Mixed reef corals, what would be your combo?

[MRRBW]

Not sure if this is in the right spot but here goes. I am planning on developing my tank into a mixed reef system. I love the look of sps, lps, and softies intermingled and flowing together. I realize this is difficult as the conditions required for the corals differ between types. So, if you would have a mixed reef, or do have one, which corals would you pick and why. Maybe add in which ones are best for beginners too. Share some pics if you got

 

[Nicks0912]

Zoas r the easiest to keep and LPS aren't much harder, SPS r the most difficult. I started my tank out with zoas and torches, and im just now starting to experiment with SPS.

 

[MRRBW]

I have a monti cap sps, it's doing pretty well so far, doubled its size in 2 months. Can't wait for it to plate out and cover a canyon. Do you have any softies like leathers?

 

[Nicks0912]

No leathers for me, but i do have a couple of anemones, some gsp, n zoas all over the place

 

[jason g]

I have a mixed reef, zoas and LPS along with SPS. Just make sure you place your SPS away from the corals that will sting them if close enough. I place all my corals far apart and put my SPS together in groups so no other corals will sting them. I have two Toadstool leathers in my tank. Both are doing great. They just need a lot of space because they grow so huge quickly.

Frogspawn and Digi corals are also easy to care for as beginner corals along with mushrooms and montiporas.

 

[MRRBW]

nice suggestions. How much flow does the frog spawn like? is it bad to have relatively close direct flow?

 

[Pete polyp]

I have a large variety of zoa, mushroom, lps, sps. I agree with staying away from leathers because they can produce enough toxin to wipe your tank out, especially if stressed. I have a bunch of different sps and the easiest to keep for me is birdnest. With the lps I have I went with mostly acan. I do have a couple favia, blasto, couple Duncan. I probably have 40 different zoa/paly and a few different ricordea and mushrooms. I try to count how many different corals I have because I will come up with a different number each time (between 120-140). Oh and for the size of my tank, its just a 29

 

[saltyhog]

I agree with the above. I will say this, not all SPS plays nice with other SPS. I have a green birdsnest and a prized blue acro that grew together. The area where they touched the blue acro is dead. Will have to move one of them.

 

[MRRBW]

Tank looks nice Pete, filled up nicely. Thanks for sharing your pics and advice (saltyhog too)

 

[MRRBW]

Any others with mixed reef advice they would like to share?

 

[tyler1503]

With the beginners corals, I suggest candy canes or torches. They both look nice, will grow well, are hardy but neither will spread like crazy and take over your tank like some softies can. The torches have a nasty sting though.
In my mind the ideal mixed reef would have 5 layers (with a bit of overlap of course!). The top layer would be the SPS. Mainly acros and birdsnest. The 2nd layer would be mainly euphyllia. The 3rd layer would be assorted LPS, mainly cynarina, candy canes, Blastos etc. The 4th would be a mushroom/ric garden. The bottom layer would be the sandbed and have assorted clams and a fungia garden.
In my mind, the fish population would be just as diverse. Different gobies, a pair of clowns, a tang or 2, some anthias, a dwarf Lionfish, an eel, a foxface, some wrasses and lots more.
Assorted sponges and inverts throughout would be awesome too.

 

[MRRBW]

Thanks Tyler, your strategy sounds really good. There are so many corals that are appealing, I really want to have a nice flow to them. I love the look of plating corals and branching sps, but I love the sway of softer corals in the currents. Soooo many choices, so little tank space lol

 

[tyler1503]

Thanks Tyler, your strategy sounds really good. There are so many corals that are appealing, I really want to have a nice flow to them. I love the look of plating corals and branching sps, but I love the sway of softer corals in the currents. Soooo many choices, so little tank space lol

No worries I feel a lot of the "mixed reefs" out there are not diverse enough. I don't believe it's a mixed reef because you have 50 acro frags and an acan like some people seem to. A reef with a lot of diversity, fish and coral wise, would be something special. On the other hand, sadly, the perfect idea of a mixed reef I have in my head just isn't very realistic. Too much diversity leads to too many corals who have different requirements that we just can't provide in a tank. We can't have the clear crisp water that most SPS like and the nutrient rich water a lot of softies like at the same time, and when you find a balance between the two, not everyone will have the colour they potentially could. Not to mention fish getting hungry and looking at smaller fish as a snack. Ahhh if only!!
What size tank will you be using?

 

[TJ's Reef]

I've mostly successfully kept a rather high bio-load Mixed Reef for about 5 years now, Reeftanks in general for 30+ years though. I find that crowding/mixing like species together in designated zones allows you to have a very realistic aquascape. Certainly years of experience has taught me a great deal about compatibility of differing species and how to go about placing them within my aquariums according to their requirements and even which corals to not have down current of another mostly avoiding any allelopathy issues.
IMHO thicker skinned SPS like Seriatopora, Stylopora and A. millipora tend to mix better and deal with the higher nutrient levels that most LPS and Softies prefer.

This a FTS taken today of my 125g, there are a couple of larger soft corals (Nepthea and Sinularia) not seen from this perspective along back wall.

A FTS from June 2013 with my large Sarcophyton (Toadstool) before re-homing it, kept blowing over the 15lb piece of LR it was attached to.

​Cheers, Todd

 

[tyler1503]

Wow, awesome tank Todd. That bangaii look so little!

 

[MRRBW]

@Tyler- so true what you say. I look at a lot of photos of mixed tanks and I would not really call them that. Hard to make all the corals happy though. I have a 60 gallon fowlr that I'm switching to a reef tank. Got good flow and lighting. Just need to finish cleaning up the algae issue so I can replace algae with corals. Here's a shot from a couple of days ago:

 

[MRRBW]

@Todd : Beautiful tank. I love the diversity and coloration. The toadstool is so impressive. One day I will be upgrading to a larger tank in the hopes to have a nice solid mature reef tank. Inspirational Todd. Thanks for sharing the pics!

 

[MRRBW]

Any other combos out there?

 

[WeLoveReefers]

Great thread exactly my intentions. Following.

 

[MRRBW]

Thanks WeLoveReefers - what you would be your combo?

I wish I could get the ball rolling on my tank faster than I am. I need to get an RO/DI system set up and auto-top off first so I can some algae issues under control. The battle continues! lol. I love the birds nest up top, looks awesome. Slowly learning too which softies and lps to avoid bc of stinging tentacles. Never considered that before when visualizing my tank. I want the tank to look full and not have gaps everywhere to prevent corals from killing each other. Hopefully I'll get a much fuller and complete look to the reef