Invasive Coral Tank?

[rt502]

I've been kicking around the idea of creating a tank full of corals typically considered to be pests - xenia, gsp, super cheap zoas and palys, etc. I have a spare 5 gallon sitting around that I could add a cheap hob filter to, along with a couple pounds of dry rock. I figure I could throw in a small powerhead and heater and be good to go. I'd add, at most I'd add a very small cleanup crew, maybe a cleaner shrimp, and either a pair of firefish or clowns. I've seen some beautiful nano xenia tanks online, but wonder if anyone else has gone the route of "don't fight it, embrace it?" 

[bk_market]

I started a tank like this a while back and then as time pass i started to get rid of all those coral and replace with more expensive one. 

[mari.harutunian]

I’ve seen pest tanks around that take it a step further with pest anemones and clove polyps

 

 

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[rt502]

I've always thought majanos were beautiful. I'd obviously never introduce one to any decent mixed reef, but I've seen videos of clowns hosting majano colonies. It might be fun to throw some majanos, xenia, gsp, and clove polyps into the 5 gallon and see what happens. Maybe some random macroalgae as well.

[mogurnda]

Mine is going there.  I am tired of hacking back Anthelia, red mushrooms, brown palys, green cloves and gorgonians, so I am letting the tank become Darwinian.  Some of the SPS can still shade out the competitors, and the BTA will always keep half the tank for itself, but I don't have the time or energy to weed anymore. It's still pretty, and the fish don't care.

[mari.harutunian]

Mine is going there. I am tired of hacking back Anthelia, red mushrooms, brown palys, green cloves and gorgonians, so I am letting the tank become Darwinian. Some of the SPS can still shade out the competitors, and the BTA will always keep half the tank for itself, but I don't have the time or energy to weed anymore. It's still pretty, and the fish don't care.

Got pics?

 

 

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[zygote2k]

I work on a 600g tank that has probably 2500 palys in it.

Looks nicely grown in but super toxic. One end is dominated by anthelia with about a square meter of the stuff.

 

I work on another 300 that has green, blue, and orange majanos- maybe 1000 or more.

[sen5241b]

... pests - xenia, gsp, super cheap zoas and palys, etc. ....

 

 

Let me know who the winner is.

[sen5241b]

also, don't forget to add some colonial hydroids

[mogurnda]

Got pics?

 

 

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Will have to take some new ones.  It's the tank in my signature, but has evolved a bit.

[toastiireefs]

I've been kicking around the idea of creating a tank full of corals typically considered to be pests - xenia, gsp, super cheap zoas and palys, etc. I have a spare 5 gallon sitting around that I could add a cheap hob filter to, along with a couple pounds of dry rock. I figure I could throw in a small powerhead and heater and be good to go. I'd add, at most I'd add a very small cleanup crew, maybe a cleaner shrimp, and either a pair of firefish or clowns. I've seen some beautiful nano xenia tanks online, but wonder if anyone else has gone the route of "don't fight it, embrace it?"

I have seen some really awesome pest tanks on nano-reefs!

[YHSublime]

I say go for it, pulsing xenia and gsp

[rt502]

I've got gsp - I plan on gluing a piece to the bottom of the tank tomorrow. I need to pick up some xenia and some dead rock, although the tank is already seeded with a very seasoned and algae covered marine pure cube, so I'm not worried about a big cycle and I may end up with a hair algae mat instead. I have a very small hob filter running at max speed into filter floss, a cheap heater that I used with a betta for years, and a cheap light. It's not a reef light, so even gsp may have trouble growing, but the tank is near a window and receives indirect sunlight, so maybe that'll be enough. I don't plan on using a powerhead. The goal here is to literally do the least amount of work on the cheapest tank with the cheapest but attractive pest corals and see what happens. I'll get a pair of ocellaris to put in there at some point and will test the parameters every once in a while to make sure it's safe for them, but I have a 5 gallon overstocked spec v that I barely touch aside from top offs and cleaning the glass, and everything is healthy and growing. Should be fun. Or a disaster. 

[BtmDweller]

If it doesn’t work out could always do invasive algae!

 

 

 

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[treesprite]

Let me know who the winner is.

That's what I was thinking.