leathers w/ sps tank

[MLCT]

I am fairly new to keeping sps corals and have set up a 180 with sps keeping in mind. I currently have 3 acros and a few monti cap frags.
I received a finger leather and colt coral frag from a friend. Are these OK to keep with my sps or should I get rid of them?
Thanks for your help.

[Kreeger1]

some finger leathers are bad with sps corals. They release certain chemicals that irratate sps corals. I personally keep to leathers in my sps dominated 180 and don't have a problem. But there not finger leathers or Sinularia.

[samsfishnchips]

MLCT,

best is to keep them out of the tank

if you like them it can work, two tips I would suggest

1. run carbon (eliminates chemicals release by the leather)
2. don't frag them inside the tank (release the chemicals)

have a buddy with killer yellow fiji leather, very nice

sam

[Covey]

Mike Paletta came and gave a talk on SPS coloration to my club GIRS. During his slide show i noticed a few leathers in his 1200G SPS dream tank and I aksed him about the mixing subject. While he did bring up the toxin thing he said he believes it was over blown. Back in the day when SPS were impossible people had tanks full of established large leather you would try to add a SPS and it would trigger a defense respond from the established large leathers, dead SPS. Times have change now people have whole tanks full of SPS and adding a couple small leathers to tank of SPS isn't going to kill them off.

That being said the carbon and skimming is still a good idea(when is it not).

[mr pink floyd]

i have a 29, and am adding T5 very soon.
i haev one leather (not finger or sinularia) one that is a finger, i got it for 5 bucks, i plan on a green slimer frag, a few other acro frags, a couple monti caps, and some gorgonians, i run carbon 24/7 and am gettign a skimmer, the leathers are on sande bed, the SPS will be abotu 10" higher up and on the rocks, is this a good idea, i weont mind geting rid of the finger leather...

also i haev a kenya tree, will this mess it up?

[MIKE NY]

I have a few in my tank....carbon 24/7 and just siphon out the mucus coats that float around after a shed.

[jjackson]

I have 3 in my tank.... 2 toads and a LARGE finger leather.... I honestly dont know how much if any damage but I am thinking about ditching at least the Large finger leather.... I guess maybe I will put it up for sale while I am thinking about it.

[jjackson]

I am now running carbon 24/7.... I wasnt before... boy was that a mistake... my tank is 300% clearer..... so nice

[MLCT]

thanks for the replies. I think I might just get rid of them to be safe.

[thereefgeek]

Don't worry about it. I've been keeping leathers with Acros/SPS for 10 years, no probs. Some will argue, and I'd probably get better growth if my tank was SPS only, but then again I also keep sand in my tank. :eek2: OMG, say it aint so...

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/43056right.jpg

[Ironman]

I have two finger leathers in my sps tank as well as some gsp, a toad stool, frilly mushrooms, button polyps, a green open brain, and some pom pom zenia. I'm constantly seeing new growth on some of my acros but not all. Keeping some lps with sps has never been an issue with me, maybe it should be. Here too, I keep all my lps on the substrate. I run carbon 24/7 as well.

If I was going to sell my lps which ones would you recommend I sell to ensure good all round sps growth?

Thanks

thereefgeek,
Awesome looking tank ;)

[thereefgeek]

Thanx (that was just the left side :D )

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/43056wide_3-4-06.jpg

[mr pink floyd]

wait, your not supposed to have SPS with sand?

i have 50 lbs of southdown in mine...

[rustybucket145]

I'm just curious... How often do you guys change the carbon?

[Ironman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7117649#post7117649 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rustybucket145
I'm just curious... How often do you guys change the carbon?

I change mine every two weeks.

Cheers

[mr pink floyd]

once a month, or if i know something happened in the tnak i change it right once it happens and right after

[atzak]

I have a huge sinulara in my mostly sps reef, I don't run carbon at all, I haven't had any problems. I get average to decent growth

[blide]

I think various types of SPS are affected different by leathers. I had Seritopoa and Montipora that did well but acro's and milli's really didn't do well at all. Plus if you try a mixed reef I think the amount of water volume and running carbon helps....

Overall if you want a dominated colorful SPS tank I wouldn't add large leathers that shed a lot (ex: Toadstools, Sinulaira, and etc.

Here is my tank so you don't think I'm a noob about this:
http://myweb.cableone.net/blide/finalsoft.jpg

And this is why you should NEVER frag soft corals in a SPS tank: (Brown Nasty Water)
http://myweb.cableone.net/blide/leatherfrag2.jpg

[Ironman]

I know when I fragged my pom pom zenia I had all this gunk flowing around the entire tank. It was the fist time I ever tried fragging a softy. Luckily my filter sock took care it for me but I won't do that again. My acros, digits and montis appear not to have suffered.

Cheers

[kevensquint]

I agree with blide, I have a nice acro 1" away from the dreaded Devil's hand leather and both are doing very well, 2 years ++.