softies vs sps

[lilduud]

so ive been taking all of the softies out of my stony tank as to promote the stonies as much as posible... i thought i removed all of the daisy polyps but unfortunately one or two mustve attached to the very back of my biggest piece of rock and no theres 10-12 baby heads >=( fml.
anyway is there any way to actually remove them ? i doubt it but any thing other than boiling it i mean hah.
and second, are daisy harmful or hindering to sps? as of now the only softies are a purple/blue mushroom [that finally is budding a little baby! :D] some pulsing xenia, some gsp and the daisy polyps. as far as i know and have researched the xenia gsp and mushrooms should be fine.. but are daisies ok if i cant get them out?

 

[BL1]

Why wouldn't you be able to have both in your tank? I've got softies, LPS, and SPS in my new tank and I'm already seeing great growth in all three over them in only 3 months.

 

[lilduud]

ive heard and read all over that certain softies can hinder the growth of sps coral.correct me if im wrong? i feel like ive heard this alllll over the place...

 

[BL1]

Maybe if they start growing into each other. But, if they're in different areas of the tank you should be fine. All my softies are towards the bottom and my SPS are up higher towards the higher flow and light.

 

[the reef kid]

I have SPS, LPS, and lots of softies. All are growing and for the most part keeping their colors just dandily. Maybe if you start seeing some real problems there might be some sort of problem, but I honestly doubt it.

 

[lilduud]

hmm alright im probably just paranoid...

 

[Bifferwine]

Softies can inhibit the growth of SPS corals, because most softies release toxins and engage in chemical warfare with other corals. Usually people are concerned about zoas, leathers and mushrooms.

I don't think daisy polyps are going to have an affect though.

 

[lilduud]

that you biff i thought i was losing my mind for a moment... really?!?! shrooms?!? i thought they were safe... hmm well i hope i can get a rock as awesome and larger as that to replace it

 

[Bifferwine]

They are safe. Most people have mixed reef tanks with SPS, LPS and softies. It's not going to make a difference for most corals.

 

[lilduud]

well i had started wondering if maybe the daisies or xenia [now even maybe the shrooms] were some how altering my sps growth... my miami orchid has browned and not turned back to its nice light blue and purple since i added the daisies forever ago. and my roscoes died when the light stayed on for too long so maybe it was already being affected by the softies..

 

[Bifferwine]

That could be the case, especially in a small tank.

 

[SeattleDarko]

With a 10g tank I wouldn't mix... there is not the water volume to help keep things apart.

 

[yote]

Normally Xenia wont do very well in a tank where SPS thrive and vice versa.
If you have enough dissolved nutrients in the water to keep Xenia happy,there's to much for SPS.Xenia likes dirtier water.
Leathers produce all kinds of nasty chemicals to keep other corals at bay.
As for your Orchid browning out.Thats normally caused from to much dissolved nutrients.

 

[the reef kid]

I believe running carbon can help remove the toxins.

 

[lilduud]

dissolved nutrients as in nitrates? because my nitrates have been zero for a very long time. they have steadily risen to just under 5 ppm but the orchid browned before that. do you mean organic material like that a skimmer would pull? i have been wanting to add the prizm mini skimmer and turn my aquaclear into a fuge...

 

[Hiker4twenty]

I have a mixed reef with lots of sps, softies and lps. I try to keep them far enough away from each other that there is no need for war. Not really sure if its 100% working, but in my mind it seems good.

 

[yote]

I'm meaning more or less,organic phosphates.They can be extremely high and you not know it.There are no hobbyist test kits that will pick them up.

 

[the reef kid]

Is there a public aquarium near you? It'd be really cool to see some of their equipment in action. The NE aquarium let me behind the scenes once, and they said that if anything like this were to come up in my tank, they would consider letting me give it a whirl. Wouldn't hurt to try. Is it just that one coral, or all of your SPS?

 

[lilduud]

I'm meaning more or less,organic phosphates.They can be extremely high and you not know it.There are no hobbyist test kits that will pick them up.

so how then does one solve this problem?

 

[Bifferwine]

so how then does one solve this problem?

You just run phosphate removal media anyways... It's media like carbon, you can run it in a reactor or in a bag in a high-flow area.