High Light, High Flow, Slow Growth Corals

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jonboyb

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Aug 14, 2008
Messages
171
Location
Alpharetta, GA
With my latest aquascape (finally happy:D) I have a nice flat area up top about 8" x 14". It's about 8" below the water surface. What are some good corals that love high light and high flow, but grow slowly and/or don't grow tall. I'm guessing most of the SPS's fit my requirements (and I have plenty of light), even though they will eventually require fragging to keep them in the water. I currently only have an encrusting monti up there.
 
Many acros will actually grow quite quickly under the right conditions. You could try putting an acan up there. I'm not sure how fast/slow they grow but it will grow a bit more out instead of up so you won't have to worry about it growing out of the water. Some of them have very cool color patterens under good lighting
 
ooops scratch that then. Don't know a whole lot about them. was just trying to toss out ideas.
 
Thanks for the links. It seems everything in reefkeeping is a Catch 22, the most beautiful corals are more aggressive and have to be kept away from others:(

What kind of distance does one need between 2 aggressive corals to prevent chemical warfare:D
 
Chemical warfare is just that, chemical, which means it will remain in the water column until filtered out. Most chemical warfare stems from soft corals affecting hard corals (sps). Do you want a mixed coral exhibit, just soft corals, etc etc? Try and think of a natural niche you'd like to recreate; Looking through actual reef pictures can help :)
 
At that water depth and the area you have available I would do a mixture of acropora. In my previous set up (the 72) I had a giant colony of Acropora (scripps acro also known on here as Ziggy's Acro) measuring over 12" across. This colony was growing in conjunction with a Blue Staghorn Acro and 2 other acros with no issues. What I found interesting was how they avoided each other. The Ziggy's acro is a very fast growing SPS and easily overtook the others but never touched them. I had to do some delecate trimming to get them out when I traded the large colony.

The one acro I would stay away from is the slimer as it is a very agressive coral and will "slime" those around it as it grows nearer to them.
 
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