frags everywhere

[Wade]

The good news is that I've got healthy growing frags all over my tank. The bad news is that I've got healthy growing frags all over my tank. They're mostly dispersed all over the sand bed with just a few on my rock work because I'm paranoid about one touching the other. I see all these wonderful pictures of reef tanks where all the coral grows right up against another. How much do I really need to worry about turf wars? Should I care about the little turf wars that may or do happen or is that just the way they keep each other from overtaking everything? The SPS frags will be easy to place since they're going to be in the upper third most likely. It's the lower two thirds that looks scattered. I think this is what's preventing me from keeping my sb clean is that I don't want to disturb the frags that are littered across it. Here's what I've got on the sb:

• 3 acan frags (all different color, 2 with 10+ heads, 1 with ~7)
• 5 different zoa
• 2 different palys
• 3 favia (1 maze)
• hammer
• lobo
• 2 chalice
• fungia
• pavona
• big welso (well, big for me. 4 -5 inches)
• ricordia (one mushroom)

I may be forgetting something since I'm at work right now, but that's a lot. On the rock I currently have:

• very droopy toadstool:(
• some zoas that jumped ship (in one small spot)
• frogspwan
• favia (war coral)
• stylo
• pavona
• blasto
• scroll tubinaria
• meteor shower
• candy cane
• anemone
• elephant nose
• chalice
• Jack-o-lantern leptoseris

All the frags on the rock are fairly small with the exception of the candy cane and it's really not that big either. Lots of room to put stuff. The question is what will play reasonably nice with each other. There's also the consideration of not changing their current lighting much so as not to cause them any harm. I've heard acans really don't play nice with anything except themselves. I suppose that any shade cast by SPS growing out will prevent anything from encroaching on them, but until then will encrusting coral like the war coral, meteor shower, leptoseris, chalices, etc. cause damage to SPS or does the turf war at the border keep them both from going any further, but not cause any damage to the coral themselves? I've not sure I've ever read a detailed post covering this before. I know all coral have the ability to sting, but is that just how control each other from taking over or can a turf war actually kill a coral?

[Wade]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Beautiful tank. Obviously very SPS heavy, but I see big fields of what looks like zoas. I'm not sure if that's a wall of acan on the bottom left or something else. At the right edge of that is another colony of favia or acan maybe. There's what looks like a massive anemone or torch that the clown is hiding in. Anyway, everything is all up in each other's grill.

[jestep]

Main concerns are the LPS which unless they're closely related they'll sting anything else near them. SPS fill fight once they grow close together.

Of what you listed, virtually nothing should be in contact except the non stinging stuff, zoas, palys, rics. Everything else needs its space. Also, watch out for the chalices as sometimes they'll get long and very thin sweepers that you can barely see.

[Wade]

Could the stinging result in the whole coral dying or just the area that got stung? How do you keep an encroaching coral (like the war coral that's spreading out) from going any further than you want it to? Is this when you have to start fragging it back?

[Sascha D.]

The whole coral could die if it's bad enough, but generally just the affected portion is what dies. I think of it like fragging in a sense. We cut a part away and it grow back eventually.

The mushrooms, toadstool and zoas on your list can be close to each other. The stylo, pavona, and most SPS can be fairly close without too much worry, but I wouldn't let the polyps touch. Everything else will sting. Palys are known to crowd out other species of polyps and take over territories. Hammers and Frogspawn are supposed to have sweepers, but I've never seen them or had them damage anything nearby. Trumpets have very small sweepers about as long as the fully extended flesh.The acans don't have long sweepers but if they touch anything then consider it gone. I had a trumpet fall on my acan and it ate a whole head over night.

[ckyuv]

I think I see a tank upgrade coming in the near future

[Wade]

I have a love/hate relationship with my built in. It was beautifully done by the carpenter and I love the look, but upgrading will never be possible. There is however the remote chance that my wife and i will swap offices (she mentioned it, but is still walking the fence) which will put me in a room on the main floor that will easily hold a couple of nice sized tanks:) Then I can spread the stuff out a bit. Me thinks I may have overextended. When this stuff starts growing out it's going to be an all-out war zone!

[Wade]

Can zoas be up close to pretty much anything? I assume it if they get too close to something that doesn't like them, that the ones that are crowding in will get zapped, but the rest will be fine. Yes/no? They won't grow up and over other coral will they?

[Dean]

Man you know as well as I do that an upgrade just means more space for MORE coral. Lol The more space you have, the more coral you get to keep.

- Dean

[FarmerTy]

I must be doing something right then going to a 210. Yes!

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[Timfish]

That's why I started getting people to subsidize my tanks!