Showus your coral organization skills

[kyla bidwell]

Im very curious as to how people make their tanks look so neat. I have a variety of sps, lps, zoas/palys and softies, and my tank looks a hot mess! I have frags of this and that scattered everywhere. Amd a garden of random frags on the sandbed and on my frag rack.

How do you organize YOUR coral? And I have an unrelated question too........ how long is long enough on the frag rack? What determines when you mount your coral? Is it better for the coral to be mounted in its "permanent" spot as soon as possible? does it really make a difference?

Im excited to see pictures and comments reef2reef! :-D

 

[SunnyX]

Well....

I like to organize and place corals based on growth rate and colors. I place branching and stag SPS in the center, while fast growing table corals are placed on the outer edges of my rockwork. I like to place blue corals next to red and yellow ones. Orange next to green, etc. I use minimal rock work and try to have as much negative space as possible. To achieve that end I do not like placing any corals on the sandbed. Anything that is near the sandbed much be attached to the rock structure.

I know its not the best explanation. Perhaps photos will help:

 

[dakoop]

So the answer is to have SunnyX organize your tank!

 

[frogman_reefer]

Well....

I like to organize and place corals based on growth rate and colors. I place branching and stag SPS in the center, while fast growing table corals are placed on the outer edges of my rockwork. I like to place blue corals next to red and yellow ones. Orange next to green, etc. I use minimal rock work and try to have as much negative space as possible. To achieve that end I do not like placing any corals on the sandbed. Anything that is near the sandbed much be attached to the rock structure.

I know its not the best explanation. Perhaps photos will help:

Stunning! Awesome scape and the colors are awesome

 

[dbl]

So the answer is to have SunnyX organize your tank!

Couldn't agree more!!!

 

[kyla bidwell]

Absolutely stunning! Your tank is my goal! How long did it take for your coral to mature? Did your coral start as frags? How long has your tank been set up? How long after you set it up did you start adding sps coral? Sorry for hammering you with so many questions all at once. I am mainly just wondering how long it will take my little frags to look like yours! You have an amazing tank! Job well done! A perfect example of hard work paying off in this hobby!

 

[frogman_reefer]

Well....

I like to organize and place corals based on growth rate and colors. I place branching and stag SPS in the center, while fast growing table corals are placed on the outer edges of my rockwork. I like to place blue corals next to red and yellow ones. Orange next to green, etc. I use minimal rock work and try to have as much negative space as possible. To achieve that end I do not like placing any corals on the sandbed. Anything that is near the sandbed much be attached to the rock structure.

I know its not the best explanation. Perhaps photos will help:

What is that yellow colony in the second pic. Is that millipora? I like the bright yellow. Been looking for a nice yellow like that. I'd appreciate the Intel so I know what to look for. Thx ahead of time

 

[SunnyX]

Absolutely stunning! Your tank is my goal! How long did it take for your coral to mature? Did your coral start as frags? How long has your tank been set up? How long after you set it up did you start adding sps coral? Sorry for hammering you with so many questions all at once. I am mainly just wondering how long it will take my little frags to look like yours! You have an amazing tank! Job well done! A perfect example of hard work paying off in this hobby!

Thank you. The pictures I posted were from three separate tanks I had setup over the years.

All of my corals were started from frags. On average, each tank was setup for 2-3 years. I was able to add SPS right away as I always transfered water and rocks from each tank during the upgrades.

In this shot of the 100gl rimless reef you have 14 months of growth. The pictures shows impressive growth, even though I fragged corals on a monthly basis. I still remember people telling me in 2008 that T5's were ineffective at growing corals.

14 months of growth:

I have some information on my blog www.reefsite.com.

The first pic is of my in wall reef, setup around 2004:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/totm/index.php

Second one is my 100gl rimless:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sonnys-rimless-shallow-reef.25548/


And the 246gl:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/201...ider&utm_medium=slider&utm_campaign=clickthru

 

[SunnyX]

What is that yellow colony in the second pic. Is that millipora? I like the bright yellow. Been looking for a nice yellow like that. I'd appreciate the Intel so I know what to look for. Thx ahead of time

SunnyX Sunset Mille.

I got it in as a wild colony about 15 years ago. Under the right conditions it will be yellow with shades of orange and red, complemented with green polyps. It is fast growing, hardy, and really catches the eye.

http://battlecorals.com/products/sunnyx-og-sunset-milli

 

[akcnmom65]

Sunny X, that tank looks great. I'm still cycling my tank but I hope that my will look as good as yours.

 

[kyla bidwell]

SunnyX: Thank you for all if this great info! I cant believe you had so much growth in 14 months! I can only hope for the same results! I thought sps took years (5 to 7) to grkw that much. So it seems that I have more to look forward in the near future than I thought i did It! I love the techniques you use for coral placement. I think ill be trying to mimic your ways VERY soon!

Im happy to hear that you used t5s to grow your coral! I use 4 t5 bulbs and a kessil a350w on a 46 gallon tank. So im excited to see the results! What is your favorite bulb combo for t5s?

 

[Flatlandsrefeer]

Well....

I like to organize and place corals based on growth rate and colors. I place branching and stag SPS in the center, while fast growing table corals are placed on the outer edges of my rockwork. I like to place blue corals next to red and yellow ones. Orange next to green, etc. I use minimal rock work and try to have as much negative space as possible. To achieve that end I do not like placing any corals on the sandbed. Anything that is near the sandbed much be attached to the rock structure.

I know its not the best explanation. Perhaps photos will help:

Gorgeous!!!

 

[SunnyX]

SunnyX: Thank you for all if this great info! I cant believe you had so much growth in 14 months! I can only hope for the same results! I thought sps took years (5 to 7) to grkw that much. So it seems that I have more to look forward in the near future than I thought i did It! I love the techniques you use for coral placement. I think ill be trying to mimic your ways VERY soon!

Im happy to hear that you used t5s to grow your coral! I use 4 t5 bulbs and a kessil a350w on a 46 gallon tank. So im excited to see the results! What is your favorite bulb combo for t5s?

Hello,

I like a combination of ATI Blue+ and ATI Aquablue Special. While everyone has different tastes when it comes to color, I find that this combo works great for coral growth and color.

Perhaps two Blue+ and two Aquablue Special would work well with your Kessil. I don't have any experience with LED but the T5 combo recommended above is sure to grow beautifully colored corals.

Good luck with the new setup. Take it slow and remember that less is more.

 

[Neptune1707]

Great discussion!!!! Awesome pics and explanation of growth. I often see so many tanks that have awesome coral growth...but it's wall to wall coral frag, rock etc. I personally find the above photos way more aesthetically pleasing. I'm in the process of breaking down FOWLER 92g tank and set up a new Red Sea Max-500 (135g) tank. Hoping to keep SPS and LPS. It's sad when my office nano reef tank looks better than my home tank. Thanks for the inspiration!!! Well done!

 

[kyla bidwell]

Thanks again SunnyX! And, if I may, id like to ask one more question regarding coral placement. I got 6 different encrusting montipora frags the other day. I got superman, aquaman, mystic sunset, rainbow pokerstar, sunset amd season greetings. I would like to know where you would place these types of coral. I didnt see any in the photos of your tanks. But if you were to get some encrusting montis, where in your tank would they go? Im not concerned about light and flow because I have very strong lights and way more than enough flow. I just want to put them somewhere that they will look good.

I think they just encrust the rock. I dont think any of them branch or plate or anything. If im wrong someone please correct me. I would love if they were branching or plating but I cant seem to find any info online on how they grow.

Your tank is a huge inspiration!

 

[SunnyX]

Thanks again SunnyX! And, if I may, id like to ask one more question regarding coral placement. I got 6 different encrusting montipora frags the other day. I got superman, aquaman, mystic sunset, rainbow pokerstar, sunset amd season greetings. I would like to know where you would place these types of coral. I didnt see any in the photos of your tanks. But if you were to get some encrusting montis, where in your tank would they go? Im not concerned about light and flow because I have very strong lights and way more than enough flow. I just want to put them somewhere that they will look good.

I think they just encrust the rock. I dont think any of them branch or plate or anything. If im wrong someone please correct me. I would love if they were branching or plating but I cant seem to find any info online on how they grow.

Your tank is a huge inspiration!

Hello,

I place my encrusting monti's on rockwork directly on the sand, disconnected from the main rockwork structure. Monti's can be invasive and will encrust into other corals, causing issues. A monti will fully encapsulate anything that it is placed on. Encrusting monti's do bot plate or branch out.

 

[SunnyX]

Thanks again SunnyX! And, if I may, id like to ask one more question regarding coral placement. I got 6 different encrusting montipora frags the other day. I got superman, aquaman, mystic sunset, rainbow pokerstar, sunset amd season greetings. I would like to know where you would place these types of coral. I didnt see any in the photos of your tanks. But if you were to get some encrusting montis, where in your tank would they go? Im not concerned about light and flow because I have very strong lights and way more than enough flow. I just want to put them somewhere that they will look good.

I think they just encrust the rock. I dont think any of them branch or plate or anything. If im wrong someone please correct me. I would love if they were branching or plating but I cant seem to find any info online on how they grow.

Your tank is a huge inspiration!

Hello,

I place my encrusting monti's on rockwork directly on the sand, disconnected from the main rockwork structure. Monti's can be invasive and will encrust into other corals, causing issues. A monti will fully encapsulate anything that it is placed on. Encrusting monti's do bot plate or branch out.