What Coral Do You Most Regret Adding to Your System?

[VR28man]

Agreed on all fronts, and I think your point (as I interpret it) is good: the beginner should have a good grasp of the water chemistry. And once the tank is reasonably stable they don't need to start with zoas, LPS if they don't want. They can go to some more hardy SPS, as long as they can manage to keep their water conditions appropriate and stable.

 

[Jonathan Richards]

As the title says, what coral do you most regret adding to your system?

Why do you regret your decision?

What would you tell a new hobbyist about that coral that you did not know before purchasing it, if anything?

Kenya tree or Colt coral smh took over my tank fast.

 

[Philip Chin]

brown palys!

 

[chaostactics]

Bubble algae. I spend a LONG time picking with #11 scalpel and lots of rinses and a Bayer dip for every new coral.

 

[spitfire1212]

Kenya tree again. Grows, drops, clings absolutely everywhere. On rocks, on sand, on back wall of tank....ugh.

 

[Richyreefer]

Cyphastria. I put a frag on a rock and it killed every acro it touched. Not something you can easily remove either without taking the rock out.

Raise your potassium level to 500, say bye bye to cyphastrea...

 

[DEWreefing]

Common acros

 

[srad750c]

Hollywood stunner chalice

 

[srad750c]

These palys!!!

Oh no, I have some of those. Guess I better to get to work

 

[DesertReefT4r]

Xenia, stuff took over my old 55g mixed reef. I could not give the stuff away fast enough and most of my LFS stopped letting me trade it in lol. Regualr common orange and green monti cap, stuff also takes over and shades lower corals. Hairy mushrooms, things get huge and smother nearby corals. Also the frags that introduced AEFW and red bugs into my tanks, regret adding those even though I don't know what corals they came in on.

 

[Rick Cavanaugh]

Green star Polyps
Xenia
all Zoas

All are invasive buggers that can destroy a tank

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Green pocillopora...it spawns and grows everywhere and wins out vs every other coral every single time and it's very hard to remove. Once you see it the stranglehold on rocks is real.

Xenia too, that stuff is a weed and nobody should ever have it in an enclosed system. I luckily killed my GSP that hitchhiked from live rock but I fought it for almost 3 years.

 

[nickkohrn]

I never realized that some SPS were so invasive. I’m seeing a lot of soft corals in this thread, but I’m surprised at how many people have had issues with SPS. I haven’t attempted keeping it yet, but it seems that I need to do my research on invasiveness beforehand.

 

[twotangs]

Red shrooms, GSP’s, pretty much anything that encrusts. Heading more and more to LPS.

 

[mcarroll]

Agreed on all fronts, and I think your point (as I interpret it) is good: the beginner should have a good grasp of the water chemistry. And once the tank is reasonably stable they don't need to start with zoas, LPS if they don't want. They can go to some more hardy SPS, as long as they can manage to keep their water conditions appropriate and stable.

Yup - dead-on.

And the fact is, that's not such a tall order with the books and internet info we have available these days, so it really just makes sense.

Of course having your chops down-pat doesn't keep you from the zoa's if that's really your thing...just means their temperamental behavior will be a little less mysterious to you than it would be otherwise.

 

[sleeper]

So what you guys are saying that I should take that small rock with 5 “Superman” mushrooms that I bought out and just chalk the $25 up to a rookie mistake? Other than that I have some Acans/Duncan/ frogspawn that I like a whole lot more.

 

[Bob Lauson]

My first aquarium i added Xenia's and thought they were awesome. Then they started spreading like dandelions.

I also bought some mushrooms which I also loved until they started spreading everywhere.

 

[ehays1973]

I love the way GSP looks and just got my first frag. I’ve been told if you isolate it you will be ok. I Put it in the top middle of a branch. I’m hoping it covers that and stays on it.

 

[Zeal]

Let's say you have a pest coral in a tank couldn't you just remove that rock and bake it in the sun? That's what I would do living in Miami...

 

[ehays1973]

I love the way GSP looks and bought my first frag of it. I’ve been told if you isolate it you will be ok. Put it on top of a rock branch and am hoping it grows all over it and only on it. I think it would look cool.