Looking for some coral advice

[MJAnderson]

In my newbie enthusiasm I picked up some cool zoas that I liked with the intent of placing them in the lower part of my tank and focusing on hard corals up top. I wasn't planning on an all sps tank, but was planning to avoid leathers.

Well now that I picked up some sps from the swap meet and a pack from SPStoner, I'm doing some reasearch and more than one person has warned me against putting zoas on any permanent rockwork as they will take over. My tank is fairly narrow and I don't really have a ton of room for rocks up front so I have 8 really nice zoa frags all lined up wondering what to do with them. I picked my favorite and attached it to a free standing rock.

I'm wondering what most people put in their low light areas? Also wondering how people control their zoa growth. In the 2 months I've had this one, it's gone from about 20 polyps to over 30 already.

Suggestions?

 

[AIMFish]

Either mail them all to me ( best method ) or try using rocks as a barrier between you zoa gardens and the rest of the tank. When these smaller rocks start to get covered take them out and replace them with new ones and use the covered ones for store credit or for trading friends.

 

[fade2black]

I have had good luck cutting the mat with a razor blade and pulling it off the rock. Sometimes it is pain, but with some practice you can get it off. I have used this method to trim back zoos when they start getting too close to any other coral I don't want them fighting with.

 

[cowcio]

As long as you don't let the zoanthids get near or overgrow the SPS, you will be fine.

Everytime you frag the zoanthids, just leave yourself a tiny frag of each. That you can make a little cash/trade and watch a new colony grow again.

 

[MJAnderson]

Good idea on the barrier rock. Kinda like a DMZ?

Do you razor them in the tank? The bottom rocks for me are buried in the sand. I can't really pull them out to frag.

 

[cowcio]

I wouldn't suggest razoring them in the tank, as they might expel some fluids. I don't know how harmful it is to the tank, but if I wouldn't chance it.