HSC Tank Check

Hello everyone,
I stopped down to check on the tank at Headwaters. All critters seem to be hale and hardy. My concerns are, do the blue mushrooms need to be split? How large can a colony grow? Also, is the current too strong. It is really rushing on the back left corner. The polyps and star cloves in the current there are quite small. The other issue is a soft coral, I believe, that is spreading into all kinds of places. The small bits look like brownish mushrooms with bright yellow dots. The mature shape reminds me of a staghorn coral. If they mature like the full one, it is in the middle of the tank almost at the top, they will certainly take up too much room. Sure would like someone else's opinion. But basically (bad grammar) all looks great.

Sue

Are the blue mushrooms taking over? Normally if I had mushrooms or polyps taking over, I'd just take the rock out and chop the heck out of them with a blade. Slows them down but you'll want to run some fresh carbon for sure. I don't know what the other coral would be, haven't seen the tank in quite awhile.

No, the blue 'shrooms are not taking over. I was just wondering if a colony could get too large and kill itself off like some garden plants can do. They look great though.

Nope, the colony can't get too big, unless they start choking out things that aren't blue mushrooms.

The flow is good, to be honest. Yes, it makes everything wave, and small, but those are things that are spreading quickly, which is telling us that its really doing good. Have to remember over 60% of a coral isn't built for photosynthesis, but for food collection. That's how they get food, is water flowing across them.

The 'brown corals' that you're seeing are likely the sponges that have come around, since the tank has matured but is still fairly high nutrients. They need the flow too. To prune them, one just needs to snap them off and pull them out, but they will return.

Thanks Seapony for checking on the tank and reporting. Swan, thanks for filling her in. I couldn't remember what she may have been talking about. I guess I go in this week though so I'll refresh my memory when there. There are a lot of corals in that tank that spread easily and that's OK. That's exactly what we're going for with that tank. EASY! It has been looking pretty darned good and it really is a big thanks to Susan (HSCMember) and her hubby Frank. Also, thanks to the club members that have stuck it out and continue to lend a helping hand.