leathers and shrooms with sps

[skidclan4]

I am relatively new to the sps arena. I have my water conditions is check but am curious how detrimental it is to have a few leathers and a few mushrooms in my 90 gallon. I have read they can release toxins that can stunt and inhibit growth of both LPS and SPS. Can anyone comment on this? Should I remove them if planning on having an SPS tank? I have about 4 leathers in there now. My lighting and water parameters are good.

Thanks in advance
chad.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF Chad

 

[spongebob lover]

Welcome to RF dood !! .
yes i have heard that Leathers can release stuff in the water that can hurt lps (i'm not sure about the sps), i've seen people having leathers with their sps and lps but, it's all up to you if you wanna to that rode, i think the best way is not to have the leathers with your lps.
i believe mushrooms don't hurt sps but i can be wrong.

I'm sure someone will shine on this .

 

[Sk8r]

I've done it. This time around, though I started to---I realized I want my corals to grow fast, so I backed away from it. My only problem is some hitchhiker mushrooms---they're not as bad as leathers and zoos in that regard, so they stay: they're a good warning-system for water problems.

Now, given all that, if you want to try, put your softies nearest the outflow and your stonies near the inflow to minimize chemical war, run carbon frequently, and stand prepared to put in micronutrients the carbon may remove.

The one thing I would truly advise against is putting any anemone in with either: they're cranky, they travel, and they sting: they have the chemical warfare ability of a leather and the stinging ability of a stony at its worst, and if they die, they turn to gel and bother everything in the tank.

So far my stonies and my mushrooms are getting along and the corals are growing, maybe not as fast as with none at all, but it's all good.

 

[kevinpo]

Hello, and welcome to Reef Frontiers.

The family of corals commonly referred to as Leather or Colt corals encompasses many different families, genera, and species. They range from very low to very high toxin producers and since it is very difficult to identify many of them it’s best to keep them in their own aquarium.
The genus:
Acyonium, Lobophytum, Sarcophyton, and Sinularia all produce toxins known as terpenes like flexibilide and dihydroflexibilide. These and other chemicals can stunt the growth and even kill LPS and stony corals. Most of these corals grow large quickly and in a year or so can overpower other corals that are sensitive to their toxins. The size of the aquarium in relationship to the coral, frequency of water changes, types of corals, running carbon etc. are variables that can lead to reports of no problems but over time the leathers rule.
Mushroom corals are generally safe unless they make physical contact with their neighbors. They sting much like an anemone and are sometimes referred to as mushroom anemones. Another thing to consider is the environment for soft corals is usually different that that for SPS corals. SPS corals usually like water very low in DOC’s, high flow, and high light. Most soft corals are the opposite.

Regards,
Kevin

 

[morgan]

so keeping leather corals and mushroom discs will hurt zoos? acros? montis and plates? or they just inhibit growth?
sps=soft polyp stoney?
lps=?

 

[jetaero]

so keeping leather corals and mushroom discs will hurt zoos? acros? montis and plates? or they just inhibit growth?
sps=soft polyp stoney?
lps=?

sps = small polyp stoney(scleractinia)

lps = large polyp stoney (scleractinia)

zoanthids, are a type of soft coral polyp. Montiporas, and Acroporas, are both sps, which will be affected by the soft corals toxins.

-Josh-

 

[spongebob lover]

I agree with Kevin.
I had a mushroom flying over to where my frogspawn was and it stinged the frogspawn bad .

 

[FNPinMO]

Are zooanthids bad to have with SPS? I know they can release some toxic chemicals if damaged.

 

[kevinpo]

They are OK but be sure to prevent physical contact. They can sting SPS and will usually win.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[MarineTeng]

what about like frogspawn/torch/bubbles (i have frog) with sps? and how are GSP and zoo's about releasing toxins
where does kenya trees fall into the soft coral realm?
kevin, you should start a beginning sps thread, i couldn't find one anywhere, and just about cares for different types and such

 

[kevinpo]

Most LPS (Large Polyps Stony) corals do quite well with SPS (Small Polyp Stony) corals. The biggest difference between the two is lighting. Many SPS corals come from shallow water that is exposed to high energy wave action, high light, and even exposure to air at low tide. Many of the LPS corals would have their tissue torn from the skeleton, burn, or dry out in those conditions. They generally come from deeper waters so should be placed near the bottom in a high light/flow aquarium. Also be aware that LPS corals can expand their tissue greatly and may have sweeper tentacles up to 12" long that they can sting nearby corals with.

The common name Kenya Tree is used to describe a wide variety of soft coral species ranging from slightly to most toxic. My recommendation is to not keep leather corals with SPS.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[pitlife79]

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have a mixed tank currently, which consists of mushrooms,ricordea's, zoos, a tree leather, devils hand, star polyps, flower pot, daisy coral, plate coral, blastos, torch,and a few branches of porcillopora. All in a 29 gallon. Yes, it's a lot! The tank is basically full, everything has it's own place and similar species are placed closer to each other. So far my tank has shown no ill effects. I am getting good growth with everything and thankfully everything is still looking healthy. I do a weekly 2 gallon change (doing another once my devils hand sheds if need be to get the skin out of the tank), and I am running 2-65w pc's. Not that I disregard recommendations of others, but so far my system has been doing well. I think it is possible to have a mixed tank as long as you have proper placement and you do regular changes (as you should be anyway). The tank has been up for 8 months now.

Brent

 

[MarineTeng]

do you have any sort of filters?

 

[pitlife79]

LOL, yeah. I'm doing a DSB system, 30lbs of live sand, 40lbs of live rock and a large backpack with 4 filter/carbon pads. A very simple, cheap way to do it, but so far it's been working well. I only have 4 fish, all small gobies, I feed very light and like I said, I do water changes religously.

 

[MarineTeng]

i'm thinking the carbon helps alot taking out toxins along with the skimmer

 

[pitlife79]

Oh, no skimmer, just a back pack filter. It's been an experiment to say the least. LOL. But so far so good. I've had a few reefers come over only to drop their jaw in amazement at the simplicity of everything, but hey.. If it aint broke, don't fix it, right!! LOL

 

[MarineTeng]

simple is good, all i have is a skimmer, fuge and powerheads and lr and dsb

 

[pitlife79]

I agree!! I have a few small powerheads in the tank also, but for the most part I've tried to keep it very basic. I theorized that with that small of a tank you could get good results without all the fuss. Just need to make sure you're on top of everything and I spend a few minutes a day (to me, not my wife!!) checking on all the inhabitants to make sure everything is on the level. I'd love to see pics some time. If you have any post em up!!! My camera is broken ( ahh the joys of having kids!! LOL) so I can't show y'all my set up right now, but once I get a new camera I'll post some pictures.

Take it easy,

Brent