I need some advice on keeping a mixed reef

[Sharkbait19]

Hello fellow reefers,
When I first started reefing a few years ago, I bought frags based on price and ease of care, and that ranged from various lps to leather corals. Fast forward to today, I own a 40B mixed reef with one side dominated by stony corals, and the other side filled with soft corals, including four leathers. Although I try to keep the coral warfare to a minimum, at least once every two months, the leathers release chemicals into the water that upset my stony corals. Sometimes it’s not a huge deal, while other times, like today, it causes a huge meltdown and even some unfortunate deaths. I’ve come to the point of considering removing my leathers, each now the size of a baseball or larger, and shifting to only LPS and SPS corals. I do like what soft corals have to offer in a reef, however, and would much prefer keeping the tank as is. However, I find it more and more difficult to keep the leather corals at bay and to keep the chemical warfare at a minimum. To those currently mixing coral varieties, what tips do you have to keep my leathers from releasing toxins, and what do you do if/when an incident does occur? Are the soft corals worth keeping, or should I reconsider my current setup?
Thanks!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Leather corals release terpenes, not actual toxins into the water that are easily picked up with carbon. This is their attempt at warfare.

Are you running carbon, either actively or passively?

I passively run carbon in my 180 mix due to being Tang heavy. I keep 5g on hand and a loaded brs 2 stage reactor to throw on if needed.

 

[Sharkbait19]

There is almost always carbon running in the filter.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hello fellow reefers,
When I first started reefing a few years ago, I bought frags based on price and ease of care, and that ranged from various lps to leather corals. Fast forward to today, I own a 40B mixed reef with one side dominated by stony corals, and the other side filled with soft corals, including four leathers. Although I try to keep the coral warfare to a minimum, at least once every two months, the leathers release chemicals into the water that upset my stony corals. Sometimes it’s not a huge deal, while other times, like today, it causes a huge meltdown and even some unfortunate deaths. I’ve come to the point of considering removing my leathers, each now the size of a baseball or larger, and shifting to only LPS and SPS corals. I do like what soft corals have to offer in a reef, however, and would much prefer keeping the tank as is. However, I find it more and more difficult to keep the leather corals at bay and to keep the chemical warfare at a minimum. To those currently mixing coral varieties, what tips do you have to keep my leathers from releasing toxins, and what do you do if/when an incident does occur? Are the soft corals worth keeping, or should I reconsider my current setup?
Thanks!

It can definitely be a challenge to keep everything happy. I have some very small toadstools and a bunch of mushrooms in my otherwise LPS dominant tank. I don't have too much trouble but do make sure the stony corals are separated from the softies. I would not put a larger leather in this tank though.

As for what to do if things start looking affected, water change and new/extra carbon are your best bet.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

There is almost always carbon running in the filter.

How much and how often are you changing it?

If you are blaming the leathers for nuking the hard corals, probably not enough. Carbon easily absorbs both tannins and terpenes.

 

[JGT]

Just curious, how do you know the softies are releasing toxins? They are not visible.
I’ve had both for years without carbon and no issues. I’ve even fragged my leathers in the tank with no issues as well. IMO I think the terpenes thing is a bit overblown.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Just curious, how do you know the softies are releasing toxins? They are not visible.
I’ve had both for years without carbon and no issues. I’ve even fragged my leathers in the tank with no issues as well. IMO I think the terpenes thing is a bit overblown.

My mushroom dominated frag tank goes to hell in a hand basket when leathers in the main tank, same system, are shedding. This is when I put on a two-stage carbon reactor and every mushroom chills out within a few hours. I would say in my experience it is adequately blown, and still nothing to be worried about as it's easy to control.

 

[JGT]

Interesting. No shrooms on my end so can’t comment but have basically everything else and no issues.

 

[Sharkbait19]

How much and how often are you changing it?

If you are blaming the leathers for nuking the hard corals, probably not enough. Carbon easily absorbs both tannins and terpenes.

I run a bag rated for up to 120 gallons (however much that is) and change it every 2 weeks to a month, depending on how dirty the tank gets at a particular time.

As far as knowing whether or not it is the leathers, at this point I’m certain of it. Not only have I read of multiple other very similar experiences, but these problems tend to occur whenever a leather coral gets ticked off. It took me a while to figure out, but once I did, it was pretty easy to notice a pattern. While none of the parameters had any detectable changes, and everything was seemingly fine, stony corals would continue to melt, so I began to realize what the likely cause was.