SPS Growth Concerns / Questions

[Charlie the Reefer]

Hey everyone,

I have some SPS colonies that are getting pretty large and I'm trying to avoid potential issues down the road.

First, I've noticed shading is becoming a big concern quick. I've already seen some acros shading others and noticed some negative effects. Even SPS like Monti Caps can shade themselves! My concern is the shaded parts of the colony start to die / decay causing water quality issues. Is this even a valid concern? Example:

Second is acropora encrustment of two colonies touching eachother. I forsee this happening a lot in the near future in my tank - in y'alls experience is that a big worry or should I just let it happen? I mean you see some of the reefs of the month with wall to wall acropora, and it looks like A LOT of acros are touching eachother. I'm just curious at how bad it is, I'm sure there's varying opinions.

Thanks for any insight on the above.

 

[randomfishdude]

I'm no sps expert but I don't think the flesh dieing in the shaded area is any concern. I believe most trim their sps to prevent from touching and shading others.

I know if they touch it gets very rough. Had a acro and anenome die when the frag fell and anenome moved over it. It was only an hour.

 

[twentyleagues]

From years ago when I had an sps tank I noticed as the acros started to encrust and meet one would over grow the other usually. Some I think it was the millis I had would actually sting and kill anything that would try to get close enough to start trying to encrust over its encrusting area leaving a small dead zone of white sps in between them. I didnt have any issues with shading I was running 12 36" t5hos on that tank(6' 125). I have had sps die on me for other reasons didnt seem to mess with water quality to any measurable effect.

 

[UMALUM]

Shading is a natural slow process so I wouldn't worry about it affecting water conditions. As for aesthetics, flow, and detritus prevention I tend to try and keep the undercarriage clean. When it comes to encroachment I let mother nature take it course. I've had acros bust u turns. They're just like us they don't want to die.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I’ve always kept up with trimming. When they get too thick you have to use a hammer!

Some acros grow so much faster than others. If you don’t trim them back they’ll shade out their neighbors.

I’ve got some acros encrusting against each other without any die off. Most of them are separated by blue clove polyps.

Anacropora will do okay with some shading, but most acros don’t do well with even partial shading.