What I am looking for is a solution that works for nearly everybody, or at least the masses. Also looking for a solution that works for whatever somebody wants to keep since desires and wants change faster than a tank can. I want people to understand that tanks with building blocks this high can be fun and cool, but they cannot do the same things that tanks with building blocks closer to NSW can do and that you will end up with the tolerant stuff surviving and won't be able to keep the less tolerant stuff. I want people to understand that there is a ceiling, and if they are OK with that ceiling, then they can have a great tank.
I know that what I keep is not kept by everybody, but I can keep whatever I want - any organism, and it will thrive. I am mostly into acropora and clams and I get that this is a nice. However, I grow bounces, jawbreakers and some tricky Z&P to help fund my hobby and they thrive too. On the converse, a lot of what I keep would die in a tank with 1.0 P and 50 N. I have seen it too many times.
There is a local here who really loves him some Red Dragon, PM and other blue deepwaters. He has seen all of the videos and posts and is convinced that he can keep a reef with 2.0P and 50+ nitrates and keep these alive. He came by 3 times and I sold him some and each time they died within about two weeks. Since he has seen some vidoes and articles of tanks with some stags, montis, birdsnests, poci and other easier SPS doing fine with higher building block levels, he thinks that he can keep any SPS, but he cannot understand that the smoothies that he covets so much will not do nearly as well if they live at all. I had to stop selling to him since he cannot keep them alive - I do not need $500 bad enough to watch the stuff die. Each time, he blames a alk swing of .2, a 1% change in his light schedule or that he needs a new dosing pump as the issue and cannot see that his tank cannot keep these kind of coral. What is amazing is that I got some really nice zoas from him that have grown about 10 heads in two years, but the one head that he gave me is about 300 now in about a year - he thinks that it is just luck or placement. He also refuses to believe that a simple coral that he CAN keep alive, like a ORA Miami Orchid, grows an inch or two for him a year, but can be the size of a cantaloupe for me in that same time.
I want people to list the nuance and detail that come with such a tank so that the guy above can know that he will face limits with the choices that he made. I want to see that people people who decide to run a 1.0 and 50+ tank can start with acropora frags and in three years fill a tank wall-to-wall with all and any kinds. I want to see corals be healthy enough to overcome some bad moments (heck, corals in the wild can live out of the water for half a day and still thrive).
We are in the SPS forum and I think that JBs tank is a better example, since he focuses mainly on SPS and acropora and keeps more of the kind of things that people in this forum want to keep... not just MBP&S and some stags and slimers... he keeps a wide range of things. His experience might still need another year or two, but it is worth watching closely.
I could let my P and N rise too (well, not sure how to get my N to rise) and I could have a tank jammed full of corals that were the size of basketballs. I know what would survive... maybe a Red Planet, Miami Orchid, Blue Slimer, Cali Tort (not sure, but maybe), the rasta zoas, maybe some Bam Bams. I know that I would slowly lose all of my smooth skinned stuff, my Gonzo/Tyree Space Monster zoas, Hallucinations. My clams would probably stay alive, but not grow as much. Tenuis would probably stay alive, but not grow as much or have as much contrast. To the masses, this might look like a successful tanks with a few huge colonies and a tank full of stuff, but to people who saw my tank before, they would tell a different story since they knew all of the things that I could keep before and could not keep now.
