Heartbreak hotel

[Tom R]

I think I have been fighting this problem for years. I call my setup a mixed reef. Generally speaking it is just the progression for starting in salt water with softies then moving to LPS and finally saying I think I am ready to give these SPS corals a go.

I have not changed my rock or eliminated any of the original softies or SPS. I have sold and traded a number of them to make room for the SPS. I have also grown to like the look.

On the other hand I have continually fought with the SPS trying to get the results I see in so many of my friends fabulous SPS tanks. Their Colours, polyp extension and general well being are what I strive for yet never obtain. My tanks look good to most people, however I just do not get the results I am looking for. The madding thing is I have a 180G and 125G plumbed to the same sump. I am running the same water through both systems. The 180G is 5 years old and made up of my original salt water progression, it has a 1 1/2" sand base and one hugh Toad Stool. My 125G is 2 years old Bare Bottom and only the remnants of softies left on the rocks taken from the main tank. The SPS in it generally have full polyp extension. I have noticed that lately the polyp extension has become somewhat less but is still more than the 180G. At the same time many of the softy remanent have developed into colonies of cabbage and sinularia.

More and more I believe in chemical warfare as being the cause. It is either that or I am just not able to keep SPS. (some people are gardener and some are not)