Lets talk SPS

[duke62]

So ive been talking to many people who keep SPS and i was told to go to this site or that site because MR is not the place to have great discussions on the subject ,well i would like to change that. Sps has been getting very popular the past few years and i was caught up in it starting last year. Once i saw growth and colors i was hooked and havent thought about adding anything other then SPS to my system. I would like to hear people who have full blown SPS systems on what you guys and gals are doing to maintain ideal conditions in your setup to make these difficult corals to thrive in your system. What is your water conditions like,what kind of flow,supplements,water changes,media,size tanks and skimmers. What makes your system so great that you have colonies thriving and what are you doing against the grain.I would also like to know what species you keep,where the placement in your tank for each type of coral you can give the scientific name for each piece or the stores name. I pretty much want to hear from the guys with colonies not the people who are just starting off. Also after each breakdown of what your doing and the coral placement and type of coral i would like to see the pictures of each setup. Alot of people are switching the types of corals that are in there system and thought this would be a great thread to get them in the right direction. I will post my setup and what im doing to get great growth and good color when i see a couple people respond.

 

[MIKE NY]

Being an SPS junky for many years I will just echo what has been written and said thousands of times..stability is key. As simple as that sounds there are so many things that can go wrong and it's not a matter of if, but when. A little frag that took a couple of years to grow can be lost over night which has happened to me many times. A frag that just doesn't do anything or dies while others flourish, but the most aggrevating thing is when a colony which took many years to grow out or a frag just bleaches, RTNs, STNs for no apparent reason over night or days when all the parameters haven't changed...in recent years I have been getting more into the fish. I find that keeping harder to keep species like Leopard wrasses, Purple Queen Anthias and watching the mating behaviors and spawning events of fish just as rewarding as watching a little brown stick grow into a beautiful colony.

 

[CoralReefer]

Save yourself a lot of time and headaches and buy yourself a calcium reactor and control it with a ph probe. Also a TLF phosban reactor wont hurt.
Strong flow. Consistent water changes. Patience.

 

[duke62]

I am a light feeder only feeding once a day. I also believe in a reactor for calcium as it puts alot of headaches dosing every day and can go away for a couiple of days without worrying if someone is dosing correctly. I am also a believer NOW in ATO for SPS. For other corals it is not a big deal but for SPS i think its a must. As well as a large skimmer 2 to 3 times the recommended water volume. Flow is a must but not a steady flow i think constant current willl not give you what sps need. I for one believe in frequent water changes as well. I do a 5 gallon water change twice a week along with a 10 to 15 gallon change once every 6 weeks. As for livestock i feel that ornamental fish such as clowns ,chromises ETC are not beneficial i think that a fish that can do a job in the tank is whats needed like wrasses some tangs any fish thats a known algae and critter eater is what should be in a full sps tank, if you have enough room then sure get some ornamental fish to bighten the tank but are not needed. if i was to do it over i would not have clowns in my setup or my chromis.i will think of some more but for now would like to hear others

 

[mshur]

Being an SPS junky for many years I will just echo what has been written and said thousands of times..stability is key. As simple as that sounds there are so many things that can go wrong and it's not a matter of if, but when. A little frag that took a couple of years to grow can be lost over night which has happened to me many times. A frag that just doesn't do anything or dies while others flourish, but the most aggrevating thing is when a colony which took many years to grow out or a frag just bleaches, RTNs, STNs for no apparent reason over night or days when all the parameters haven't changed...in recent years I have been getting more into the fish. I find that keeping harder to keep species like Leopard wrasses, Purple Queen Anthias and watching the mating behaviors and spawning events of fish just as rewarding as watching a little brown stick grow into a beautiful colony.

r
Mike, Cant agree more .

 

[magicalmets]

Bump. learning on SPS.

 

[james1990]

Do you guys think a controller is a must to keep SPS? (RK or APEX) to keep an eye on PH and such.

 

[magicalmets]

i got a small tank( JBJ 28). i want a sps tank and i understand i have no room for error.
Any advise?

 

[JonnyJ]

Advice..

Stability... And that generally comes from experience.

I'm certainly no sps expert but im on my 6th year reefing.

Knowing what your tank can handle is important and normally takes close to a year to figure out (just my opinion) With nanos, everything becomes more complicated. A lot of trial and error... Low nutrient levels and good husbandry is a must for long term positive results and for most people that's hard enough.

Most tanks will run the following.

Carbon reactor

GFO reactor

Skimmer or large fuge or both.(I use a very large fuge with no Skinmer - but I only have 2 fish)

Good water - distilled or rodi - keeping up with filter replacement.

Good flow and good rock work to prevent dead spots.

Controller - for heaters to prevent malfunctions and to keep temp stable.

QTing/Dipping coral to prevent outbreaks.

Regular water changes - matching water temp & salinity Is a must, all it takes Is one temp or salinity spike to possibly completely wipe a frag/colony. Most think this is such an easy task but I disagree.

You need to aim at keeping your phosphates an nitrates low for growth and colors..

As far as dosing, you need to keep up with trace elements one of two ways

Water changes or some sort of dosing method.

All tanks consume different amounts of trace elements. Good test kits are important, test over a period of 2-3 weeks to see your consumption.

Understanding the relationship between

Cal alk and magnesium.

 

[magicalmets]

Should i do a water change twice a week or is that a over kill. If yes. How many gallons?

 

[duke62]

if you do 2 water changes per week i would do no more then 3 gallons at a time so you dont change the water chemistry and shock your system since it is so small of water volume

 

[CoralReefer]

I wouldn't jump into an sps tank as your first tank especially not in a nano. You have to keep in mind that 28 gallons is such a small amount of water and any changes that are done must be done very slowly and precisely. Also with an AIO (all in one system) your space for filtration/fuge is very limited. I'm not saying it can't be done because it can check out nano-reefs but those guys and gals are some experienced reefers who have been doing it a long time.

 

[piranhapat]

This is exactly one year of just SPS in my 90 gal. The other two years were learning years in half the size tank. Big difference on growth and color. My first tank was 24 gal.SPS tank. I learned in that tank about flat worms. Than I learn about going on vacation and having a black out while away. So I learn the hard way. Didn't know much. I started doing weekly water changes would be a perfect way to control a small SPS tank. What I didn't know was Stability was the key. Yes, lighting and current and water condition is very important. But stability from temp and ph and alk. are just as important too. So this year I went away and luckily no power outage and no lost of SPS. Added ATO and reactors for phosphate control. Didn't add cal reactor. So dozing two part with know trouble. I did learn a lot on RC. So this is a great topic and we should learn from others. So the bigger the tank is more easy than a smaller tank. Maintain stability and you should have a healthier SPS tank. So Is keeping phosphate low and nitrates low. "

 

[magicalmets]

I think I'm doing something right in my nano. I bought a birds of paradise and in 3 weeks in turned white completely. Now most of the polyps are turning purple and the base is turning green. I'll say 65% back. I top of my water about twice a day and check/dose alkalinity everyday. Soon I will be investing in an ATO

 

[E.intheC]

This is a great thread topic. In my (not so) humble opinion, I think it would be beneficial to continue to talk about husbandry practices and tank maintenance routines rather than get into specific equipment, etc.

Right now this thread is defintely heading in the right direction, and we certainly have enough sps experts to make this great.

 

[duke62]

As far as maintenance like I said I do 2 small water changes per week. Once every month I clean out the fuge which is 20 gallons but still just take 5 gallons out of that. Basting the corals 3 times a week which I think my corals love. They seem to open up a lot after I do that. Change filter socks 2 times a week and I kill off any soft corals that are coming to close to the Sps. I had a soft coral and lps tank before I started Sps so the mushrooms and palys still grow fast. As far as supplements I am liking the coral snow and zeo zyme from zeo. I also make sure I change the carbon and phosban every month but I don't change them the same day. I will change carbon on a saturday when I do the first water change then phosban on wed when I do the next water change.

 

[xclusive252]

Ok I have had a Sps tank for 2 yrs now and I am by far no expert but can give my advice on things. First a controller helps out a ton with temp and ph . 2nd I would watch temp. Have multi small heaters not just 1 large heater I do 2-3 100w heaters and I also do a chiller an A/C and fan to keep temp just right. 3rd as someone said ATO a must and you should try and keep the container clean maybe every 4-6 months just wipe it down. 4th lights if u do T-5s they do bring out nice colors but can be expensive same with MH as for myself I am doing leds and my sps is doing great 5th a calcium reactor is a nice thing to have but not a must I have friends who dose and do great . If you do go reactor I feel that the controller from aquariumplants is really nice and help with the headaches a reactor brings. Try to know what sps you want some like really clean water to grow and some want alittle dirt so feeding helps out. If you get a big skimmer you will pull alot out pf the tank water and some sps will not do good. As for flow I run an Mp40 on my tank and have it set so its not just a straight flow of water im not sure the name of the setting but tonight I will post it. Last water changes I do 5 gals a week. As for additives I do special blend and Bio fuel weekly.

My setup is a 45g cube Diy overflow
40gal breeder sump
1 mp40es
1 alpha vortex 160 skimmer
1 Apex controller
1 water blaster 10000 return pump
1 reef octopus bio pellet reactor
1 calcium reactor (not sure in brand)
1 aquarium plant regulator
1 Diy led light from rapid led ( 24 cool white 24 royal blue 13 Uv bulbs
1 9 watt turbo twist uv
1 jbj ato
1 1/3 hp chiller
1 10000 BTU A/C
1 fan

 

[MIKE NY]

I have alot of fish with many species of Anthias so I do feed alot and often. Heavy nutriants in and pull alot out so finding that balance of of too much or too little nutirants which will cause many SPS to either lighten or brown can be challanging. My husbandry methods maybe alittle extreme for most SPS keepers, but for me thats the challange with keeping so many fish which as I mentioned I enjoy just as much as the corals. I religiously do a 10%-15% W/C weekly. I have a 90 gallon fuge filled with chaeto and run phosban/carbon which I change out every 30 days (more often if I suspect a water quality problem) at a rate of 1 cup per 100 gallons. I wet skim and it pulls about 3/4 gallon a day so I clean it often. In my 44 gallon ATO rubbermaid I dose kalk and vinagar which replemishes about 3-5 gallons a day and I use a cal reactor for keeping the other elements stable....I never used any type of controller and never needed a chiller. I do use and highly recommmend to use multiple smaller heaters rather than one or two larger in case of failure.

 

[xclusive252]

Mike I alao have alot of fish just little fish like clowns and wrasse. Also are you going on the 23rd

 

[Stackbundles]

Got my first SPS this past week. My current set up is a mix reef. I can see myself moving totally to SPS.