sps?

[mccarthy04]

I have been doing a reef tank for about 9 months and i have been thinking about doing sps corals but i have been told by a few diffrent people that they are hard and will always die

any one have any suggestions or ways on how to keep them alive or make it easier?

 

[mccarthy04]

are they even worth buying?

 

[Overlook reef]

Yes they are worth buying. They can be much more challenging than LPS, softies or leathers, but if you have good equipment (lighting, skimmer, etc) and good tank husbandry you can keep SPS very successfully. The key is to have a stable system (good levels, low phosphates and nitrates, etc.)

What kind of system do you have? Lighting? Filter/skimmer? How often do you do water changes? How many fish do you have?

 

[mccarthy04]

i have a 40 gallon i have a hot magnum 350 and a remora c protein skimmer for filters a 4 bulb t5 2 blue 1 purple 1 white for lights i do a water change every 3 weeks and i have 4 fish 2 fire fish richmond wrasse and a blue hippo

 

[wdebenedettojr]

My motto for reef tanks is keep it simple stupid. There is no special recipe in keeping sps. Just like previously said, low phosphates, nitrates and stable everything else. Start with a pink birdsnest coral or an I range montipora cap. Both grow very quick, easy to take care of, and colorful!

 

[mccarthy04]

thats what i wanted to get was a montipora cap but i talked to a few other people and they told me it wasnt worth it that they would die with in a month

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Well I'm not sure there experience with them but these particular corals are very resilient. Unless your nitrates are over 50 or other parts of your chemistry is that high I wouldn't worry. If your keeping Lps currently monti cap is easy to start with.

 

[mccarthy04]

alright thanks any other good start out sps you'd recommend?

 

[Overlook reef]

Try Red Monti Cap and or a Birdsnest.

 

[mccarthy04]

ill give them a try thanks

 

[dannyp02908]

I would say caps or digis. Birds nest can easily die from an alk swing.

 

[nemodan]

The onky thing that worried me from the setup is the water change every 3 weeks.

Can you do it at least every 2 weeks 10-20% of WC ?

That will provide more stability to the system. Just a though.

 

[mccarthy04]

Yea I was told by some people to not even do one and I heard every 2 weeks as we'll too but I can do every 2 weeks

 

[SteveDola]

youre fine doing water changes every few weeks...just DONT OVER FEED! Is doing weekly water changes better? of course but you should be able to keep your trates and po4 in acceptable ranges with that schedule.

Honestly I wouldnt just try out sps with random easy species just because...I would find corals you like and want to keep. Ive made the mistake (imo) of adding monti caps/green birds nests/etc and eventually you out grow those corals or like in my case never really enjoyed their look. 9mths down the road you have an encrusted growing coral you dont like taking up tank space. Pick out corals you like and just be careful with them. You shouldnt go into SPS thinking that this is a trial run. If you like strawberry shortcake then buy a frag from a local reefer and see how it develops in you tank. research the corals requirements and give it time. Have some forethought for coral placement and future purchases/corals. Eventually youll have a tank full of beautiful growing sps (fingers crossed) and youll need proper spacing for flow and growth. I see all to often that people buy a dozen frags and stick them up on a rock then buy more and more with no thought of a year down the road (ive committed this too many times myself). Much of what I have learned about SPS is from reading and listening to what other successful sps keepers are doing. Reefcentral has an entire forum devoted to SPS corals...check it out.

SPS are not as difficult as people make them out to be. The difficult part is being religious with your maintenance routine and monitoring your tank levels. These corals are less forgiving...usually if they start to die is because you neglected the tank, dosed too much or too little and basically just are not showing the tank its proper attention. The most successful sps tanks are the ones you keep your hands out of and just let it grow. Monitor alk/calc/mag and do your water changes...its that simple.

 

[SteveDola]

My question is do you own good test kits for calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium? if no then that is definitely something you should be buying before your first sps frag. if you cant measure you levels then dont bother wasting your money or time with sps.

 

[dannyp02908]

Steve is dead on in that post. I've seen his tank and it is beautiful. SPS dominant. If your going to choose corals you like that aren't necessarily as easy, make sure you have the tests on hand before you start. Nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are the must haves.

 

[SteveDola]

The hanna meters are great for P04 and N03.

 

[SteveDola]

Steve is dead on in that post. I've seen his tank and it is beautiful. SPS dominant. If your going to choose corals you like that aren't necessarily as easy, make sure you have the tests on hand before you start. Nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium are the must haves.

Dan, youll need to stop by sometime to see the changes! I redid all my rock. It came out awesome! the giant clam went to a friends bigger home but I just didnt have the space for a 14" clam in my 2x2' cube. Someday...someday.

 

[stingythingy45]

With a "4 bulb t5 2 blue 1 purple 1 white" for light you are not going to be keeping SPS for very long.
SPS corals need intense lighting. You may be able to get away with some cap.

 

[JohnK]

I would think that 2 T5s over a 40 shouldn't be all that limiting as long as they are quality bulbs in a quality fixture?