Mixed Reef or Species Specific?

[lsu_fishfan]

Which do you prefer

A mixed reef with sps, lps, zoas, and softies

Or

Species specific(sps dominant, lps dominant, etc.)

My guess is that most people prefer a mixed reef as majority of reefers only have one tank and don't want to limit their variety.

Personally I like both for different reasons;
With a mixed reef, your tank contains many different types of corals that contribute to different aspects, color, shape, growth pattern, and movement. But, with all the different coral species, are differing care requirements, making it harder to please some coral more than others.

With a species specific tank, while most corals are similar, you can see differences in how they grow, and differing shapes and colors. One of the advantages to a species specific system is that majority of the coral have very similar requirements. For example sps like high lighting and high flow.

What are your thoughts?

 

[jbdreefs]

I think you said it perfectly.

I prefer mixed.

 

[myreefclub0070]

I personally like to keep almost everything I do as natural as possible so for me it's mix with just about everything you can keep alive in a single tank.
I love seeing a lot of movement in my tank so I can't do with out lps but also love the challenge that comes with sps.

 

[hzheng33]

mixed

 

[genesis]

I like mixed reef. What I did in my tank was do a mixed reef with segregated sections.

 

[crew]

I would imagine what most people like and what most people are able to keep alive are two different things. Personally, I like mixed reef because I enjoy the variety. SPS is awesome, but there isn't a ton of movement there so I like to have some softies and LPS in there to spice things up.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

Crew;1066794 wrote: I would imagine what most people like and what most people are able to keep alive are two different things. Personally, I like mixed reef because I enjoy the variety. SPS is awesome, but there isn't a ton of movement there so I like to have some softies and LPS in there to spice things up.

My choice of words was probably a little misinterpreted, a better choice would've been species dominant. I like the idea of a lps or sps dominant tank, but would probably never be 100% set to one group.

 

[camellia]

Mixed reef is just the norm for most as SPS are not what people "start" with in the hobby.
I also like a mixed, it's more interesting to watch and a challenge to keep both successfully.

With that said, it's MUCH more work and money to keep both happy and healthy long term in one tank. The feeding needed for LPS isn't cheap and is very time-consuming. Then water changes to keep prams in check as required for SPS is more time-consuming and adds additional costly expense. It also requires more money spent initially as well as along the way on additional equipment for SPS.

So bottom line, it's an important factor to consider when deciding what reef you want is how much time and money you're willing to put into the maintenance and expense of your reef now as well as long term.

Currently my mixed reef is more maintenance then I want. I am at the point of reconsidering reefing in general! The maintenance required of my mixed reef is no longer acceptable as to make this an enjoyable hobby

 

[bulkrate]

Mixed reef with qualifiers. I tried the "jam everything I found pretty into a 12" cube" initially - needless it didn't work out.

Nowadays it's got different livestock with complementary needs/requirements housed and things have been running a lot better.