Crowded Reefs and Stinging

[idrum]

Okay - I notice the beautiful postings of fully populated and crowded reef tanks - dont you experiences problems with corals stinging other nearby corals.

I have lost a spaghetti leather and a colt to stinging by hammer and or galaxea when I thought there was significant distance between them

Anyone care to add their 2 cents - help a confused reefer.

 

[sharkdude]

I avoid most major stings by only stocking soft corals. That's not to say that competition for space does not still occur and soft corals can still irratate each other. I've enjoyed watching the slow motion battles of green star polyps encroaching on yellow polyps only to be infiltrated and cut off by green rock anenomes!
Its all part of natural selection and response to the grand master plan.
It does prompt me to do some trimming of my bonsai reef to help one foe over another. Particularly dug in forces of yellow polyps probing a cabbage leather often requires the dreaded scrubbing with a toothbrush. Shadowing of the lower reaches keeps my prop tank well stocked with toadstool leather frags. But this is all physical competition as opposed to the chemial terpenoids(?) these corals can excude to kill off neighbors. Selective use of carbon helps to keep this down and with newly introduced corals going through a 'chemical acclimation' phase until they develop tolerances.
Current helps too.

If I was to add a hammer coral for example to my tank, it would be able to knock out 4 or 5 soft corals and colonies with its extensive sweepers.