First Coral Question

lrs183 · 01/16/2014, 11:36 PM

Hello,

So I got a young cleaner shrimp and my first coral frag. A Kenya tree. Its a little thing. it has definitely perked up more and gotten a much more standard KT coloration since bringing it home.

My question though is... putting aside its weed-like attitude with spreading a lot.. are other corals down the road that I put in the tank in big danger? Ie chemical warfare. I don't want my first coral to spell death for everything else. I run carbon and will continue running carbon as time goes on as I've read it helps with chemical warfare.

Thank you!

nlgill13 · 01/17/2014, 12:56 AM

all corals will use some sort of "chemical warfare" and there is nothing you can really do about it. The biggest take way is to keep corals from stinging each other with there sweepers (ie tentacles). You don't need a ton of room between different species of coral.

Also some species can grow into each other with no ill effect (like different types of zoanthids/palys).

lrs183 · 01/17/2014, 01:39 AM

Thank you very much. It just seems like I read things about peoples SPSs etc getting hurt/killed by supposed chem warfare. Though I suspect water quality issues moreso than that. I won't be having SPS corals in my tank but I may try LPS and so forth.

Art13 · 01/17/2014, 06:55 AM

The warfare you are talking about with softies is what they release into the water column, unlike lps that have sweeper tentacles to sting the softies release something toxic, i'm not sure what sps do if anything, i don't have enough experience with them. It's not hard to combat though, for protection in your system just run carbon and change it every few weeks, it will soak up any toxins released.

phillrodrigo · 01/17/2014, 09:56 AM

Kenya trees will spread buds every were. Be careful it can get out of hand. Thats when I got rid of mine. I was siphoning out a bunch every water change. I got rid of it a month ago and still find a bud hear and there

lrs183 · 01/17/2014, 04:02 PM

Interesting. Yeah I've read that they spread like crazy. Who knows, I may not even keep it for the long haul. This was mainly to see if my tank will host a coral period. I may try to be proactive and get arms before they float away. I'll definitely do carbon dosing.

01/16/2014, 11:36 PM	#1
lrs183 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 399	First Coral Question Hello, So I got a young cleaner shrimp and my first coral frag. A Kenya tree. Its a little thing. it has definitely perked up more and gotten a much more standard KT coloration since bringing it home. My question though is... putting aside its weed-like attitude with spreading a lot.. are other corals down the road that I put in the tank in big danger? Ie chemical warfare. I don't want my first coral to spell death for everything else. I run carbon and will continue running carbon as time goes on as I've read it helps with chemical warfare. Thank you!

01/17/2014, 12:56 AM	#2
nlgill13 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Boulder,CO Posts: 1,291	all corals will use some sort of "chemical warfare" and there is nothing you can really do about it. The biggest take way is to keep corals from stinging each other with there sweepers (ie tentacles). You don't need a ton of room between different species of coral. Also some species can grow into each other with no ill effect (like different types of zoanthids/palys). __________________ 90G DT w/ 30G sump, 2 Apollo SolarBlast Dimmable LEDs, 160 Reef Octopus Extreme, Neptune Apex, Mag 7, MP10 & MP40

01/17/2014, 01:39 AM	#3
lrs183 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 399	Thank you very much. It just seems like I read things about peoples SPSs etc getting hurt/killed by supposed chem warfare. Though I suspect water quality issues moreso than that. I won't be having SPS corals in my tank but I may try LPS and so forth.

01/17/2014, 06:55 AM	#4
Art13 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: South Jersey Posts: 1,444	The warfare you are talking about with softies is what they release into the water column, unlike lps that have sweeper tentacles to sting the softies release something toxic, i'm not sure what sps do if anything, i don't have enough experience with them. It's not hard to combat though, for protection in your system just run carbon and change it every few weeks, it will soak up any toxins released.

01/17/2014, 09:56 AM	#5
phillrodrigo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Location: quaker hill ct Posts: 2,433	Kenya trees will spread buds every were. Be careful it can get out of hand. Thats when I got rid of mine. I was siphoning out a bunch every water change. I got rid of it a month ago and still find a bud hear and there

01/17/2014, 04:02 PM	#6
lrs183 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 399	Interesting. Yeah I've read that they spread like crazy. Who knows, I may not even keep it for the long haul. This was mainly to see if my tank will host a coral period. I may try to be proactive and get arms before they float away. I'll definitely do carbon dosing.