Chris' 50G SPS and Zoanthid Dominated Reef.. NEW PICS NOV 15th

[Dez]

Originally Posted by chris88

Thanks for the great compliments. Its definetly growing in well. I have a question for some of you with mature tanks. Do you let the corasl just grow or do you have to constantly frag. I keep getting corals that grow into each other and fight. fragging takes a bit of work and i dont have many people to give the frags to up here.

I wouldn't consider my tank too mature yet, but I definitely have a problem with overgrowth. I used to frag the coral I liked less if they were going to touch each other, but now I've just given up. Like you have said, fragging is a lot of work and it's interesting to see what nature does. Sometimes corals will fight and one will win, then the other coral that has died off will strengthen up and fight back stronger. I have had corals merge and fight and then in the middle create a new species or something like that. I have an orange cap and a green cap that were fighting, and now where they were fighting is a new cap that is green with orange polyps and rim. Interesting indeed. I have been slowly removing whole colonies to allow some colonies to grow extra big. I have a colony that is almost 18" accross now.

[chris88]

Originally Posted by Dez

I wouldn't consider my tank too mature yet, but I definitely have a problem with overgrowth. I used to frag the coral I liked less if they were going to touch each other, but now I've just given up. Like you have said, fragging is a lot of work and it's interesting to see what nature does. Sometimes corals will fight and one will win, then the other coral that has died off will strengthen up and fight back stronger. I have had corals merge and fight and then in the middle create a new species or something like that. I have an orange cap and a green cap that were fighting, and now where they were fighting is a new cap that is green with orange polyps and rim. Interesting indeed. I have been slowly removing whole colonies to allow some colonies to grow extra big. I have a colony that is almost 18" accross now.

I wish i had a bigger space for all of the corals but i had to remove two colonies already to make room. I think in a months time i will have to remove two more colonies and move a few corals around to let the others colonies grow in. There is something about a mature tank with large colonies that appeals to me.

[chris88]

Just an Updated:

I sold three large colonies to make some room for the corals growth which really changed the look of the tank.

I just had an RO unit installed. I have been using tap water for years with great success. I often wondered if anything would changed if i switched to RO water. I got a great deal on the system so i decided might as well give it a shot. I will post pics in a few weeks time after the tank has some time to get used to the RO water.