How to successfully keep SPS Corals!

[Troylee]

Great thread.. Guess I have to get off my butt haha... I'll do a write up in a little bit..

 

[bct15]

I'm not a photographer so I don't have any good pics. My reef is mixed with zoas sps and a single favia.

Tank and equipment:

Reefcrystals salt
Tank 150 gallon
Sump 90 gallon
Lights 2 x 250 icecap electronic ballasts with xm 15 k de bulbs
2 x 80 w t5 ATI aqua blue special and purple plus
H&S a200-1260 external skimmer
BRS dual reactor using granular gfo and roxi carbon
Aqua uv 25 w uv sterilizer
4 koralia 6 powerheads for flow, (two on opposite sides of tanks alternate every 6 hours, two on opposite sides of tank alternate every 20 seconds, before try switch they are both on for 10 seconds)
Apex controlled and monitored

I have a reefoctopus calcium reactor but I'm out of co2, will be installed next weekend when I get back from the coast where my new bottle is. No dosing

Maintenance:
Feed my fish two times a day
Bi weekly twenty gallon water changes
Change carbon and gfo with water changes
Clean skimmer cup when needed
Change uv bulb once a year
Change halide bulbs every 9 months
Change t5 bulbs every 9 months
(I do not change my bulbs at the same time, but one each month. I do change both halides at te same time though)

Also, I have three tangs and can't put my finger on it but have noticed most successful sps tanks have tangs in them.

 

[MattL22]

Lars all u dose is kalk? That's it???

 

[soccerbag]

You guys running two part and kalk together are you using recipe one or two?

I just use 2-part - Recipe 1. I don't have the need to run kalk at this time as my pH stays pretty stable.

 

[Aquaph8]

Kalk alone doesn't keep up
2 part alone I get low Ph
Both and my Ph is high but things respond really well.

 

[lars]

Lars all u dose is kalk? That's it???

yes. kalk only. eco mag for magnesium and stronium.

 

[justreefin]

Awesome thread. This is the thread I've been looking for. All the SPS expert together, the what and how that they do to maintain a succesful sps tank. Keep it coming guys. Great info.

 

[rossco]

Tank size

75 gallon 48"L x 18"W x 20"H with 40 gallon custom sump

Parameters

Alk 9
CA 450
Mag 1450-1500
Salinity 35 ppt (specific gravity 1.026) - Reef Crystals salt
temp 79-80


Equipment

Geo 618 calcium reactor
Aqua C EV-120 skimmer
Radium 250 watt MH lighting in Lumenarc Mini reflectors with IceCap ballasts
2 x 48" Sunbrite LED actinics
Eheim 1260 return
Closed loop with Super Dart pump and Oceans Motions Super Squirt compact
Reefkeeper 2 controller

Photoperiod

Actinics 7:30 AM to 10:30 PM
MH 11:30 Am to 7 PM

Feeding

Fish get fed a very small amount of Formula One flakes once daily
Corals get fed 5ml of Oyster Feast and Phytoplankton or RotiFeast every other day or so (when I remember)

Maintenence

10 gallon water change every 2 weeks

The last picture was just before I took this tank down 2 weeks ago and moved everything to a 200 gallon tank with LED lighting. Several of the corals had grown to the front panel and reaching the coraline to scrape it was impossible without breaking something. Everything was so grown together and intertwined the left side pretty was one solid mass. This should be a good test to compare LED to MH.

 

[myzislow]

wow sick growth man^^^^^Time for an upgrade!

 

[Aquaph8]

Rossco, how long was that tank set up?

 

[peacetypes6]

Guys/gals? All very nice posts and thanks for taking the time to write-up!

 

[secretreefer]

Really nice tank Rossco!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rossco]

wow sick growth man^^^^^Time for an upgrade!

Thanks! Just moved them to a new 200 gallon 72T x 27W x 25T. Don't have much room left already. It is amazing how much mass was in that 75.

Really nice tank Rossco!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Rossco, how long was that tank set up?

Just about 5 years. I set the tank up in November 2006. The earliest SPS frags were added late January 2007.

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Rossco that tank was unreal!!!! Frag those sps much, LOL!

 

[swannyson7]

Amazing tank with some huge colonies rossco! Any pics of the new tank?

 

[Gamble]

Great looking tank Rossco!!! I have always loved the mature stick tanks. Looking forward to seeing how the new tank does.

 

[Braves Fan]

Rossco, thats just unreal, awesome. How about a pic of the new tank and an equipment list for the new tank.

 

[MattL22]

Wow wow wow !!!!!!!! Totm !!!! Amazing to see what u did with a 75 !
How many fish where in there?

 

[SunnyX]

Display Tank:

• 72"x36"x22" Rimless
• 246 gallons from Quality Custom Aquarium Manufacturer - Toronto Canada
• 2 Sided Starphire glass(Front)
• Right Side External coast to coast Overflow with 1" return and two 1.5" drain
• 3/4" glass all around
• Stand: The stan is hand built and tiled with slate. No equipment is under the tank. The sump and all equipment are located in the room directly to the right of the tank. The stand is lower to the ground this time around, allowing for a perfect view when seated. The tank has its own special area with everything designed around it.

Water Movement:

• Ehiem 1262 for Return pump
• Vortech Mp40w
• Vortech Mp20W
• Tunze 6065

Lighting:

• 3x250W Metal Halide utilizing XM 20K bulbs
• Two Ice cap ballasts, and one PHO ballast for the center bulb.

Sump: Nothing fancy. I use is simple 150gl Rubbermaid tub.

Skimmer: Deltec AP851. I have had this skimmer on three different setups and for 6 years now. It does an amazing job!


Calcium and Alk Addition: Randy's Two Part Solution. I ran both a CA reactor and Kalk Stirrer in the past and honestly have had better results will a simple DIY two part solution. I dose the solutions manually, an hour apart.

Substrate: 60lbs of CaribSea Seaflor Special Grade Reef Sand

Additives:

2000ml BRS biopellets
Zoebak 16 drops every other day
MB7 10ml alternate days to Zeobak
Seachem Strontium 4 tbs every other day
Lugols solution 1 drop daily
Zeo Sponge Power 8 drops daily
Zeo Coral Snow twice a week, and dosed with bacteria
Reef Crystals water change 40gl a month
Brs Carbon in phosban 150 reactor, changed every two weeks
Two part CA and ALK daily, 160ml each

I feed:
Ocean Nutrition Formula One and Two Flakes
Spectrum Pellets


More info: www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/4/aquarium

[video=youtube;-ld20YtMzz4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ld20YtMzz4&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

 

[Ricardo Pinto]

Great thread.... good info and fantastic pictures.

I've shared the link on my blog (H2O + Something - European Reef Blog)

You guys posted sick pics. The growth rate and colors of your corals are amazing.

Let me ask you a question, have you ever had problems with AEFW? Tell us tips tricks on how to deal with that.