Reefing Real Estate: Does everything need to be covered?

Coral in your reef tank?

  • Pack in as many as I can get

    Votes: 75 14.0%
  • A lot but leave room for growth

    Votes: 358 67.0%
  • Less is more

    Votes: 74 13.9%
  • Very very few

    Votes: 16 3.0%
  • Fish only...blah!

    Votes: 6 1.1%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 5 0.9%

  • Total voters
    534

revhtree

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Today let's talk about "Reefing Real Estate!"

It's a problem we all have faced or thought about at one time or another. Whether you have already ran out of space or are planning to run out of space it's something we all have or must consider. But how do you really feel about packing an aquarium with as many corals as possible? Do you like the look or are you just addicted? Both? :p Today let's talk about it and get your tank on reefing real estate!

1. Are you addicted to corals? I'll answer that one for 99% of you. YES!

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?


Here is my old 120g from 2008. Not completely covered but you get the idea...

1596125061708.png
 

725196

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1. Are you addicted to corals?

No. I can stop whenever I want. I just don’t want to stop

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?

That’s the goal. Al least one day as it grown in. I wish I had more room. At this point if I see something I want I will need to remove something else.

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?

Not sure I have anything negative per se, but there are things I wish I had not added. Rock flower anemones, bubble tip and zoas. They may come out at some point but my wife love them so they stay. For now.

I love the look of a fully loaded tank and as I said that’s my goal. However I want to gro to that and not just insat-tanky way there.

Picture is a few weeks old. I have added and changed a few things. I will be putting pics in my build thread once I do the next major upgrade, a Neptune Apex.

B92625BA-B115-46E5-A020-020162A44C66.jpeg
 

mitch91175

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1. Are you addicted to corals? YES!

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?

Having a lot of coral does look nice. If a lot of SPS, does look good until they start growing into each other. Then you start getting rid of those coral you are not too attached to (my current situation, :D)

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?


As stated above, coral will eventually need space for growth. If you aren't killing everything, they eventually will grow and grow into each other.


Lesson learned is every sale doesn't mean I need to keep buying coral when I have absolutely zero space.
 

waterskiguy

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1. Are you addicted to corals? I am part of the 99% - YES!

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?
Maybe if it's well thought out and planned. I like most of the rock covered with coral and a completely clean sand bed. I plan my tanks, taking into account, how fast certain corals grow, growth pattern, color, overall target size (whether I want to prune a coral a lot, or not) and coral warfare.

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals? Corals do kill each other. They ultimately look like an unmanaged jumble of coral mess that make me itch (ocd).
 

Dr. Dendrostein

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Today let's talk about "Reefing Real Estate!"

It's a problem we all have faced or thought about at one time or another. Whether you have already ran out of space or are planning to run out of space it's something we all have or must consider. But how do you really feel about packing an aquarium with as many corals as possible? Do you like the look or are you just addicted? Both? :p Today let's talk about it and get your tank on reefing real estate!

1. Are you addicted to corals? I'll answer that one for 99% of you. YES!

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?


Here is my old 120g from 2008. Not completely covered but you get the idea...

1596125061708.png
Should have kept the 120 gallon tank , I see no hair algae there :p

I can say that because I'm not on your payroll......heee
 

JMR5

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You were speaking perfectly fine English, then this incoherent sentence came out.I even tried google translate it said it was gibberish.
I was thinking the exact same thing! (my box from ARC's live came in yesterday.....it's gonna get interesting in here LOL)
 

bigjgmac

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Today let's talk about "Reefing Real Estate!"

It's a problem we all have faced or thought about at one time or another. Whether you have already ran out of space or are planning to run out of space it's something we all have or must consider. But how do you really feel about packing an aquarium with as many corals as possible? Do you like the look or are you just addicted? Both? :p Today let's talk about it and get your tank on reefing real estate!

1. Are you addicted to corals? I'll answer that one for 99% of you. YES!

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank?

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?


Here is my old 120g from 2008. Not completely covered but you get the idea...

1596125061708.png
Am I addicted to corals? Yep.

I like the look of a densely packed reef tank.

Downside? I can think of many. Sometimes there is a fish that has to go and the more stuff you have in there, the harder it gets. There’s the exorbitant cost, and once things grow out, it can be an issue to stay on top of it.

Bigger tank?
 

Nano sapiens

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If one is trying to emulate a true pristine, healthy coral reef, then close to 100% could be covered by corals.

https://www.livescience.com/6560-world-pristine-coral-reefs-revealed.html

Barott and her colleagues made a week-long scuba diving and snorkeling excursion near the unspoiled coral reefs, plunging more than 82 feet (25 meters) deep, to measure the coral cover — the number of living coral in a given area of the ocean floor — which was "phenomenally high," at nearly 100 percent, Barott said.

So there you go, no excuse not to 'pack it like you meant it' :)

12g FTS_022320[1].jpg



..or maybe this hot 'mess' (early tank pic):

12gFTS120113_zps6c3fa092[1].jpg


12g FTS_022320[1].jpg 12gFTS120113_zps6c3fa092[1].jpg
 
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bigjgmac

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Whoops my wallet slipped... just set this tank up in February and continue to go to the LFS at least once a week and always come home with at least one coral... yes I have a problem

3A9E416E-6DBA-42E9-9B3F-9EFC42892AD2.jpeg
C35B1B56-E2D9-4E1F-8E00-311EA261462E.jpeg
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That’s a nice setup. Makes me realize I have TONS of room left. That said there is a strawberry jam acro and some Fiji hypwr color zoas coming tomorrow. And I haven’t told my wife...gulp!
 

CPReef

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I made the mistake as a newbie, and put Button Pollops in my Red Sea 425, and now they are popping up EVERYWHERE! I have removed rocks with some on it, but the Main Rock they are on has Space Invader Mushrooms, and other LPS. What is the best way to keep them under control? Thanks for any help!
 

MPS

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I WAS getting pretty limited on space but just moved. I brought the reef with me. Thankfully, it suffered only minor injuries so far. Unfortunately, A big monti cap looks to be on its way out. I guess I’m going to have more room soon.
 

Jax15

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I like to see the rocks completely packed with corals. What I don't like is a sandbed covered with corals. Nothing makes the rocks pop better than a nice, white sandbed shimmering underneath.

A torch here, acan there, or clam is good. Other than that... all on rocks for me!
 

Waynerock

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That’s the problem I am dealing with now. I have 2 growing into each other and I have to decide, cut em up, move one (not really an option) or let nature take its course. You hope and pray they grow and one day you hope and pray they slow down growing
 

Surf985

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I've yet to really see much coral growth in my personal setup...granted I also moved to my first house right about the time the tank got settled in. Unfortunately, my tank is pretty minimal as it's restarting.

That said, my favorite tanks are thoughtfully designed. Heavy coral growth looks like a healthy reef, but some "white-space," especially on the sand bed, keeps the tank from looking overwhelmed. Those little eye breaks make a big difference in letting you study an established colony instead of looking like a collection of large frags. Then again if someone wanted to overwhelm my tank I wouldnt exactly complain lol
 

H3rm1tCr@b

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I like to have room for other creatures to live. But... with the new TBS scape I recently set up I’m seriously considering getting a few more corals!
 

JJ Ligs

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1. Are you addicted to corals? I wouldn't say I am addicted to corals so much as addicted to trying to take the best care and learn as much about them as I can.

2. How do you like the look of coral covering every inch of a reef tank? I like a heavy tank... but I like things in their place. I like when I see multiple types of the same species displayed together in an organic manner. I can not stand a tank where everything is becoming one big blob and individual pieces can not be appreciated.

3. What are some NEGATIVE things you have learned about packing your tank full of corals?
I fell like in a overly stocked tank issues spread way faster and if a piece is not doing well in an over crowded tank it is not spotted as fast.
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.7%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 32 16.8%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 32 16.8%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 50.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.6%
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