New 45g SPS thread

[kwirky]

It doesn't feel right to continue my previous thread on my 45g tank because I lost all the previously hosted photos. So here's a new thread with the latest photos of my tank.

So I've been using 100% well water because hauling RO/DI water from the city has turned out to be too difficult for my lifestyle. It's been running quite well anyways though. I do water changes about every 45 days because of the high KH of the well water. I dose only calcium because the top off water's super high in mineral content. My potassium stays at a steady 400+ which is a bonus (Potassium was so expensive till some competition came to the market).

There's only two fish ATM, a single blue/green chromis and a lawnmower blenny. I lost the royal gramma during an extended power outage along with one of my SPS colonies. I see fish every day at work and honestly the coral excites me much more. Whenever I add more fish it's going to be something cool and rare, like ornamental frogfish or the likes. That'll be when availability and my budget coincide .

As for some advice for those wanting to keep SPS? If you want bright colours keep your nutrient levels VERY low. Undetectable nitrates on something that tests as low as 0.25ppm is recommended. I don't run rowaphos at home because there isn't much for feeding (only two fish). Also be patient if a coral browns out on you. There were a few times I was about to remove a colony or frag only to have start to explode a couple days later.

Getting certain colours will require certain lighting though. There are some colours that just don't show up in my 14k MH lighting and there are some that I have that don't show up under some T5 combinations. Some colours are there but they don't show up unless you have the right coloured lighting (like pink for instance under fiji purples).

Sometimes SPS corals grow towards each other so be prepared to snap branches or move colonies that are getting close because trouble ensues when they touch each other.

LOTS of flow is required for SPS but never have corals directly in the path of a powerhead or they could get bleached. Too high of flow can also cause some algaes to grow on some corals (like where flow wraps around the glass).

And I'm a zeovit supporter 100% for SPS corals, no if ands or buts. It really does work (from personal and professional experience).

• 45g 24x18x18 w/ rear external overflow
• aprox 20g of sump volume
• auto-top off with 14g resevoir built into the sump
• using 100% well water that's very high in potassium (and a whopping 18dkh before salt added).
• 250W 14k aquaconnect MH in sunlife supply lumenmax 3 and galaxy ballast
• vortech MP-40W powerhead (lately been run 100% without pulse. need more flow soon)
• mag 7 return
• maxijet 1200's in the sump on wavemaker to keep the sump clean.
• filter socks
• 550VA APC UPS
• 120mm DC fan on during daylight cycle for temp control.
• Aqua-C remora skimmer (wish I had something better but it's working ok)
• Zeovit 1.5L reactor (0.5L media run, changed every 30 days)
• dose the following KZ products daily: Zeobak, Zeofood, Zeostart, stylopocci-glow, amino acid concentrate, coral vitalizer, 1 tablespoon anhydrous calcium chloride.
• dose ZeoSpur 2 periodically when it needs it
• Dose Grotech ABC mineral supplement weekly (20mL each)

disclaimer: Any browned out or half dead colonies where purchased or taken home for free that way. For a while I liked to "save" coral but I've been losing my patience for it and have started to feel it's the store's responsibility to maintain colour, not the hobbyists'. If it's browned our or bleached, don't buy it and the LFS'll get the message. When people buy browned out coral that causes the LFS to believe selling unhealthy coral is the norm.