Very true.
OP could have plating coral up top and have them shade everything. No, no good.
Maybe encrusting coral. Once they run out of room they start to plate. No, no good.
LPS up top? Eh, no room. Mmmm, what to put up there.... Green star polyps maybe? That would work.
Wow. 7500+ posts and you haven’t heard of the concept of fragging. Plating corals being one of the easiest. Based on your logic they should not keep any coral that encrusts because it will eventually plate. Simply not true. Gonipora is an encrusting coral - doesn’t plate for example. And could do well in that slot depending on flow and par
And I guess you never heard of zoanthids. These do great in 100-300 par by the way and they don’t grow up or plate
These are in 275+ par
These are in 150 par
Both doing great and grown from plugs. Great thing about them is they accept a wide range of par, and all the rock peaks are perfectly in line.
Then there’s nps corals like fat head dendro. Which does not care about light at all and also doesn’t plate or grow upwards, it forms new heads, and grows outwards. Slowly by the way. Here’s mine. Approx 175 par
We also have lepto and <former> favia. These are encrusters but they will follow the shape of the object they are on, even vertical. The will only plate if they hit a perpindicular surface. And these are slow growers also
My leptos grow about 1/4” every 3 months. It would be pretty cool if they encrusted the top of those rock peaks. Would look like a volcano. Oh. These are in 175 par.
This favia is in 125 par. I put a single polyp on top of an rock mound 2.5 years ago. It simply follows the surface downwards. It won’t plate and it’s not “out of control” even after 2.5 years
<former> lobophyllia also does great in 100-200 par. I literally glue them to the sides of rock, or sit them on the tops of other rocks. Extremely slow grower. Won’t outgrow it’s spot for many many years, won’t grow upward, won’t plate. Here are two of mine mouted as I described. Both are 150-200 par
And the other is an orange circular one in then next pic. Glued to the side of a vertical rock, just like the OP towers
Here’s another lobo. I haven’t picked s spot yet but it’s doing just fine in 140 par, just like the numbers OP was getting at the top of some of his rocks.
What else can we do? So many corals you seem to have never heard of.
Scoly can do fine elevated and in 150 ish par. Here’s an Aussie orange one I have. Won’t plate. Won’t encrust. Super super slow grower. Mounted to the side of my overflow
Could also cover the top in firework cloves. These encrust. But they are another one the many corals that encrust but don’t plate. This would do well up top also and is an easy coral that looks great and has some movement. Peaceful too
I could go on and on but I don’t think I have too. Please, don’t come at me with a know it all snarky attitude, if you don’t actually know it all.
Not all coral grows up
Plenty of corals, lps included, could be mounted to the upper parts of those rocks and have space
Plenty of encrusting coral won’t plate if mounted there
And even if OP wanted to mount a plating coral like a monti or a chalice, it’s incredibly easy to frag excess growth a few times a year. And then they can be sold easily or traded to a LFS for credit and OP can have their tank make some money easily and naturally
PS: some corals like being shaded so it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he had a plating coral making a shaded spot. It opens the doors for nice blastos and acans.
