Millepora-Only System Question

[nickkohrn]

This is my first time having an SPS-only system. In the past, I’ve had a couple frags of SPS corals in a mixed system, so I was not worried about placement because they weren’t near each other. However, I have a question about housing Milleporas if I were to do a Millepora-only system.

If I attempt a Millepora-only system, will they fight if they touch each other? Or should they be okay since they would all be Milleporas?

Thank you!

 

[Waynerock]

This is my first time having an SPS-only system. In the past, I’ve had a couple frags of SPS corals in a mixed system, so I was not worried about placement because they weren’t near each other. However, I have a question about housing Milleporas if I were to do a Millepora-only system.

If I attempt a Millepora-only system, will they fight if they touch each other? Or should they be okay since they would all be Milleporas?

Thank you!

Same species usually play nice but... with all animals there is no guarantee. You never Know I have a frog spawn and goni touching each other for the last few months and they are good. I have had a very nice six line wrasse for a while and a fire fish that was a bully. That goes against the “rules”. I had two acans that where from the same mama destroy each other because they where close but not touching. They should be ok but keep an eye out. Can’t wait to see a picture though I love Mille’s mines small

 

[AngryMike2016]

Holy crap a milli-only system sounds amazing.

 

[nickkohrn]

I’m a sucker for Milleporas. I have a handful of them now, and I’ll likely be trading all of my other various Acroporas and Montiporas for Milleporas. I love how much movement they add when compared to other SPS corals, and I want to attempt to minimize warfare between corals.

 

[TX_Punisher]

Just keep them spread out with room to grow and you’ll be fine.

Should be unique with some rainbows, etc.

 

[nickkohrn]

My display contains a bonsai structure and fish dens from West Mariculture. It allows for very high flow since it’s paired with a bare bottom. I added a handful of corals when starting out, but I soon realized that Milleporas are my favorite. I’m highly considering trading all non-Millepora corals and keeping a single Millepora colony on each shelf. That will allow me to have room for eight colonies without much contention between them.

Some shelves may be able to handle a couple of colonies, which is why I posted the original question; I want to be able to get away with a couple of colonies on some of the shelves, if possible.

 

[AngryMike2016]

Are you fishless?

 

[hatfielj]

I love the idea of a milli only display. If you got a bunch of different solid colors and let them all grow together into large colonies, it would be absolutely stunning.

 

[nickkohrn]

Are you fishless?

No, that photo was before I added fish. At that point, I was fish-less.

I currently have a Tomini Tang, Sixline Wrasse, and a Forktail Blenny. I’m looking to add one more fish after I get another den or two so that they have the ability to have their own hiding spots since they have them established.

I love the idea of a milli only display. If you got a bunch of different solid colors and let them all grow together into large colonies, it would be absolutely stunning.

I love that their polyps provide a huge amount of movement for being stationary stick-like animals.

 

[tnyr5]

It will be tricky to pull off as millis are high-light, high-flow corals, but, if you can pull it off, it'll be quite the spectacle. Extra powerheads will be needed; there is no such thing as too much flow for what you are planning. Also, keep the color temp warmer, these are shallow-water corals. This is one coral that really does grow much better under halide or t5 than under LED. As long as you have the nitrates & phosphates to back it up, they cannot be overlit. Seriously, 1000 par is not out of the question.

 

[MikeO5422]

Awesome! What Millis are you going to keep?

 

[nickkohrn]

It will be tricky to pull off as millis are high-light, high-flow corals, but, if you can pull it off, it'll be quite the spectacle. Extra powerheads will be needed; there is no such thing as too much flow for what you are planning. Also, keep the color temp warmer, these are shallow-water corals. This is one coral that really does grow much better under halide or t5 than under LED. As long as you have the nitrates & phosphates to back it up, they cannot be overlit. Seriously, 1000 par is not out of the question.

I currently run my three Radion XR15s at 95%, which gives me around 500-700 PAR in the upper parts of the tank. I will be either supplementing with T5s or replacing my three XR15s with three XR30s. That should get me a much higher PAR.

I have two MP40s in the tank now, and I will be adding a minimum of two more. Ideally, I’d like to add four more because I have a few spots that they could help keep detritus suspended as well as provide a more intense flow pattern while gently hitting the corals.

Awesome! What Millis are you going to keep?

Right now, I have five unnamed frags, which I’ve found to be quite beautiful. I’d like to add a Palmers Blue, a Sunset, a Bubblegum, a Rommel’s Watermelon, and that may be the end.

I’m having difficulty deciding whether I want to have one colony per shelf or have two per shelf. I want to give them space to grow, so I’m leaning toward a single colony per shelf. An additional benefit of my bonsai structure is that the shelves are replaceable and movable. When I upgrade tanks in the future, I can order a new bonsai structure and keep the shelves that I have now.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Update? How’s the tank going? I’m looking into the bonsai platforms and was curious on your thoughts after some time working with them?

 

[TheHarold]

I’m a sucker for Milleporas. I have a handful of them now, and I’ll likely be trading all of my other various Acroporas and Montiporas for Milleporas. I love how much movement they add when compared to other SPS corals, and I want to attempt to minimize warfare between corals.

I have a millipora island- they do not cause eachother to RTN when they contact, but they will not continue to grow from that point either. Like “no mans land”

 

[nickkohrn]

Update? How’s the tank going? I’m looking into the bonsai platforms and was curious on your thoughts after some time working with them?

Well, I ended up keeping different Acropora species, such as millepora, tenuis, etc. I turned my system into a grow-out system since I will be purchasing a house within the next two years; I don’t want to break colonies off of a structure to move them. In fact, my wife has recently began to enjoy the colorations, patterns, and movements of LPS corals, so she has picked out a handful for grow-out.

I love the idea of a bonsai structure, but I had a couple of issues with the one that I have. For example, when my flow was cranked up for an SPS-only system, it would cause the plates to twist and “wobble”, which eroded the pegs that kept them attached to the main structure. In turn, the pegs became thin and the plates started “wobbling” even more in the water.

I am happy with my current situation of having a grow-out system as I will be able to better see growth patterns and colorations for permanent placements in the future. I wouldn’t hesitate to go with another bonsai structure, but I would suggest ensuring that any shelves (if you go with the same type as mine) don’t twist or move in high-flow situations.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Thanks for the quick response! Really appreciate this information and your experience with the structure.

 

[ycnibrc]

I

like milli too

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

How's this reef doing @nickkohrn?

 

[nickkohrn]

How's this reef doing @nickkohrn?

Well, it has gone through many changes in the recent months.

I realized that it would be difficult for me to house only Acropora millepora since I love others as well, such as tenuis, valida, tortuosa, etc. So, I began collecting those.

I decided to remove my bonsai structure. My wife and I rent an apartment, and we plan to purchase our first home within the next couple of years; I don't want to break corals off of any structure to move them. So, I made some frag racks out of PVC and egg crate, glued my current collection of corals onto 3" tiles for grow-out, and I am just letting them grow. This will allow me to better see growth patterns and colors to make better decisions about placements in a future system. I am continuing to collect corals that I would like to grow out. I recently rescued a handful of frags from a friend's tank, so we will see how they do; they are SPS frags that are mainly encrustation as the tissue was receding due to shadowing, but I'm hoping to provide them with a healthy system so that they begin branching and regaining their colors.

I added another EcoTech Radion XR15w G4 Pro, so I now have a total of four over my 3'x2'x2' tank. The dimensions of my tank are not ideal for a frag/grow-out system, so I wanted to ensure that I have powerful lighting that can penetrate to the bottom glass without issue. After adding the light, I lowered the intensities of the others for an extended period of time, which caused the corals to brown, but they are slowly regaining their colors.

I added another EcoTech VorTech MP40, so I now have a total of four in my 3'x2'x2' tank. Even though they are capable of blowing the tissue off of my corals, I would rather have more pumps that are set to lower intensities and provide flow from more directions than have a couple of pumps that are turned up to higher intensities and provide flow from a couple of directions.

My wife has recently enjoyed looking at LPS corals in stores due to their patterns and colorations, and I decided to let her pick some out during our visit to World Wide Corals while we were on vacation last month I planned on the system being SPS-only, even millepora-only, but sometimes concessions need to be made. Since she is beginning to enjoy the corals and fish, I think it helps to let her pick out animals that she enjoys, too.

Overall, I am happy with my decision to turn my display into a grow-out for SPS and LPS corals. Who knows, maybe softies will eventually make their ways in.

I feel less anxiety about creating a beautiful display in a temporary home, which plays nicely into a recent video that BRS released as part of their series on dream tanks. Ryan mentioned the idea of keeping a frag tank if you aren't in a place in life to have a dream tank so that you have large colonies when that time does come. It made me feel validated in my thoughts because I started that process well before the series started. I'm hoping that I can just set things on autopilot, except for routine maintenance, and let my corals grow.