Mixing Corals

[madmatt357]

Can you put various types of coral in a tank? Or do you just have to stay with a single type of coral? Such as LPS, Softs or SPS corals.

 

[UnderCoverDork]

you can mix them but i would reccomend lots of research before hand

 

[bertoni]

I agree that some research would be useful. There are risks in mixing corals. This book is very handy:

[ericsbook]

 

[madmatt357]

Thanks for the book recommendation!

 

[cristhiam]

here is a link to my mixed reef, softies, lps, sps, clams
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=998825

 

[tk1360]

just take into account some corals have sweeper tentacles and will quite happily engage in chemical/biological warfare and kill off those little bundles of money you placed in your tank. Definitely read, read and read again before you start filling up your tank.

 

[reefworm]

can't agree more with the Borneman recommendation. An excellent resource. Corals are very aggressive - either physically as tk1360 points out, or through chemical warfare. Think about how, relatively speaking, there is limited viable space for corals on a reef, so they've developed various methods for eliminating the competition. You can mix varieties in one tank, but give them plenty of room, and watch carefully as they grow. Keep a log of weekly observations on growth and reactions. Make adjustments as needed. And as the others have wisely recommended - research THOROUGHLY before doing ANYTHING.

 

[Misled]

Yes it can be done. Read, read and just when you think your head will explode, take a nap, then read somemore. When I started my current tank that's what I planned. Though my first reef was 20 years ago, this can be quite different. I'm getting ready to redo my rockscape to accomadate all the things that are in my tank. My sps are still on my frag rack, but growing well. My tank is very small, so growth rate is something I've been working on for the past few months. All the corals in my tank started out as frags, this really helps you figure out how quickly your gonna have to either start fragging or get a bigger tank.

 

[Chrsnwk]

it can be done....