mixing and matching

[glacierdiver]

Is it better to have all soft corals, or can one have SPS and LPS all together in a 55 gallon aquarium with the lighting being 8 slimpak 54 watt each, 1/2 daylight, 1/2 actinic. Right now I have leathers, mushrooms, xenia's, frogspawn and some zoo's. An aqua clear 80 and a 30. 2 powersweeps, and a maxijet and a bak pak skimmer.

 

[acanman]

sorry noone answered your question.. you can mix and match lps,softies,and sps but you cant let them touch each other.ex. cant let your sps touch lps one will kill the other and vice versa.. but sps corals are pretty delicate and they need lots of flow(for the most part).. id probably wait to you have lps corals down before moving to sps...

 

[Fragged_it]

+1

sorry noone answered your question.. you can mix and match lps,softies,and sps but you cant let them touch each other.ex. cant let your sps touch lps one will kill the other and vice versa..

When you are researching new corals for your tank, most sites will tell you if the coral is aggressive or not. Aggressive corals often have long feeder tentacles that can sting neighboring corals, this will dictate how much separation is needed.

but sps corals are pretty delicate and they need lots of flow(for the most part).. id probably wait to you have lps corals down before moving to sps...

That's great advice.
SPS' are not as tolerant of insufficient water perimeters and often require high lights.

I'm not real fond of softies, personally. I would recommend zoanthids, a small acan frag (don't spend a lot of $ at first), favia, blasto, etc.

Good Luck.

 

[soccerbag]

Some keep two islands in their tanks...one for softies and the other for SPS. I've seen this done with success. However, chemical warfare can always break out. As stated above, as long as they don't touch, you should be okay.

 

[Dave3112]

I have LPS and SPS in my tank and as long as the acans don't touch any of the SPS everything is lovely. I however will not keep any leather corals in the tank. That is where you have to worry about the chemical warfare. Leathers take no prisioners! If you do want them in an SPS tank then run LOTS of carbon!!! Just my opinion.

 

[joelq]

I have a mixed reef, but heavily slanted towards SPS. I've caught the bug.

You need to specifically watch your nitrate levels. Whereas LPS might be a bit more tolerant of nitrates, most SPS prefer zero nitrates.

Have you checked your nitrate level recently?

 

[scomar31]

I have a mixed reef, but heavily slanted towards SPS. I've caught the bug.

You need to specifically watch your nitrate levels. Whereas LPS might be a bit more tolerant of nitrates, most SPS prefer zero nitrates.

Have you checked your nitrate level recently?

New to the hobby and will be building a 90 gallon reef. Please define LPS and SPS? What are the differences?

 

[joelq]

New to the hobby and will be building a 90 gallon reef. Please define LPS and SPS? What are the differences?

Sure -

LPS = Large Polyped Stony corals
SPS = Small Polyped Stony corals

LPS are those corals that are fleshy, but have a stony skeleton. SPS don't look fleshy at all.

Below's an example of a LPS. Underneath the fleshy part is actually the coral's stony skeleton.

Here's an example of a SPS:

Typically, LPS are more tolerant of lower quality water. SPS needs better quality water (ideally, 0 nitrates).

Hope that helps!

 

[scomar31]

Sure -

LPS = Large Polyped Stony corals
SPS = Small Polyped Stony corals

LPS are those corals that are fleshy, but have a stony skeleton. SPS don't look fleshy at all.

Below's an example of a LPS. Underneath the fleshy part is actually the coral's stony skeleton.

Here's an example of a SPS:

Typically, LPS are more tolerant of lower quality water. SPS needs better quality water (ideally, 0 nitrates).

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the lesson, good info!

 

[stuckey_t]

tagging along...