Have you ever been able to go back?

Currently I am tankless.:-X

I am in the planning stages of going with the 34 gallon Solana. Trying to do this in an orderly manner (you know like a real build). I am going with the WP20's and going to stick with the ATI fixture. The tank will be drilled with a 20 gallon sump, maybe even a 40.

All easy stuff, now the problem, stocking.

Had myself convinced I would go with a Mini-maxi tank or another anemone type with damsels of some sort. I absolutely love the variety of mini-maxi colors and their ease of propagation, in the back of my mind it's always been somewhat of dream tank. The mini-maxi tank would be so much easier to care for then a sps. Petco's have been getting a nice variety of mini-maxi at 29.99 a piece.

After keeping sps, specifically acropora I am still fascinated by them. Honestly I just do not know if anything but sps dominated will be satisfying.

Have you ever kept an sps dominated tank and then gone back to a more trouble free set up?

 

I have not, but I also have only had SPS for a year. Honestly, I don't find the SPS tank much maintenance at all. Every two weeks I fill up my ATO reservoir with distilled water and 5 teaspoons of baking soda. I test calcium and alkalinity every week or two, along with cleaning the sock filter once a month. These are all things I'd do regardless of having an SPS or softy tank.

I haven't done a water change in months.

 

I like a mixed reef. It's just too hard to resist so many cool LPS and Rics.
But.. I find it harder for me to place LPS in with the high flow of what my SPS need.
When I planned out my aquascape I tried to make a couple of "lagoons" to have a lower flow area but so far there's still too much flow in most areas for LPS.
I have a couple LPS and rics but it's hard to find a good spot for them.
Every tanks rock layout is different but for the most part I am thinking after the SPS grow out more it will slow down some of the flow and then maybe I can do more LPS.
Not all LPS /softies are easy to me. My GSP hasn't grown at all in 3 months. My rics have maybe gone from one to two and a half. My Kryptonite looks about the same but I think most heads are splitting. The fungia.. well it's just a fungia hehe. So really I seem to have better success with SPS. I only have API no3 kit so not sure what the NO3 really is since that kit always shows zero. PO3 around .03-5 ususually so I don't really think my tank is too clean .. I feed twice a day. Sometimes 3. Very small feedings.

I've only seen a few mini anemones in person and I thought to myself they were not as vivid colors as some of the ones I've see on the internet. How were the colors of the ones you saw? Are they dangerous for any creatures like a big anemone?

 

Never gone sps....
nevah will lol

 

To answer the question, yes, albeit for reasons against my will. You may have already heard my story, but i'll share again. I used to have upwards of 800$ (retail worth, I probably paid around 400 for it all) in sps frags and another 200$ in 2-3" colonies, and a 2" maxima clam. Everything from miyagi tort, sunset monti, cali tort, Oregon tort, ORA pink birdnest, a 5 frag pack from WT inc. (business split), Tyree tricolor, GARF bonsai, an aussie stag colony, a "rainbow" mille colony(mostly green, yellow and a hint of orange/red) and an a. exquisita colony. I believe at one point we talked about shipping a frag of your red planet.

Anyways, I came home to a whole container of flakes in the tank and lost everything. Before I knew it, college was starting and I had to save money.

I decided i'd still have coral, but had to settle for cheap and easy.

So, I settled for photosynthetic gorgs and some anemones, and I have to say, I like them more than some of those colorful sticks (though i'll always be an acro-holic). I completely understand the appeal of an SPS dominated nano tank, everyone's doing it now right? haha

If the amount of time you can dedicate to the tank is not an issue, why not try your hands at some NPS? there are some pretty cool DIY continuous feeding dosers out there that can be done for under 50$. Not to mention they come in just as many colors as SPS and don't have to worry about bleaching. lol I'd be happy to share if you were to skip over the maxi mini's.

 

No, and God help me I've tried.

 

The bigger the corals get the more maintenance. Just wait until you upgrade.

I hear mini-maxi can be fish eaters so that limits types.
Mixed reef are a bigger challenge actually than all sps imo.
If you go to the right places they have some nice colorful maxi's look at reefgodess or lareefs. I love that fact your can chop them up, makes them a good investment. The ones a petco where not spectacular but still nice.

Lies!!!!!!!!You can not say never in this hobby.

Yes I barely remember something about you acquiring a lot of sps. They are not cheap.
It really not so much the colors, although that is a close second its the structure of the coral, yup weird.
I've done some NPS years ago, Dendros, Gorgs.....I might consider it again. A cold water tank would be another cool idea.

So it's hopeless then?:-/

 

I think it depends largely on your lifestyle.You know what it takes to have a successful sps tank.If you would like to be able to be away from home and tank more without worry and without going high tech with automated everything you might enjoy something simpler.On the other hand you could become bored with something that is less of a challenge and doesn't give the reward of evolving the way you would like.