noob friendly sps

[bandit1994]

I have a ten gallon nano tank that I'm going to make a sps reef what is some good sps that will grow under led lighting it only has a scooter blenny in it right now

[Rural]

under led lighting

 

depends on what lighting, more specs needed and experience level would help of course. birdsnest or birds of paradise would be easy and simple monti caps.

[Mariaface]

My bright orange setosa frag is recovering from me accidentally starving the tank for months. Like a champ.

[bandit1994]

its a creed led which is the same as a max spect razr I am not new to reef keeping just new to sps corls

[william_payne1]

depends on what lighting, more specs needed and experience level would help of course. birdsnest or birds of paradise would be easy and simple monti caps.

+1

 

As well, montipora digitata's are fairly easy, I've always had luck with plating and encrusting monti's, monti Undata I have had good luck with, as well as porites (spelling?) I personally haven't had much luck with acros. All I can say is good lights and clean water.

[Mariaface]

Clean, but not sterile!

[bandit1994]

i have some monis that a friend is holding for me i have red cap, sand dollar monti, and a pink Cadillac monti what out of these would be a good place to start with as I know I want to get a jedi mind tirck monti one day also I do biweekly water changes on this tank of 5 gallons or more

[Mariaface]

Five gallons compared to what total volume?

 

Are you monitoring calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc, in addition to salinity and temperature?

 

Honestly, I'd say start with the red cap and see if you can keep it going (and growing and colorful) for several continuous months.

[bandit1994]

five gallons out of ten gallons and yes I am I use red sea pro test kit for cal, mag, and alk I have lps coral right now so I have to test for that

[Mariaface]

Is it ten gallons total, or a ten gallon standard tank with less volume due to rocks/sand/inhabitants?

 

If you're using weekly water changes for correcting parameters and/or dosing, the parameters may fluctuate too much. Coralline alone in my tank can suck up 1dKH/day if I let it, and it's 14 total gallons of water. By week's end my alk would've dropped 7dKH, assuming the coralline hadn't already caused stunted growth in everything by limiting available alk. Anything short of a 100% water change couldn't bring alk back to what it was, and I wouldn't want to do that anyway -- an alk rise of more than 1.5dKH a day can be harmful, especially in low nutrient tanks and especially to SPS.

 

I set up a dosing pump in order to forget about it during the week, and water changes are for correcting trace elements or anything the carbon/phosguard haven't picked up already. Testing alk/cal/mag weekly helps adjust the dosing to compensate for growth.

[bandit1994]

i dont have much Coralline algae in my tank it spotty at best and its a ten gallon standard tank with maybe a little less then ten gallon that is with the rock, sand, and the one fish

[Dank]

As a rookie SPS keeper myself I have had the best luck with pocillipora and birds nest.

[dadummy]

best first sps pieces are ones that are free or close to it

[jojopus]

Check this video out. Made by a fellow that owns a coral aquaculture business here in the Akron area...

 

[R_MC]

Montipora and Seriatopora are both a bit more forgiving than acropora.

[Tamberav]

ORA Mint Pavona Coral is the hardiest SPS in existence imo, all your zoas/softies/lps/xenia/gsp will die but not that thing lol. Bright green with unique growth form too.

 

I have SPS in a pico, I just do water changes, everything is growing slowly.

 

I find some acros hardier than birdnest or monti's... I feel like "acros are harder" is just too broad of a saying, there are so many types of acros where care differs for each.

[patback]

Poccilopora, encrusting montipora, and birds nest are the easiest IME in that order.

[R_MC]

As a good general rule of thumb just look at any of the sps dominated nano-tanks here (<10g). If the SPS can be kept in less than 10g of water, chances are you can keep it anywhere. What makes most SPS challenging is their sensitivity to parameter swings, particularly ALK. ALK is not very stable in 10g nano tanks and so any coral that does well in that environment has to be relatively hardy.

[Halo_003]

Birdnest, stylophora, setosa, montipora, etc, are all pretty easy to take care of.

 

Acropora are really the only ones that are super sensitive IMO, some more so than others. I had a Strawberry Shortcake that was bulletproof, but a Hawkins Echinata that was unbelievably sensitive.

[reefernanoman]

 

I have a ten gallon nano tank that I'm going to make a sps reef what is some good sps that will grow under led lighting it only has a scooter blenny in it right now

 

Orange monti cap would be my choice to try out SPS for the first time. Grows very fast and it's very hardy too. Good luck.

[Matteo]

Birdnest, stylophora, setosa, montipora, etc, are all pretty easy to take care of.

 

Acropora are really the only ones that are super sensitive IMO, some more so than others. I had a Strawberry Shortcake that was bulletproof, but a Hawkins Echinata that was unbelievably sensitive.

getting some stylo this friday along with a strawberry shortcake! Hope it does alright in my setup!

[johnnyvega252]

Five gallons compared to what total volume?

 

Are you monitoring calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc, in addition to salinity and temperature?

 

Honestly, I'd say start with the red cap and see if you can keep it going (and growing and colorful) for several continuous months.

 

Totally agree with you Id probably try a red montipora capricornus see how things go and if you see it start getting upset at you, you can evaluate whats wrong before adding expensive acroporas that will most definitely die if proper water, light, and trace elements are not being maintained.