Large Colony Instead of Small Ones

[Random Aquarist]

Well, I've been thinking about what corals I'd like to put in my tank, and I think it'd be cool to have maybe a couple "large" coral colonies with a few small ones thrown in for variety. I got this idea because I'm forming a biotope tank and , unlike in real reefs, most tanks only have very small colonies of corals (maybe 20 heads tops). I know that the reefs are full of areas of small colonies, but you just never see huge colonies in tanks.

I'd like to maybe have a large colony of Sarcophyton and a large colony of Acropora tenuis. These two colonies would cover maybe 80% of my liverock. I'd also have a few small colonies of A. nasuta, A. valida, and Plerogyra sinuosa surrounded by one of the "large" colonies.

Or, I could just have a single coral grow throughout my entire tank.

What do you guys think about this? Is there a way I could grow some corals significantly faster than others? Has anyone tried this and/or has pics of tanks with similar situations?

 

[sruiz]

I think that after a while you will get bored of it and will want something new in your tank, I would probably want to go with smaller ones.

 

[demonsp]

It wouldnt grow the same all over the tank and some if left unchecked will take over. If you let a few run loose then you will most likely end up with only the most aggresive coral.
And with so many this may cant boring and unsatisfying. Learning to control and frag your coral is just part of reefing.
In any size tank your limited in amount of fish you can add but with coral your only limited by ability to control your coral growth.

 

[jeffbrig]

Re: Large Colony Instead of Small Ones

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11900488#post11900488 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Random Aquarist
Is there a way I could grow some corals significantly faster than others?

You can certainly pick corals that grow fast. Monti caps are known for growing rapidly, and can be absolutely stunning once they start swirling around and layering. I have a red/orange one in my tank that's more than a foot across and it's growing like a weed. The colony started from a frag less than 2" a couple of years back.

 

[ACBlinky]

I think the idea of one or two types of coral is really interesting, very natural -- in the wild, things like Sarcophyton leathers grow in huge stands and I've seen pictures of this; it's breathtaking.

I've never done this with SW, but when I kept FW planted tanks I had a Southeast Asian biotope tank filled with Crypt. sp. plants (three or four species) in large stands. It was unusual, and very fun to create and watch. When I converted to SW I sold the huge plants for a good amount of money, then turned right around and went to the LFS to get LR!

Xenia would be a neat one to try -- grows like stink in the right conditions, and watching an entire tank pulsing would be wild. Some leathers also grow quickly, and I recently saw a pic of an RC member's tank that was positively stuffed with hammer corals and it was fantastic looking.

If you get bored, go fragging and have a sale! Meanwhile, I say go for it (and post loads of pictures).

 

[dwd5813]

I'm planning to set up a 40 breeder as a euphyllia tank, probably just hammer and frogspawn. I too think that larger colonies would look awesome in a tank. I've seen some pictures of really large pieces and always thought they looked better than a head here, a head there, etc. good luck with this plan, and be sure to post pics when you get going.

 

[Random Aquarist]

These two pics on ReefPedia.com are what made me really want to do Sarcophyton.

What do you think? I can just imagine my future fish swimming and sitting in the flaps of tissue.

 

[widmer]

Yea if you did one of those Oceanic half-circle tanks with a monti cap in the dead center that could be really artistic.

 

[Random Aquarist]

Okay, I think I've decided to go completely with Sarcophyton elegans. I really, really like the ruffles it makes. Anyone know how fast this grows? Here's some pics I found on Google.