Temporary “invasive” holding in SPS reef

[DelRayTank]

I’m in the process of setting up an SPS dominant reef but would also love to keep some of the “invasive” soft corals like GSP and Xenia. So I’m going to set up a nano reef just for these soft corals so I can enjoy them without worrying about fighting them back on my main display.

my question is - can I keep these high-growth corals like Xenia, GSP and mushrooms in my main SPS display while I set up the nano? I’m expecting a 2 week or so holding period. Would that be enough to risk them spreading throughout the tank?

 

[smartwater101]

There shouldn't be a problem holding them together. Especially for only a few weeks.

And honestly, "Xenia and GSP grow like weeds" is overstated IMO. They're really not hard to manage.

 

[User1]

There shouldn't be a problem holding them together. Especially for only a few weeks.

And honestly, "Xenia and GSP grow like weeds" is overstated IMO. They're really not hard to manage.

This is true. If placed in an area you can get to then you are able to prune and remove. With Xenia you can use clamps / forceps, reach the base of the stalk to the rock, and gently pull. It will come off. GSP you can peel it off in most cases or put rubble in front of it lightly glued if on another rock, and once it starts to encrust lift/pull that and off it comes.

I've also seen Xenia break off and float around. When you see those, similar to Kenya Tree, just remove it.

 

[Silent]

You "should" be fine for a few weeks. I have had 1 frag of xenia in a tank and in a month I had it all over. I don't know if it spawned or broke off and floated around but I had it all over. I was new and thought it was cool. GSP isn't like that but it will cover everything and is hard to remove from rocks.