SPS and Leather coral?

[Yevoc]

Hello all,
Wondering what the current thoughts on keeping leather corals and SPS together? I've heard of the toxin issue however I've always had some leathers in my tanks.

Researching this. AKA Googling this I found articles detailing this. However noticed something else. Almost all the buzz around it was from 2010 to 2013. Filtering for this year it is almost like this ideal was forgotten.

Did this become accepted fact that no one questions any longer?

or

We never really considered this as factual and people moved on?

Also if you believe this as fact is this all leathers? It is a fairly large group.

 

[Marine Life]

Hello all,
Wondering what the current thoughts on keeping leather corals and SPS together? I've heard of the toxin issue however I've always had some leathers in my tanks.

Researching this. AKA Googling this I found articles detailing this. However noticed something else. Almost all the buzz around it was from 2010 to 2013. Filtering for this year it is almost like this ideal was forgotten.

Did this become accepted fact that no one questions any longer?

or

We never really considered this as factual and people moved on?

Also if you believe this as fact is this all leathers? It is a fairly large group.

I feel that as long as you keep a carbon media reactor in the tank and replace the media very often such a once a week or so. You should be good but be wary.

 

[jda]

Toxin issue is a myth from long ago. You will be fine.

The genesis goes back to probably a magazine article about how some "corals" play chemical warfare - I remember the article before even dial-up BBs (raise you hand if you know what a BB is?). "Corals" is a pretty broad term. There is no evidence that this happens in our tanks or that it is an issue at all. It was just easy to grasp onto when people failed like "bad salt," "neighbor sprayed for bugs," "something on my hands," "N or P too low" or some other hot topic of the day.

 

[jda]

The toxins are organics. Organics do not maintain form for long in a living ecosystem with bacteria, microfauna and filters all waiting for them. While I am not disputing that some "corals" do play toxic warfare, it seems that for them to have an effect, there has to be SO many and the tank so not-well-run for it to be an issue. If this were true, then you would have other problems and blaming the leather coral would be pretty dumb and foolish.

 

[kenchilada]

Toxin issue is a myth from long ago. You will be fine.

The genesis goes back to probably a magazine article about how some "corals" play chemical warfare - I remember the article before even dial-up BBs (raise you hand if you know what a BB is?). "Corals" is a pretty broad term. There is no evidence that this happens in our tanks or that it is an issue at all. It was just easy to grasp onto when people failed like "bad salt," "neighbor sprayed for bugs," "something on my hands," "N or P too low" or some other hot topic of the day.

I know what a BB is.

 

[DanConnor]

Yeah- with no good evidence either way, I decided to not worry about this. My display tank has mostly acroporas, but the connected frag tray contains large colonies of xeniids, sarcophytons and other leathers, zoanthids and mushrooms. The acros are growing well and have good color.

 

[uhgster1]

i have both in mine. I’ve noticed over the years that whichever is dominant tends to do better than the other. That sinularia near the bottom of the picture is a couple of years old and is growing super slow. I’ve seen them in other aquariums twice as large in half the time. I don’t think they appreciate the water conditions we make for SPS.

 

[Yevoc]

i have both in mine. I’ve noticed over the years that whichever is dominant tends to do better than the other. That sinularia near the bottom of the picture is a couple of years old and is growing super slow. I’ve seen them in other aquariums twice as large in half the time. I don’t think they appreciate the water conditions we make for SPS.

Yeah if my leather can survive 100x turn over and 300+ PAR I think it is allowed to stay. I am currently keeping a large chunk of it on the back side of my rock work as a fish hideout as it is larger than my SPS so far.