SO IVe been doing extensive research on the best parameters for an sps tank, and was wondering in your guyses experience what parameters have given you the best growth. Im not just talking PH levels and Nitrate blah blah, but what distance from the light, what temperature of water, what ammount of water flow, how long to run the lights...these sort of questions, and also what species does best under these conditions. Its hard to find reputable sources when one source says 75 Degrees F and another says 83 degrees F.
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Best SPS parameters
- Thread starter blackcloudmedia
- Start date
imo it's more of a stability question. yes, high phosphates will slow growth, and high nitrates will brown out sps, but stability as far as temperature, salinity, alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium will really affect your growth.
of course pH, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium all need to be in the appropriate range in order to reduce the likelihood of experiencing a "limiting factor". i know a guy who has, for an sps tank, low alkalinity (around 7 dkh, which is actually close to natural), low calcium (less than 400 ppm), and even a lower pH. but what he does is keep all the levels as constant as possible by using controllers, calcium reactors, and reverse photoperiod on his sump. but one thing that he does have, and it's something i've been considering, is a system will virtually zero nutrients. this is accomplished by not having a sandbed, not overloading with fish, overskimming, and large water changes. heck, he doesn't even run macroalgae. but he does run his sump as a frag tank with it having an opposite photoperiod from the main tank to stabilize pH. he gets tremendous growth.
as far as distance from light...the more par the coral gets the better. increased light will provide more nutrients (from symbiotic bacteria) to the coral. therefore, it has the ability to grow faster.
temperature is also something to consider. obviously, if too cold or too hot then the coral will be stressed and grow slowly. i keep my tank at 80-81. it's more natural to keep it above 78. one thing you could do is try to find data on sea surface temperatures from areas in the west pacific.
as far as flow...the more random flow the better. direct flow is bad. if strong enough, it will blow tissue off of the skeleton. but the more flow the better. it will bring nutrients to the coral and help in vacating metabolites from the coral, thus allowing it to grow. not only that, but increased flow will cause coral branches to grow thicker, and less brittle.
those are just my thoughts on it. hope this helps.
of course pH, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium all need to be in the appropriate range in order to reduce the likelihood of experiencing a "limiting factor". i know a guy who has, for an sps tank, low alkalinity (around 7 dkh, which is actually close to natural), low calcium (less than 400 ppm), and even a lower pH. but what he does is keep all the levels as constant as possible by using controllers, calcium reactors, and reverse photoperiod on his sump. but one thing that he does have, and it's something i've been considering, is a system will virtually zero nutrients. this is accomplished by not having a sandbed, not overloading with fish, overskimming, and large water changes. heck, he doesn't even run macroalgae. but he does run his sump as a frag tank with it having an opposite photoperiod from the main tank to stabilize pH. he gets tremendous growth.
as far as distance from light...the more par the coral gets the better. increased light will provide more nutrients (from symbiotic bacteria) to the coral. therefore, it has the ability to grow faster.
temperature is also something to consider. obviously, if too cold or too hot then the coral will be stressed and grow slowly. i keep my tank at 80-81. it's more natural to keep it above 78. one thing you could do is try to find data on sea surface temperatures from areas in the west pacific.
as far as flow...the more random flow the better. direct flow is bad. if strong enough, it will blow tissue off of the skeleton. but the more flow the better. it will bring nutrients to the coral and help in vacating metabolites from the coral, thus allowing it to grow. not only that, but increased flow will cause coral branches to grow thicker, and less brittle.
those are just my thoughts on it. hope this helps.
Hey cool man thanks for the reply, that is a very interesting note on stability, Ive always had a hunch that running the sump on a different scehdule would help balance the PH, unfortunately I dont have a sump or a drilled tank. Anyone else tried this method?
one thing i also forgot to mention about lighting is bulb temperature color. if you are running metal halides, then the color will dramatically affect the brightness of the light coming out of the lamp. if you are running a 6500K (very yellow) bulb, then you will get tremendous par (brightness), but the colors will all look brown. if you run 10000K bulbs, you lose some of that growth, but make up for it in color (a little bit). as far as a good bulb color, i recommend a 14000K bulb (phoenix brands is the best imo); you can still get good growth, but you get a lot more color. then there's 20000K bulbs. they are the bluest bulbs and they provide the best color for your corals, but you really lose par (brightness) and therefore lose growth.
I dont think stating less par = less growth is not really accurate. I run 2 x 400 watt 14k MH 4 hours a day and 2 96 watt actinics 12 hours. Plenty of light for my 58 SPS tank. If I increased the photoperiod of my MH the SPS wont grow faster IME.
Camaros comments on stabilty are right on. This is very important with SPS along with the standard parameters.
As far as flow in the tank, you want wide spread flow throughout the system. SPS require high flow but adding a bunch of standard powerheads can hurt more then help, you want to use powerheads with a wide flow pattern like tunzes, vortechs, or those koralias from hydor. Or bank standard powerheads off of rocks or tnak walls to disperse the flow to a wider pattern.
AS far as temp IIRC in Eric Bornemans Aquarium Corals book he had data over serveral reefs systems and the average temp was 82 F. I run my tank at 80.
SPS is a whole new type of addition in the hobby, so if you get into them good luck! I just got back from getting 6 new frags from another reefer in NJ I spent 4 hours driving today lol.
AS always with reef tanks I have seen tons of different amazing SPS systems, some BB some DSB, basically all different methods used successfully. As long as the basic parameters are acceptable in range and stable you'll be fine. Just dont get AEFW :evil: lol
Camaros comments on stabilty are right on. This is very important with SPS along with the standard parameters.
As far as flow in the tank, you want wide spread flow throughout the system. SPS require high flow but adding a bunch of standard powerheads can hurt more then help, you want to use powerheads with a wide flow pattern like tunzes, vortechs, or those koralias from hydor. Or bank standard powerheads off of rocks or tnak walls to disperse the flow to a wider pattern.
AS far as temp IIRC in Eric Bornemans Aquarium Corals book he had data over serveral reefs systems and the average temp was 82 F. I run my tank at 80.
SPS is a whole new type of addition in the hobby, so if you get into them good luck! I just got back from getting 6 new frags from another reefer in NJ I spent 4 hours driving today lol.
AS always with reef tanks I have seen tons of different amazing SPS systems, some BB some DSB, basically all different methods used successfully. As long as the basic parameters are acceptable in range and stable you'll be fine. Just dont get AEFW :evil: lol
dual 400 watt halides over a 58??? holy crap that's a lot of light. but seriously, not saying that more par increases growth necessarily, but that light is obviously one of those limiting factors. too little and you don't get growth...and as you've demonstrated you can never have too much (unless your water temp is too high).Ben":1eps7k4v said:I dont think stating less par = less growth is not really accurate. I run 2 x 400 watt 14k MH 4 hours a day and 2 96 watt actinics 12 hours. Plenty of light for my 58 SPS tank. If I increased the photoperiod of my MH the SPS wont grow faster IME.
AS far as temp IIRC in Eric Bornemans Aquarium Corals book he had data over serveral reefs systems and the average temp was 82 F. I run my tank at 80.
and btw, eric borneman lives fairly close to me...well in the houston area anyways. he actually is a founder of our local reef site. the lfs i work at gets corals from him all the time. he grows stuff under 6500K and 10000K metal halides. a lot of stuff is somewhat dull in color, but it certainly grows like weeds. he had like 3-400 pieces that are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation psammacora, pocillopora, pavona, and seriatopora corals. needless to say, our tanks up at the lfs are stocked with his stuff.
he's a nice guy, and very knowledgeable. but if you don't know any coral id's or any coral anatomy, any conversation will go way over your head.
Is there any way to tell if a coral is "happy" with its placement under the MH, suchs as polyp lenth or absence. My recently added purple tip elkhorn has its polyps fully extended and looks like its "eating it up" to say.
Should the polyps be retracted under the lights like I saw them at the LFS?
Should the polyps be retracted under the lights like I saw them at the LFS?
+1 for the stability factor. I think it holds true in all aquaria (even fresh water). I've managed to get pretty good growth out of all sorts of corals as long as the conditions are stable (even if they aren't "perfect" conditions).
THAT BEING SAID (just to venture out of the topic for a moment), I've also seen growth (but not with sps) during periods when my aquarium variables fluctuate. For instance I went through a difficult water quailty period a year or so ago and my BTA split 3 times. During that time zoanthids spread like NUTS and even some lobos looked REALLY happy. I think THAT had to do with survival for the corals. Not that I would EVER suggest doing this, but it's kind of like when people intententionally injure a fungia coral just to have it spin off babies. I guess its a form of survival of the species. The more there are of it.. the better chance that it will survive.
BUT... I would ALWAYS recommend keeping your tank as stable and clean as is humanly possible.
THAT BEING SAID (just to venture out of the topic for a moment), I've also seen growth (but not with sps) during periods when my aquarium variables fluctuate. For instance I went through a difficult water quailty period a year or so ago and my BTA split 3 times. During that time zoanthids spread like NUTS and even some lobos looked REALLY happy. I think THAT had to do with survival for the corals. Not that I would EVER suggest doing this, but it's kind of like when people intententionally injure a fungia coral just to have it spin off babies. I guess its a form of survival of the species. The more there are of it.. the better chance that it will survive.
BUT... I would ALWAYS recommend keeping your tank as stable and clean as is humanly possible.
What everyone else said.
-stability
-good light source
-flow
Always monitor calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels. A proper magnesium level will keep your calcium and alkalinity leveled.
Moderation is key. Avoid any sudden or drastic changes as much as possible (i.e. immediately switching to a new brand of salt). Look for tank-raised specimens from reputable sources.
-stability
-good light source
-flow
Always monitor calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels. A proper magnesium level will keep your calcium and alkalinity leveled.
Moderation is key. Avoid any sudden or drastic changes as much as possible (i.e. immediately switching to a new brand of salt). Look for tank-raised specimens from reputable sources.
If your adding new SPS be sure to acclimate them to your lighting. I got those 6 SPS frags the other day from another reefer and they will spend a week on an eggcrate shelf on the bottom then worked up to there spot on the reef. Even though they came right from high lighting he had on frag tank under a 400 watt in a luminarc and T5's over his other frags tank and had 400 watt halides on his display. But being I didnt know the kelvin since I didnt ask him, didnt know age of his bulbs and the frags came from three different lighting schemes I am reacclimating them to the light.
AEFW = Acro eating flatworms worst plague you can get in an SPS tank if you ask me.
Sometimes polyps will be retracted because of too much current, or fish picking, or other factors. Some SPS dont display polyps much during the day but at night are fluffy. Just observe the corals tissue, be sure its not receding over time.
Camaro, your lucky I would love to meet Eric and be able to talk one on one with him.
AEFW = Acro eating flatworms worst plague you can get in an SPS tank if you ask me.
Sometimes polyps will be retracted because of too much current, or fish picking, or other factors. Some SPS dont display polyps much during the day but at night are fluffy. Just observe the corals tissue, be sure its not receding over time.
Camaro, your lucky I would love to meet Eric and be able to talk one on one with him.
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