the case for Stylophoras. Is it as common with Stylos and does it happen with Seriatoporas?

aquaman99 · May 15, 2019

I vote you post all the corals you have and we do a fun raffle/auction/givaway/sale of some frags. This way you get to keep everything but you also get to trim everything back and we all get to share in your tank’s glory by helping it live on in our own tanks while you make some funds for a bigger tank.

AngryMike2016 · May 15, 2019

Hey Aqua, my dude! Any better luck with sticks recently?

Tyler Bullock · May 15, 2019

lol If you want to get rid of some, I'll take some sps off your hand!!

Oshengems · May 15, 2019

jda said:
Step 1: get rid of anything other than SPS
Step 2: get rid of all Montis, Birdsnest, Stylophora and Pocillipora
Step 3: get rid of any acropora that are common and you can get back in an instant
Step 4: since now you only have nicer acropora, trim them and sell frags

Step 2 is golden! Lord Jesus these things grow so fast compared to acros