Another coral placement advice request!

[saltcats]

I'm trying to get my tank actually stocked up at long last but I'm feeling a bit lost when it comes to deciding where to put the corals long term. I know about checking light/flow preferences etc, but in terms of visualising how they'll grow out and look as a cohesive whole, I don't really know where to start!

Any opinions and suggestions very much welcome

FTS shot with the scape (excuse the algae, I need to get in there with the scraper again!)

Light is an AI Prime 16HD running a modified Saxby preset (I like a whiter look), with peak intensity of mid to high 40% on the blues.

Flow is currently the stock pump + return; I'm planning to get the random flow generator outputs soon and I'm open to/expecting to end up getting an additional powerhead at some point down the road for the SPS.

Currently in the tank are:
- 2 rock flower nems, which have settled in the front left (only 1 in the photo above)
- 3 frags of zoas
- 1 Ricordea florida, also front left - my hermits pushed it up against the front glass but it seems very happy there so I've not moved it until I know where it will go
- 1 favites, currently on the right hand lower rock but not attached permanently
- 1 duncan coral (not pictured above)

My planned stocking includes also
- pink birdsnest coral. I want to have a good sized colony of this as the focal point. I think I will attach it to the tall left rock about halfway up the height of the tank towards the back, so it can grow out over the middle area? Does this sound like it can work?
- plating monti? I'm not dead set on this one but I do like how they look. I was thinking of putting him on the tall left rock on the left hand side, and letting it plate over the left side of the tank. I think that side is too dark lower down for anything else, anyway.
- I would like to pick up a frag of magician's palys, it was one of the very first corals I got and the only one I've lost

Other than that I have no further plans, so I'm also happy for ideas of corals you think would work well to fill in available spaces in the tank! I don't want to rearrange my rocks, I like how they look. I would probably have set it up differently in hindsight (that top peak is pretty high up and there is a lot of shading on the left side of the tank), but for this iteration of the tank I'm sticking with it.

Thank you!

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Any opinions and suggestions very much welcome

I would get them on a rack and see how they do before committing to a place on the rocks.

 

[StatelineReefer]

Plating monti I would place on the glass in the middle of the negative space at a height where it approves of the light and flow.

Everything else should be placed where it's growth tells you it likes being.

 

[saltcats]

I would get them on a rack and see how they do before committing to a place on the rocks.

The corals in the tank I've had for a while (mostly, duncan is new). They're doing well and growing, just haven't glued plugs down since I'm not sure if the places I stuck them when I got them are where I'll want them long term.

I know I'll need/want to put them not glued down for a bit in whatever location I do decide on, to make sure they're happy there before I commit, but it's deciding on the location in the first place I'm struggling with!

 

[damsels are not mean]

Whatever you do don't put the monti at the top! So many are tempted to do this and regret it when half their tank is now only habitat for sponges and impossible gorgonians!

You have quite a bit of empty space. Use it. Corals will mostly grow forever if they are stony. Just prune and direct them where you want. Don't be afraid to break a colony and spread its base manually, there's no rule against having two or 10 separate colonies of the same birdsnest for example. (this is actually quite a natural way for corals to spread during storms).

Also try to think through what the species tends to do and where it's from. the more widely it spreads, like acropora tenuis, plating montis, etc. the more likely it prefers lower light.

Think about the habitat you create by growing a coral, just as happens when you grow a tree. What happens under it in 3 years? Some things move in under the shade, in this case most acans, favia, favites, sponges, filter feeders if you are into that, etc.

Don't be afraid to incorporate plants (macroalgae), some are high maintenance but many are slow growing and quite pretty while being much less demanding of minerals than corals and also harboring lots of microfauna.

Most importantly what happens to the flow? It's easy to see the flow in a brand new tank. Large colonies will completely change the dynamics. Plan for it with how you place things.

 

[saltcats]

Whatever you do don't put the monti at the top! So many are tempted to do this and regret it when half their tank is now only habitat for sponges and impossible gorgonians!

You have quite a bit of empty space. Use it. Corals will mostly grow forever if they are stony. Just prune and direct them where you want. Don't be afraid to break a colony and spread its base manually, there's no rule against having two or 10 separate colonies of the same birdsnest for example. (this is actually quite a natural way for corals to spread during storms).

Also try to think through what the species tends to do and where it's from. the more widely it spreads, like acropora tenuis, plating montis, etc. the more likely it prefers lower light.

Think about the habitat you create by growing a coral, just as happens when you grow a tree. What happens under it in 3 years? Some things move in under the shade, in this case most acans, favia, favites, sponges, filter feeders if you are into that, etc.

Don't be afraid to incorporate plants (macroalgae), some are high maintenance but many are slow growing and quite pretty while being much less demanding of minerals than corals and also harboring lots of microfauna.

Most importantly what happens to the flow? It's easy to see the flow in a brand new tank. Large colonies will completely change the dynamics. Plan for it with how you place things.

Thanks so much, this is great info!