coral placement help/recommendations

[polarbear]

So I wanted to get some of yall's opinions on coral placement. First let me start by saying I know that some corals sting and should be kept away from surrounding corals and that some corals need certain amount of light. This question is for those corals that don’t sting and that can do well almost anywhere in the tank. How do yall go about placing them in yalls tanks? Do you worry about how big they are going to grow and if they are going to grow into another coral? I have seen a lot of tanks that seem to have a lot of random corals growing all over the place. I can imagine that it would be hard to separate a coral once it has encrusted on a rock. The reason I’m asking is because I currently have several SPS frags encrusted on a piece of rock along with an encrusting rainbow montipora. I also have a lot of soft corals on rocks that have a lot of space left over that I could add zoas to or SPS to. I just don’t want to cause any problems once they start touching.

On another note, do you guys worry about zoas growing in random places in the tank? I know some try to isolate them but I have been thinking about placing my zoa frags throughout the whole tank to fill in empty spots. I just want things to grow and fill out and will frag as needed.

[allan]

Man, I made some of what I call mistakes early on... that I didn't I would have but found out that after time corals grow and colonies don't like each other.

I glued a piece of Red Planet and Garf Bonsai about four inches apart. Very early last year I had to break the rock in half because the warring between the two colonies. The Bonsai had developed into a base ball sized colony and the Red Planet about the size of a softball. Breaking the rock in half also broke the Red Planet into three large pieces.

But at what distance do you place frags that you don't end up with a barren field of rock, punctuated by the small frag here and there?

Of course, both of those corals tend to table out, and grow up a few inches and grow out again. If I had knew that, or rather if I had taken that into account when placing the coral, my Red Planet would have been the size of a basket ball by now. Live and learn.

I still tend to just put stuff where I can place them.

When I get a frag it sits on my frag rack for a few weeks to see how it likes my tank and lets me move it around until I find what the little guy likes. Then I place one or two at a time. That way I look into the tank and I'm looking for one or two placed corals. Not a dozen. If you place a dozen coral at once, most likely some won't like the spot where you put them, but most important if you're not seeing it you've forgotten about it. You only remember it when you stumble across the dead frag hidden behind a rock months later.

Zoas, I place them according to size and stalk length. Although I've got some Mind Blowing Palies growing between Rastas, Miami Vice, and Wow Palies... I can see how this was a mistake. All of those last coral grow flat against the rock. The Mind Blowing palies tend to reach up and have a wider disc that can shade the lower growing coral. So I'm irked about that. It's irkable.

As far as placing the same coral all over the place, I tend to try not to do that. I like huge colonies in one spot, not large colonies of the same thing here and there. When I see zoa colonies sloughing off little bunches of zoas, I police that up and glue it to a frag plug. But as it sits now I've got two colonies of two different zoas growing in two seperate locations. Bam Bams and Eagle Eyes. I can get over it because both are very bright and not green.

[polarbear]

Thanks for this info. I understand where you’re coming from. I just like the look of a full reef as compared to a spread out one. Not that some of those aren’t cool because they are. I started a zoa rock but have several other zoas on my frag rack that I am thinking about putting in other locations.

Should I worry about the zoas spreading too much? Should I worry about them growing up next to my SPS?

[allan]

Yeah, I got plenty of sps.

Below are pictures of my lights and the stuff I'm growing beneath the lights.

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[polarbear]

Dang I love your tank and all the color. Ill have to go by and see it one day.

[Paul28]

yeh i know look at all those zoas i need to bring a bone cutter and a razor blade over :)

[allan]

Lol, thanks. What I was trying to show though, was the placement between differing zoas that may compete for light.




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[Southern Flame]

Yeah, I got plenty of sps.

Below are pictures of my lights and the stuff I'm growing beneath the lights.

20753

20754

20755


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Im still in awe over your tank even just in photos lol

[polarbear]

Haha. I know Allen. Your tank is just so nice.