How do you deal with SPS warefare?

[scolley]

I've got my first moderately successful SPS dominant tank happening now. It's a nano - planted with small frags - that is running out of room. So far I've seen SPS behave in several different ways when they get near each other.

1. Intuition - Seem to sense each other's presence, and find ways to grow without touching.
2. Truce - Grow to the point of touching, and stop growing any further in that spot.
3. Dominance - One SPS grows right over another.
4. Damage - One SPS touches another, and one of the two has tissue dieback starting at the point of contact.

And I've seen flat out Death from contact to an SPS also. But I not yet seen it inflicted from another SPS. Thus far it's been from LPS stings.

How do you deal with SPS warfare? Let 'em duke it out? Frequent, careful trimming? Pre-planned placement to avoid any/all conflict?

Thanks.

 

[Chriskid]

i use the careful trimming option.

 

[eskymick]

I've employed all methods. In my next build, I plan on having fewer colonies placed with room to grow out in a natural shape. I realize that's next to impossible to do in your nano.

I would suggest frequent and selective trimming.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Same issue here with a 12g Nano.

If I have a larger established SPS, and a smaller one encroaches and is dominant, I'll let it have it's way until both are decent size. From there, it's time to trim/scrape a dividing line between them. I find Acros can kill other species like Montis with chemical warfare when they sense them at about 1/4" away and the devastation can be severe. Montis tend to overtop other Montis...

 

[MammothReefer]

Most of the time they grow around when they crash depending on the situation I frag or sometimes I just let them grow into each other depending on the pieces

 

[scolley]

Thanks for the feedback folks. That trimming option is a tough one for me. My 33g nano is pretty much two big rocks, with almost 40 different SPS on them. So I can trim some - like acros. But when an encrusting monti decides it wants to grow over something else... all I can do is watch really. It's not like I can remove the rock (and the other 20 SPS on it).

So I'm clearly set up in a way that problems are inevitable. But am curious to see how more experienced SPS keepers manage this.

 

[Reef Frog]

Steve: I think your situation is what drives the "big tank" part of the SW business. Only a fully loaded debit bard can solve that problem! I'll be there before long.

 

[ReefCoastie]

Have you thought about dropping your alk cal and mag to a safe level for slow growth ? Like a mature system.

 

[scolley]

Only a fully loaded debit bard can solve that problem! I'll be there before long.

LOL!

Yeah... I've got a 180g, drilled, ready to convert to reef. Even had all the equipment purchased but lights when the lady of the house put her foot down. Said it was not going to happen. I conceded that it would not happen until the kids were out of college. Reaonable compromise I thought.

But until then - more than a few years from now - I'm stuck with a nano.

Have you thought about dropping your alk cal and mag to a safe level for slow growth ? Like a mature system.

That's a good suggestion. Thank you. But I don't really want to slow down growth. Or maybe it would be better to say... I'd like good growth of some SPS, and slow it down on others.

In a nano problems of inconsistent initial frag size and inconsistent growth rates seems to be magnified. Where on one hand I might buy a frag and it comes in on the large size, and then it proves to be a fast grower too. Then on another frag (from the same hypothetical shipment) may arrive tiny, and grow really slow. All the while you really want to see both corals. Not have one take up all the visual space while the other is - frankly - hard to even see.

Trimming the big fast grower can fix that imbalance over time. But if it's an encrusting coral on a rock that cannot be removed, I think you are just hosed. As I appear to be.