do pests corals even exist in a 20 gallon tank

[LifeOfAquatics]

hello, so i really like gsp and xenia and kenya tree, especially pulsing xenia. anyway, my first and last saltwater tank is going to a simple 20 gallon long with just 3-5 fish and a mix of sps lps and softies. anyway, I've wanted to keep all of them but turned them down after hearing horror stories about them. but like, then someone told me, this is my first tank and that I should just do whatever I want and its a small tank as a well so controlling the corals will be easy. is this true? like if think abt it, its only 30 inches by 12 inches. and I have 10 inch long metal tongs. so life if I see am tiny kenya tree or a tiny pulsing somewhere where its not supposed to be, I can just yank it out yk without having to like do anything extreme. i can remove it easily. and for gsp, if I put it on its own flat rock and put it in the sand, will it grow on the sand and like overtake a tank that way? or like I heard this strategy of where you put a hammer and a torch or something similar around the gsp and if it grows too far, the hammer and torch will sting it keeping it in its place. what do you think? should I just go ahead and do as I please?

 

[Reefing_addiction]

Pest corals are relative.

Even in a 20 long some corals could still get into places you don’t want them depending on your rock arrangement. But you should do whatever makes you happy is your tank you were the one that has to look at it. You’re also the one that has to deal with it. GSP on a rock will stay on a rock shouldn’t go out over your substrate.

Kenya trees can break apart and up anywhere. But if you can see it and you get you at the tongs as long as it isn’t firmly attached you should be able to pull it off, but it might grow back if you leave any flesh. Same with xenia.

some zoas are considered pest. They grow so quickly they’ll take over rocks will take over tanks they can break off of the rock and float around and land somewhere else.

Definitely easier to trim and manage a small tank versus a larger tank

 

[Fish Think Pink]

hello, so i really like gsp and xenia and kenya tree, especially pulsing xenia. anyway, my first and last saltwater tank is going to a simple 20 gallon long with just 3-5 fish and a mix of sps lps and softies. anyway, I've wanted to keep all of them but turned them down after hearing horror stories about them. but like, then someone told me, this is my first tank and that I should just do whatever I want and its a small tank as a well so controlling the corals will be easy. is this true? like if think abt it, its only 30 inches by 12 inches. and I have 10 inch long metal tongs. so life if I see am tiny kenya tree or a tiny pulsing somewhere where its not supposed to be, I can just yank it out yk without having to like do anything extreme. i can remove it easily. and for gsp, if I put it on its own flat rock and put it in the sand, will it grow on the sand and like overtake a tank that way? or like I heard this strategy of where you put a hammer and a torch or something similar around the gsp and if it grows too far, the hammer and torch will sting it keeping it in its place. what do you think? should I just go ahead and do as I please?

Do what you want... its your little bit of ocean

Between your control and Darwin, it will work out... and if you run into anything I'm sure you'll recover. Its a fun learning process and I look forward to hearing about your future successes