SPS in New Tank

[lakejoery1]

I have set up my 2nd reef,(the other is a 40g Nuvo, LPS) a NUVO 14 Pennisula and plan to have it SPS only. It has been cycled for a month and a half has done very well. I don't want to follow the traditional softies, then LPS then SPS because I don't want to lose all the space. I have a MP10 for water movement, a AI Prime for lighting. I have been taking constant Alk and Calcium reading to track stability and am getting ready to dose 2 part once my new fresh saltwater is ready. I am prepared to keep Alk and Calcium Stable. I know well about SPS and have done lots and lots of reading. I am thinking about adding a test monti cap frag into it to see what happens, just as a test. My parameters over the last week and a half  have been stable and are as followed:

 

Nitrates 0

PH 8.0(Constant)

 

July 29th

Alk 11

Calcium 400

 

Aug 3rd

Alk 10

Calcium 380

 

Aug 7th 

Alk 10

Calcium 380

[A Little Blue]

Pocillopora, Stylophora, Montipora, Birdsnest are all good test corals. 

[markalot]

Stay away from acros at first and you should do well.

 

If you decide to do acros I would target 7KH and 420+ calcium.  IMO your calcium is a little low but nothing a little calcium only dosing won't fix.   

 

In my experience low KH, even too low KH, will still allow SPS to grow and stay fairly happy.  Running a higher KH is risky because any instability can kill everything.  For example, I can raise KH from 5.5 ( TOO LOW!) to 6.5 very quickly without issue while 8.0 to 9.0 will almost always cause problems.  In short, the closer you are to natural levels of Alk (6.5 to 7) the better SPS can tolerate swinging parameters.

 

Finally, watch how you keep track of Phosphate.  Dropping PO4 rapidly can kill SPS while LPS and Softies aren't bothered.  You want to do everything slowly, no sudden jumps of anything.

 

Good luck!  

[the camaro show]

IMO monti caps are unkillable so you should be good, same with birds nest I even had one come in with barley a inch of water with a busted bag from wwc and it lived just fine till it got lost in the tank. Damn snails!

[Clown79]

Starting out with easier sps is not an issue as you do have reefing experience. 

 

I'd wait for acros since the tank is new.

 

I agree with @markalot my sps have always been happier with alk in the 7-9 range. As soon as alk hit 10+ there were issues.

[A Little Blue]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

Starting out with easier sps is not an issue as you do have reefing experience. 

 

I'd wait for acros since the tank is new.

 

I agree with @markalot my sps have always been happier with alk in the 7-9 range. As soon as alk hit 10+ there were issues.

Don’t you think it is because your tank run at lower Alk and your corals got used to it? Many run their tanks at higher Alk ( at least everyone I deal with, including few reefing gurus or vendors such as WWC). 

 

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

Don’t you think it is because your tank run at lower Alk and your corals got used to it? Many run their tanks at higher Alk ( at least everyone I deal with, including few reefing gurus or vendors such as WWC). 

 

My tanks at the time had been running at 9 and 9.5 dkh.

When I switched to RSCP and over the span of mnths the alk increased to 11.5 and 12.5 my sps went downhill. A few were saved by fragging but I lost the others.

Rscp mixed high. It mixed at 11.5.

 

There was no other issues in my tanks besides the change in salt which altered the alk. It wasn't an overnight increase, it was over mnths of salt use.

 

Sps in lower nutrient systems are known to do better with alk in or close to nsw.

 

 

[A Little Blue]

1 hour ago, Clown79 said:

My tanks at the time had been running at 9 and 9.5 dkh.

When I switched to RSCP and over the span of mnths the alk increased to 11.5 and 12.5 my sps went downhill. A few were saved by fragging but I lost the others.

Rscp mixed high. It mixed at 11.5.

 

There was no other issues in my tanks besides the change in salt which altered the alk. It wasn't an overnight increase, it was over mnths of salt use.

 

Sps in lower nutrient systems are known to do better with alk in or close to nsw.

 

 

Sanjay grows corals faster, bigger than anybody, and with great coloration. His Alk isn’t anywhere near NSW. I believe his target is between 9-10 but it goes as high as 12-14. Other reefers experiences are similar. There are variables that you need to take into consideration. Light output, nutrients, flow are among a few but soooo important. High Alk in ULN tank won’t work and it’s a disaster waiting to happen. There are papers showing faster coral growth at higher Alk levels. Ofcause when done properly. 

PS I have done what you just described as an experiment. Effect was similar but mainly due to lock of patience on my part and insufficient nutrients in my tank to support healthy growth. Yes, I also had some bleaching at DKH reaching 14. 

Lesson learned. 

[markalot]

Well keep in mind I say what worked best for me, not telling anyone how to do it.  My acros grow too fast as it is, I'll pass on faster.  :)

[A Little Blue]

20 minutes ago, markalot said:

Well keep in mind I say what worked best for me, not telling anyone how to do it.  My acros grow too fast as it is, I'll pass on faster.  🙂

That was the point I was trying to make. 

There is no one way to do it right. And our knowledge about keeping/growing corals is still very murky. It’s great to hear personal experiences from guys like you, Clown or others but at the end day, no two tanks are alike. 

And gosip on forums should be taken as such.  But I do respect everyone’s opinion on “art” of reefkeeping. Lol

[Clown79]

13 hours ago, A Little Blue said:

That was the point I was trying to make. 

There is no one way to do it right. And our knowledge about keeping/growing corals is still very murky. It’s great to hear personal experiences from guys like you, Clown or others but at the end day, no two tanks are alike. 

And gosip on forums should be taken as such.  But I do respect everyone’s opinion on “art” of reefkeeping. Lol

Of course everyone has opinions, its like assholes- we all got one. 😁

 

I share my knowledge and experience. what people choose to do is their choice and what will happen, no one will know until after it occurs...then its lessons learned, possibly a good  or bad.

I learned mine by changing salts with high dkh. Not a positive lesson.

 

Everything can be considered gossip, just look at equipment and set up of the tank- it's all regurgitated info, people advise certain lights, powerheads, even tanks because of "gossip" and are certain that others won't work yet have never tried them.

 

There is no 1 way to do a reef tank but having knowledge from others and their experience certainly is helpful in making choices, being aware of the possible consequences, and dealing with issues that may arise.

 

 

 

[A Little Blue]

32 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Of course everyone has opinions, its like assholes- we all got one. 😁

 

I share my knowledge and experience. what people choose to do is their choice and what will happen, no one will know until after it occurs...then its lessons learned, possibly a good  or bad.

I learned mine by changing salts with high dkh. Not a positive lesson.

 

Everything can be considered gossip, just look at equipment and set up of the tank- it's all regurgitated info, people advise certain lights, powerheads, even tanks because of "gossip" and are certain that others won't work yet have never tried them.

 

There is no 1 way to do a reef tank but having knowledge from others and their experience certainly is helpful in making choices, being aware of the possible consequences, and dealing with issues that may arise.

 

 

 

Yes, and it’s very important to filter information with great care. Even better, read papers/studies that actually tried to come up with educated answers. 

Sharing personal experiences is very important and useful to this hobby but that’s all what that is. 

[jservedio]

I'll add something a lot of people don't mention when it comes to why they have long term success with SPS in a small tank and why it takes some people a while to "figure it out" - experience. Knowing what things should look like, knowing what things should look like when you need to intervene quickly, and knowing what things should look like when you should stay hands-off can't be understated.

 

There are plenty of people on here who go buy all the best equipment, religiously test, and change water frequently on a schedule and don't have a lot of success with acros and than there are plenty of people on here who basically never test, aren't changing water on a schedule, have cheap lights and power heads, and their SPS are growing out of control. Knowing when you need to act and when your actions are doing more harm than good comes with time and knowing your corals.

[A Little Blue]

Even the most experienced go through number of issues and occasional crush or even a wipe out. There are simply too many variables to come up with silver bullet that would work and guaranteed results. Here are just some of variables:

setup, equipment, livestock choices, husbandry, technology and equipment failure, diseases/pests and then there is luck and a hand of God. 

Experiance should make us more humble, instead we become more arrogant.