Suggestions on husbandry for SPS

[michika]

Originally Posted by howdy20012002

what are you suggestions for them?
salinity?
alkalinit?
magnesium?
calcium?
temperature?
ph? do u actually try to control Ph after the tank is stable?

this is all based on a SPS dominant tank.
thanks again
Neal

I am looking at setting up a very large tank with a very lite bio load of fish in it..so I am not all that concerned about the nitrates, nitrites, ammonia etc.
for coral propogation, would you suggest having no fish in the tank for best case scenario for corals?

Here is what I find works for me, lots of other people find other parameters work for them. What I did to select my goal parameters was to read up on tanks that I liked, and to see what they were aiming for.

SG 1.025-1.026
Alkalinity 8-9dKH
magnesium (4x that of Calcium) so I aim for 1600, but I find everything thrives at around 1300-1400 in my system
calcium 420ppm
temperature 78-83
pH 8.0-8.4 I don't try to control for it.

Some people find a high fish bioload feeds their corals. I personally don't subscribe to low-bioload SPS tanks, but its personal choice. I don't do it because I like the look of the fish, and I find that the high bioload (to a point) gives me good colors in my SPS.

[howdy20012002]

to be honest, I have never tested my alkalinity in any of my tanks..is it something that actually has to be controlled after the tank is settled?
thanks again for the great responses.
Neal

[saltynuts]

i have anthony calfo,s book of coral proagation.
i could bring it to you.
and i have a book called reef secrets too

[howdy20012002]

from the looks of the reviews, the book is definitely a good buy.
if you are around my part of town and remember it Ed, it would be great to peruse it.
thanks
Neal

[untamed]

Originally Posted by howdy20012002

to be honest, I have never tested my alkalinity in any of my tanks..is it something that actually has to be controlled after the tank is settled?
thanks again for the great responses.
Neal

I venture to guess that this is likely the #1 reason that you've had a problem with SPS in the past. SPS need Ca/Alk in order to survive. In an aquarium, they will inevitably use up the available Ca/Alk and die unless you have some sort of Ca/Alk replacement scheme.

[howdy20012002]

I now have a calcium reactor up and running.
will that help with the alkalinity? or better question would be how do u control the alkalinity.
I am sure some people are shaking their head at my ignorance...but whatever.
Once again, thanks for the info.
Neal

[michika]

I currently use both a kalk, and calcium reactors. Before I used to dose by hand, and wow was that a pain!

For the most part you have to boost Alkalinity. What do you mean about controlling it? As in with what products?

[howdy20012002]

yes.
how do I boost the alkalinity?
thanks

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Neal:

I was under the impression that a calcium reactor would maintain both calcium and alkalinity. Perhaps I was wrong, having never used one.

I dose manually, but like Catherine said, it's a PITA. I use Kent Turbo Calcium and Kent Superbuffer dKH every evening. It's a bit of a pain figuring out the rate of consumption for your system at first, as you have to test daily to see how much is being used....and then adjust your dosing accordingly.

Good luck! Did you just get your calcium reactor? How do you have it set up?

[Chowder]

As the others stated Alkalinity is very important. The one thing that is the same when I loose a colony or piece is low alkalinity. I my self control it by testing it weekly trying to keep it in a range of 8-10 . If it is low I buff with Salifert Alk PH boost. I find If I don't keep my calcium above 400 and my Magnesium above 1400 the Sps start lacking in growth and some color. I learned alot of stuff off of the SPS forum on RC.