Tank mid-life crisis

jgvergo · Jul 9, 2021

My tank is almost 4 years old and I'm finally getting good coral growth. All my corals started as small frags and are now rounding out into decent colonies. Of course, I've had many failures along the way. I've also made some decisions about corals that I regret such as putting a "blue ridge" coral in my tank. Yes, if I squint hard enough I can detect a hint of blue in the polyps, but it is basically the color of crap

Of course it's the fastest growing and largest coral in my tank.

Although I'm happy that growth is taking off, the variety and colors of my corals aren't what I had hoped for (although there are a few individual specimens I do really like).

So, have others hit this point in the hobby? Did you do some kind of tank reboot? Did you remove the corals that you didn't enjoy? Did you just let things continue to evolve?

Townes_Van_Camp · Jul 9, 2021

Why don’t you frag out some of the stuff you aren’t quite so fond of, sell or trade those frags for some different pieces? It will help re-engage you with your system.

tank looks good by the way.

MnFish1 · Jul 9, 2021

jgvergo said:
My tank is almost 4 years old and I'm finally getting good coral growth. All my corals started as small frags and are now rounding out into decent colonies. Of course, I've had many failures along the way. I've also made some decisions about corals that I regret such as putting a "blue ridge" coral in my tank. Yes, if I squint hard enough I can detect a hint of blue in the polyps, but it is basically the color of crap Of course it's the fastest growing and largest coral in my tank.

Although I'm happy that growth is taking off, the variety and colors of my corals aren't what I had hoped for (although there are a few individual specimens I do really like).

So, have others hit this point in the hobby? Did you do some kind of tank reboot? Did you remove the corals that you didn't enjoy? Did you just let things continue to evolve?

you didnt mention your parameters. To me some of the corals look a little 'washed out'. Somethings changing light (a little bit/slowly - very slowly) - up or down can make a huge difference in how corals 'look'. I would personally not remove anything - and merely add more corals with colors that you like better. If you want to remove some - I might take a picture - and see if your LFS has anything they would want to trade. It would also be nice to see a full picture of the tank - to me basically - everything looks quite good.

BostonReefer300 · Jul 9, 2021

I did a mid-life crisis tank re-boot in January after a 4-5 year run with my newest tank. I did it because I had some soft corals that had gotten out of control (xenia and GSP) and a couple of crap-looking SPS that grew too big. I think there's a direct correlation between how undesirable a coral is and how fast it grows. Anyway, I highly recommend doing a reboot! It was a big project that lasted months, but it also gave me an excuse to upgrade a lot of equipment, etc. Have fun!

uhgster1 · Jul 9, 2021

Absolutely! I had zoas, that though beautiful took over like a weed. I have a green leptoseris that has completely taken over my main acro rock. Which wouldn’t have been to much of a problem except they have SWEEPERS! I’ve been slowly getting rid of the offending zoas but short of a reboot I’m stuck with the lepto, which is creeping up the bases of my acros. I have a mystic montipora I thought would be great to have growing on the back glass that has shelved off into my rockwork. And my acros have reached critical mass and are growing exponentially into each other! Be careful what you ask for I guess.

jgvergo · Jul 9, 2021

BostonReefer300 said:
I did a mid-life crisis tank re-boot in January after a 4-5 year run with my newest tank. I did it because I had some soft corals that had gotten out of control (xenia and GSP) and a couple of crap-looking SPS that grew too big. I think there's a direct correlation between how undesirable a coral is and how fast it grows. Anyway, I highly recommend doing a reboot! It was a big project that lasted months, but it also gave me an excuse to upgrade a lot of equipment, etc. Have fun!

HA! You are soooo right about the worst looking corals growing the fastest!!

jgvergo · Jul 9, 2021

BostonReefer300 said:
I did a mid-life crisis tank re-boot in January after a 4-5 year run with my newest tank. I did it because I had some soft corals that had gotten out of control (xenia and GSP) and a couple of crap-looking SPS that grew too big. I think there's a direct correlation between how undesirable a coral is and how fast it grows. Anyway, I highly recommend doing a reboot! It was a big project that lasted months, but it also gave me an excuse to upgrade a lot of equipment, etc. Have fun!

uhgster1 said:
Absolutely! I had zoas, that though beautiful took over like a weed. I have a green leptoseris that has completely taken over my main acro rock. Which wouldn’t have been to much of a problem except they have SWEEPERS! I’ve been slowly getting rid of the offending zoas but short of a reboot I’m stuck with the lepto, which is creeping up the bases of my acros. I have a mystic montipora I thought would be great to have growing on the back glass that has shelved off into my rockwork. And my acros have reached critical mass and are growing exponentially into each other! Be careful what you ask for I guess.

Yes, I guess in the grand scheme of things, these are good problems to have!