SPS checklist? (from your own experience and stories)

[kwirky]

Curious, if somone were to convert their tank over to an SPS tank (or start a new one), what are some of the things they would need? Almost like a check list.

I know the proper lighting is one thing, but what do you all have that's worked the best? certain bulbs/wattages/setups? certain light cycles, etc etc.

More flow is important, but what KIND of flow do most of you see the best? Random, turbulent, laminar?

Water age? How long before you can start to get some livestock?

certain foods? grow your own, or frozen? or powdered?

anything else that can be thought up?

things like that. All I read in the books is that "SPS are hard, need lots of water flow and lots of light" (paraphrased lol) but can't find much for specific care instructions. I know 250W MH or T5's are the general norm, but not much beyond that.

[Chaloupa]

tagging along as I have the same questions....am just doing up our new 150g that I would like to keep SPS, Acro's etc and need the same advice or suggestions!

[j83]

SPS Checklist:

Like you said strong lights - Many would recommend Metal Halide but some are having success with T5's. And some have success with good ol' flourescents. The stronger the lights though, the better growth and colour you are more likely to get. Strength of halide would depend on depth of tank. 24 inches and less I would think you would be good with 250 Watt lights, anything over that depth you would be looking at 400 watts. Double ended or mogul? That debate goes on and on and on. The reason I like Double ended is because you can fit them in a more compact casing/canopy.

Flow - strong, but not direct. Direct flow will result in lack of polyp extension, which results (somewhat) in a lack of feeding, and in my opinion the aesthetics aren't as great as when the polyps are extended. Best options are the Vortech and Tunze streams, which produce a lot of flow with a not-so direct stream.

Calcium Reactor - highly recommended as SPS need and use a lot of calcium. You can always supplement it but for ease of use, nothing beats a calcium reactor. It pays for itself in the long run.

Prisitine water conditions - clear, low-nutrient water is ideal for the growth of SPS. The clearer the water the greater the light penetration and the greater the feeding of the coral (coral feed off algae within their tissue that get excited/fed by light). Low nutrients are necessary as higher nutrients can lead to higher nitrate levels, which corals aren't that fond of.

Time - in my personal opinion SPS are more colourful and has greater aesthetics than softies and most LPS but because of their need for high water quality, time needs to be devoted to maintaining the water.

Protein Skimmer - although some run tanks without them - with success. I would recommend a quality skimmer (euro-reef, aqua-c, deltec etc.) to remove organic wastes. Taking one look at the collection cup of a quality skimmer after a few weeks of breaking in, it is tough to argue against not having one.

Hope that helps a little bit. . .

[ClubReef]

I agree with everything that J83 has said. Another tip is to keep your parameters stabile and consistent.

Do things gradual or you risk tissue recession, bleaching, browning or stunt growth.

Things I worry about the most:

1)Calcium/Alk/Mag - Keep these numbers where you like them..adjust gradually if they get depleted. The key here is to make sure you test frequently.

2)Temperature - keep your temperature stable. Avoid big and wild swings ie. 10 deg in one day

3)Lighting - Make sure you don't over or under expose. Overexposure will lead to lighting of corals..underexposure leads to darkening. If you need to make adjustments..do so gradually.

4)Water changes - do them regularly..even if your P04 and N04 are zero...you will replenish trace elements.


Hope this helps.

[kwirky]

Calcium Reactor - highly recommended as SPS need and use a lot of calcium. You can always supplement it but for ease of use, nothing beats a calcium reactor. It pays for itself in the long run.

how about a dual channel dosing pump dosing DIY two part? would the two part mix be able to keep up with the calcium demands of an SPS dominated tank? sounds easier to setup and maintain than a calcium reactor. WAY cheaper in the long, run, too.

and how fast do SPS frags grow in an adequate system, if somone didn't have the $$ to buy entire colonies to start off with?

[Scavenger]

Here's my SPS checklist. Hope it helps!!

Unlimited funds: Not in this lifetime
Unlimited time: Do I really need a social life?
Big A$$ tank: See unlimited funds
Lots of geeky friends to brag about polyp extension: Working on it
Degree in Chemistry: I gotz me a graid twelv. Izent that gud enuf?
High flow: Going to go buy some prune juice
Lighting: Bought out a failed Grow Show.


Hey look, I'm half way there!

[christyf5]

I guess it depends on what size tank we are talking here. IMO, a two part system could work in a smaller system but as corals grow they become more "calcium hungry" and I'm not sure a two part system could keep up. Well I'm sure it could but I'm not sure your wallet could :razz: I used Kent Liquid Reactor on my tank (90gal) for less than a month before I threw in the towel and bought a calcium reactor. Daily dosing was just a huge PITA not to mention having to test the water so often to make sure I had decent Ca levels. A dosing pump might be the answer for that one. I guess you'd have to sit down and figure out the cost effectiveness. My tank went through half a 64oz container in about 3 weeks so combined with having to dose it every day, I just wasn't interested in maintaining Ca without a reactor.

[kwirky]

My tank went through half a 64oz container in about 3 weeks so combined with having to dose it every day, I just wasn't interested in maintaining Ca without a reactor.

I've been using DIY two part mix. I bought 10 lbs (4.54kg) of solid form, food grade calcium for $50 from littlesilvermax. When mixed up, that's 40L of calcium mix :D. My current dosing for my softie/lps tank is 7.5g calcium/b.b.soda (baked baking soda) per day (two tablespoons of each mix). I'm assuming if my calcium demands were double for an SPS tank, I'd go through 15g per day, which would last just about a year.

Even if it was double again (30g calcium a day), using a dosing pump to supply the two part wouldn't be a problem. I'm thinking of a litermeter III, because of their reliability and programability. With this kind of usage, I'd be going through $100 a year in calcium, and probably $10 a year in baking soda. I'd just have to do my regular water changes to restore the magnesium.

Just considering various options. Myself, I'm planning on getting some sort of "automatic" calcium maintenance system this summer, so next year when school gets crazy, it'll be one less thing to worry about.

Ok, so back to lighting...What kind of lighting has everyone noticed good colour/growth in their sps? any certain MH bulbs, or certain bulb combinations in T5? What are the benefits of supplementing actinic to a MH setup?

What about the risks of bleaching? From your experiences, what's caused your SPS to bleach? Lighting? Flow? Water Parameters? Any stories to tell?

I like how this has been going, so far, btw. Good to hear of people's experiences. Already, the general husbandry requirements of SPS has been explained better than I've seen in any book :)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

My friend Marie in Powell River uses Geisemann 250w DE 13000k bulbs (3) over a 175g bowfront with excellent results (high growth & great colour). And its a deep tank too.

[albert_dao]

Personally, I think T5 is superior to MH/MH-PC/MH-VHO/MH-T5 on tanks less than 24". From that point on, MH takes a step up (you're getting into the 400 watt+ range here).

[ClubReef]

I personally use the CaCl and Baking soda suppliment that is similar to your current dosing routine. It's definitely doable for SPS and has it's advantages (no pH worries). It also has draw backs in that you have to dose it manually unless you purchase a dosing unit like you have stated. My tank is at a stage where I'm finding that I need to dose more and more every month..I'm at about 220ml of each part daily..this can become a headache especially when you have to prepare the Baking Soda (ie Baking it). Either way Ca Reactor or 2part will work.

If your tank is stable and paramenters in check, you can grow your sps by 1" a month using the 2part method! It also depends on genetics of the SPS, flow and lighting.

Here is a set of growth shots from April of last year to Jan of this year (10K lighting in April and 13K lighting in Jan) using 2part method. These pictures have been cropped to show the subject..but I left the rock in to show asomewhat accurate proportion of the subject.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/jangdc/growth1Medium.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/jangdc/growth2Medium.jpg

[marie]

As Anthony said, I have 3 250w de 13500k geisemans, a calcium reactor and I drip kalk.
Pictures for growth comparison, this one was taken Nov 26th
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/mariesnell/2006_1126BT0008.jpg

and this pic was taken Mar. 9th so it's a little over 3 months
http://www.canreef.com/photopost/data/500/medium/march9pics_003.jpg

And Anthony took a bunch of the montipora home with him a few weeks before the last pic was taken :lol:

*Edit* the reason the last picture looks so green is because the ballast for the vho's died

[kwirky]

I My tank is at a stage where I'm finding that I need to dose more and more every month..I'm at about 220ml of each part daily..

how many grams of calcium media do you think you mix for every liter of water? I mix 250g per 2L.

And bleaching? what can anyone say has caused bleaching in their tank?

[Jaws]

For me it always depends on how much you want to get out of sps. I've started with what I thought was high end equipment and enough of it, only to find that every step I take to a better piece of equipment or more toys just helps it along that much more. I know that there are a lot of people that have exceptions but like I say, I started with one thing and then saw the improvement right in front of me when I upgraded to another or added something else. It seemed to me that going with softies or LPS, some things were important while others were not as important. With sps everything seems to be just as important if you want to get the most color, growth, and health out of your corals. Like I said, there are exceptions and you can get away with some things but if you want the best then getting the best definitely helps.

Dedication - I spend at least a half hour to an hour a night on my tank and its been running a year now. I'm not saying that's the standard but that's what I had to do to reach a comfortable point with my tank. In the beginning it was closer to two hours a night not including weekends which sometimes was all day because of the amount of setup and trial and error that was involved.

Stability - Kind of ties in to dedication. The more time I concentrated on adjusting things to keep everything stable at the appropriate levels so there were fewer fluctuations (Alk, Ca, pH, Temp, Salinity, Mg, etc) the more results I saw. The larger the tank you have, the less you have to concentrate on stability since fluctuations aren't as great with a larger water volume.

Lighting - 250W is good, 400W is better if your tank is 24" deep. Like I say, there are a lot of exceptions to this but I don't think there's any arguement that 400W is better and provides a more consistant result. My sps looked good under 250W but they looked even better and grew even faster under 400W. If you're keeping your sps mostly at the top then 250W should be fine.

Flow - The more chaotic flow you have that reaches all corners of the tank, the better more natural growth you'll have, the less algae growth you'll see, the whiter your sand will be if you decide to keep sand, and the more efficient your skimming will be since most waste won't have a chance to settle in the tank and your skimmer has a better chance to skim it out. Tunze's or Vortech's are definitely best for this since they provide such a wide,strong flow where it would usually take multiple flow devices to equal one vortech or tunze.

Water Quality - The more frequent smaller water changes you do will really help to maintain a good consistant water quality. This can vary and you can play with the percentage and the frequency of your water changes, but they usually recommend 10% every week if you can get away with it.

Patience - Be prepared to counter all kinds of problems. Equipment breaks down no matter how much you pay for it, algae will bloom at times no matter how on top of things you are, and it takes your system a long time to work out a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria.


Keep in mind that all of the above means more money and there are always compromises that can be made which usually means investing more time instead of more money, which we are all usually in favor of. Getting back though to what you want to get out of your sps, if you are looking to keep a tank like the pros out there, which were usually the tanks that attracted you to keeping sps in the first place, you'll notice the investment they've made in their equipment and they still spend an enormous amount of time maintaining their systems. For me, and this is just for me, the more time and money I invest in my system, the more rewarding it has become. If you do decide to invest the money in to your system then make sure you spend as much time as possible researching the equipment first so you don't end up wasting too much money on buying things you don't need. Unfortunately, you'll find that wasting money is almost inevitable in this hobby so the less you waste the better. Personally I love keeping sps; it keeps me on my toes every day and its amazing to watch the color transformations of a maturing system. Good luck.

[ClubReef]

Kwirky - I follow the Randy Holmes-farley's 2 part recipe. It's 2 1/2 cups of CaCl (Dowflakes) for 1 Gal of water, 2 1/4 cups of Baking Soda for every 1 gal of water. I don't really know how much this translates into grams. I use his chemistry calculator as a base for dosing. But to tell you the truth...after a while you will just dump it in and adjust more for Ca or ALK depending on the depletion rate...in my opinion the depletion rate is never balanced..you will deplete one faster than the other..in my case ALK drops faster than my Ca levels so I dose more of the baking soda. When I started..after 2-3 months I went by feel and only test once a month now.

[Reefer Rob]

Clubreef, are you baking the baking soda, or have you found an easier way to dissolve the baking soda. To me baking seems like a PTA. Ive been using 450ml of the "light" recipe a day.

[ClubReef]

Reefer_rob,

I bake the baking soda for about 1 hr at 350F. I do this in mass quantities and then store it in zip lock bags. I bake it to drive off carbon dioxide which otherwise will lower your pH, not because it will dissolve easier in water.

Baking soda is such a hassle and I to have problems with over saturation...not the easiest stuff to dissolve ugh!

[kwirky]

Baking soda is such a hassle and I to have problems with over saturation...not the easiest stuff to dissolve ugh!

I've found that if I boil enough RO/DI water in the kettle to mix the baking soda solution with about 30% boiling water, it mixes quite easily. Doesn't precipitate back to a solid either in the bottle even months later (which happens for some stuff if you dissolve it in heated water, forget the scientific term). The calcium does, but the baking soda solution doesn't. I think the calcium solution precipitates back to a solid over time because of air exposure, as the bottle gets emptied. Allows more air to react inside the bottle as it's emptied. Thought about using an accordian like bottle for the solution next time, like one used for developer solution in a photography dark room.

the recipe I use is this one: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

along with this calculator: http://reef.diesyst.com/

I read SOMEWHERE that running very high calcium levels (like 450+) actually slows down coral growth. Anybody experienced this themselves?