Am I Ready for SPS?

LakeCityReefs · Jul 1, 2016

Before I had many sps I began testing daily to watch how my system was using Ca and Alk. Once I knew what my daily usage was I set my dosing to replenish those amounts.

I keep my Alk at 8 DKH.

LakeCityReefs · Jul 1, 2016

Double post

BCRIBS · Jul 1, 2016

LakeCityReefs said:
Before I had many sps I began testing daily to watch how my system was using Ca and Alk. Once I knew what my daily usage was I set my dosing to replenish those amounts.

I keep my Alk at 8 DKH.

Guess every tank is different on dosage. I have been testing daily for months.

nex64 · Jul 1, 2016

Indeed it is, I have some pretty chunky stylos birdsnest and acros and I only dose 5 mls every other day :p

reefwiser · Jul 1, 2016

When you move into SPS be prepared for STN and RTN losses. Every SPS keeper can tell tales of their coral losses. An each tank is indeed different. My current tank has been one of my hardest tanks ever to get SPS growth and survival. But that doesn't stop me just makes me learn more and investigate and try new ways of doing things. Just remember when you see that pretty SPS tank there are tales of woe that goes along with it.

Seth401 · Jul 1, 2016

Sounds to me your tank is ready for a small battle pack of super hardy, classics(i wouldn't buy any 150 dollar pieces yet) ... Sounds a little more stable than mine was at 3 months and I probably had 15 acros by 3 months. I just lost a few when my tank was like 6 weeks old. I agree with others if coralline is growing that's a great sign. Just start them on the bottom for 3-5 days for light acclimation. Don't be concerned with how little your needing to add for alk/Cal. Just add what the tank requires to keep numbers stable. I didn't really have to add more than 5 ml's for a while at first. Even with 15 frags growing and encrusting. Testing alk daily is great. I tested daily for months becuase I had made such a large investment in acros but have now finally started backing off to every 2-3 days. Good luck and keep us posted!

Seth401 · Jul 1, 2016

Sounds to me your tank is ready for a small battle pack of super hardy, classics(i wouldn't buy any 150 dollar pieces yet) ... Sounds a little more stable than mine was at 3 months and I probably had 15 acros by 3 months. I just lost a few when my tank was like 6 weeks old. I agree with others if coralline is growing that's a great sign. Just start them on the bottom for 3-5 days for light acclimation. Don't be concerned with how little your needing to add for alk/Cal. Just add what the tank requires to keep numbers stable. I didn't really have to add more than 5 ml's for a while at first. Even with 15 frags growing and encrusting. Testing alk daily is great. I tested daily for months becuase I had made such a large investment in acros but have now finally started backing off to every 2-3 days. Good luck and keep us posted!

BCRIBS · Jul 1, 2016

Seth401 said:
Sounds to me your tank is ready for a small battle pack of super hardy, classics(i wouldn't buy any 150 dollar pieces yet) ... Sounds a little more stable than mine was at 3 months and I probably had 15 acros by 3 months. I just lost a few when my tank was like 6 weeks old. I agree with others if coralline is growing that's a great sign. Just start them on the bottom for 3-5 days for light acclimation. Don't be concerned with how little your needing to add for alk/Cal. Just add what the tank requires to keep numbers stable. I didn't really have to add more than 5 ml's for a while at first. Even with 15 frags growing and encrusting. Testing alk daily is great. I tested daily for months becuase I had made such a large investment in acros but have now finally started backing off to every 2-3 days. Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for the response! In the LFS the frag was under LED's 75% with no ramp up at the top of the tank for 8 hours. Mine is set for 65% with the ramp up and down. So I figured it would be OK to just place it. Did I screw that up? Should I turn my lights down to 50%?

Waxhaw reefer · Jul 1, 2016

I think that would be fine, but dkh is 7-8, and using Red Sea pro which is usually 11-12, now that might cause some big swings and u could loose some, either switch salt or just let it go up to 10-12 and go with it, as far as nitrates go, I always had .75-2 on my Red Sea test, now I'm at 12-16ppm and everything looks better, still keeping my phosphates low, so I'm just going with it, trying to get it lower with water changes but too many water changes always screws up things in my opinion, once a month is enough!

nex64 · Jul 1, 2016

Great point Seth, testing alkalinity almost daily is one of the major keys to success with SPS ;)

Seth401 · Jul 3, 2016

BCRIBS said:
Thanks for the response! In the LFS the frag was under LED's 75% with no ramp up at the top of the tank for 8 hours. Mine is set for 65% with the ramp up and down. So I figured it would be OK to just place it. Did I screw that up? Should I turn my lights down to 50%?

You might be fine but I just always think placing on the sandbed for a few days at least is a good thing. You won't hurt the frags by letting them adjust to your tank and lights on the sand.

BCRIBS · Oct 7, 2016

Figured I would follow up with this thread and post some progress. Everything is going great with the sps frags. They were all freshly cut when I got them and now two have encrusted the plug. Color is great along with growth. The dosing pumps have made life so much easier my ALK and calcium is very stable. Here are a couple of pics:

3 months ago:

Today:

Color is much more vibrant in person. I added a stag and another that are doing great as well.

nex64 · Oct 7, 2016

Great update, stuff looks happy.

Just want you to keep in mind that when your sps start growing or you add more, your alk will start to deplete faster and you may need to fine tune your doser again ;) I'm sure you'll have no problem monitoring and adjusting accordingly.. just something to keep in mind

BCRIBS · Oct 7, 2016

Thanks! I guess I shouldn't go tweaking things but I am a little concerned that my hanna phosphate checker has never shown a measurable level of Phosphate. From all my reading this can prohibit growth. I took it offline for a week to see if I could get a reading, still nothing. Any thoughts? I do have some dusting on the sand and coraline Algae maybe that is consuming it? To continue running GFO or not, that is the question.

BCRIBS · Oct 7, 2016

North Borders · Oct 7, 2016

What do you have for livestock? Are you able to increase feedings to the critters to bump the phos a little?

BCRIBS · Oct 7, 2016

I have, a flame angel, Yellow Coris wrasse, 2 clown fish, Tiny blue tang (That I will trade when it gets big. Started off the size of a nickel) , Cardinal, then clean up crew, and starfish. Will that hanna phosphate checker ever read anything if the algae increases to consume it?

North Borders · Oct 7, 2016

Well do you have the ULR or the Low Range one? The ULR one actually has a conversion chart you have to look up. I was using mine for 2 months before I realized this :(

There's no way you're running true "zero" phos in your system if you have fish and are feeding them. The fauna is likely sucking up the majority of it. You want SOME in the water column though for your corals to pull out to use for tissue building. Too much is obviously a bad thing as well. In your situation you could try feeding more and seeing if you bump a couple points on the checker or maybe try pulling the gfo(if in a bag) or maybe run it every other or every 3rd day if its in a reactor and see how your phos level responds? It's a delicate dance finding your tank's sweet spot, but once you do, it's a heck of a lot of fun :)