SPS growth/touching?

[Sparky312]

Hey guys -- I have a couple pieces about to grow into each other and touch, wondering if I should do something... I can't seem to get a good picture so I'll just describe:

#1 Pink Lemonade acro -- still in the frag stage, its encrusted base is like 1.5 inches across and its finally just starting to put out vertical shoots after like a year. I don't want this thing to die!
#2 Spongodes (I think this is a type of montipora, right?) Its way bigger, like 5 inches across at least, and it grows pretty fast. I don't really care if I have to break a piece off this thing

In general, I have a 'live and let live' approach to my reef and I try not to move stuff around too much, so I'm inclined to leave it be. But I have read posts about montis killing acros... is it really a concern? And how likely is it? I have definitely seen tanks that were chock full to bursting and things seemed fine even when touching. If they touch, how long will it take for something "bad" to happen and will I still be able to intervene at that time? Dang typing this out makes me just want to wait and see what happens haha

I run carbon if that matters

Love to get your thoughts, THANKS!!

 

[tinman]

spongodes will probably kill pink lemonade ..

the way it works is all of them has their own mechanism for survival.

if Pink lemonade is a big colony then may be chances are the encrusting parts fight and may or may not end up dying .. but if its just a frag then chances are spongodes has a mightier need to encrust ( cause thats wht they do) and pink lemonade would loose as its destined to grow tall and not fat if that makes sense ..


if its two acros of same exact species they may merge

if its two acros of different kind the weaker one would start growing the other way. .

 

[superchargedgp]

My monticaps touch all of my stuff so i just break like 2 inches off an im good for 6 months. I would trim the spongodes


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[Sawdonkey]

Generally for me, acros beat montis.

When things touch, it's typically just the point of contact that dies, not the whole thing.

 

[Sparky312]

Different tanks, different answers, and if that doesn't sum up reefing, what does?
Guys thanks very much for your input!

 

[madjoe]

Some encrusting monties will grow over acros . Monties like superman and rainbow or mystic the ones like apple berry setosa spongdoids kinda not as bad the grow into the sps the little bit that touches die then they grow over the dead touch again and die again lol ive yet to see any kinda sps monti or acro that touched kill the whole thing its more just spot that touches

 

[Calbert0]

Life will find a way.... Once colonies are establsihed i usually just let things run their course and have the reef develop "naturally". I guess it comes down to picking the right selection of corals, placing them far enough apart so they have room to grow out, and not overcrowding. You could start fragging the touching pieces if you are really worried that an entire colony will get wiped out or if it is just too crowded in the tank