Will Green Star Polyps hurt my Favia?

[finneganswake]

I'm doing a little re-arranging in my 10g nano due to a few corals not getting enough light. The best location that I could find for my Favia is right next to some Green Star Polyps. I know that these are fast growers and I've heard that they can overrun SPSs, but is there any danger to an LPS? The Favia is my prize possession in the tank; it's a beautiful pastel blue/green with red centers, so I'd hate for it to get damaged. The Star Polyps are basically being used as filler, so I'm less worried about them, although it would be nice if neither were damaged.

[JENnKerry]

Do what you can to keep the favia away from the polyps. They will spread everywhere.

[TippyToeX]

I agree. The favia will be irritated to no end by them. I know this from experience. Keep them away if at all possible. GSP are quite invasive so it is best to stay on top of them for control.

If you are using them for a filter, have you though of putting them in a refugium? :)

[a.fool.for.fish.]

i think he means "filler" as in just using them to make the tank seem full and occupied

i think thats what he means

[TippyToeX]

Yikes, my mistake. Thanks a.fool.for.fish! Sorry finneganswake! Disregard the refugium thought! :D

[a.fool.for.fish.]

ya i would stay away from that idea LOL

[Narkon]

I would stay away form both ideas myself. They are aggressive, but if you really want to make them look like a filler, then put them on the back glass, they are slower growing there, and easy to remove.

If you are going to remove them off of rock, tear them off, then use a toothbrush over the area that you took them off of.

Of course I say no on the filler becuase I like rock and I only have a 29 gal tank, I don't know how big finneganswakes' tank is. I just feel Red Sea short stem pulsing xenia is better filler for it is easy to remove and does not sting or irriate other corals. And even though it grows like a weed (good nutriuent exporter), people still want to buy the stuff.

[finneganswake]

Thanks, all. I moved the favia just a little bit away so that the polyps are only touching the skeleton, and just barely at that. I actually agree with narkon about liking the look of rock, but I've had a big problem getting the coralline to grow on this tank (my 10g). My 50g is only two months old and has much greater coralline coverage than I have ever been able to get out of the 10g. I think it's due to the fact that I really didn't know what to do when I got the 10g (it was my first reef tank) and the coralline is really having to play catch-up. With my 50g, I was more experienced and cured the rock myself in-tank, and it's got amazing coralline growth for a tank that just reached the two month mark, with a one patch that is already about 6" x 3" and many that are about 1/2 this size. Compare this to my 10g, where the biggest patch is maybe 1" x 1".

[Narkon]

Finneganswake did just the oppisite on my sizes, my 29 doesn't have hardly any, where my 3 gal is growing a lot.