Being Confident With SPS (SPS SWAGGER)

[bif24701]

Looks like you have a pretty blue thumb to me... How long have you had that queen angelfish in the tank? How is it behaving?

I don't get the blue thumb reference and I have no queen angle.

 

[Robthorn]

I try to keep things I measure as close to nsw as possible. I keep Alk below 8.5 or I have issues. Just my tank I guess.To me I am happy with my color on most of my corals. I am probably not going to win any growth races but I think about half of my acros grow pretty quick.
I run Reefgrow led and t5's.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I don't disagree with your observation, what I am wondering is do you have any kind of correlation you use? Like, if nutrients levels are X, Alk should be Y? I know it's not exact numbers, but a focused range?

I don't have exact figure as well. I solely relying on coral response to figure it out. I don't have sps when my tank was rich in nutrients, but LPS did show bad responses when alk was below 10.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Yea, working on lowering it some. Would 8 be alright?

I am keeping alk at 8 dkh now. NO3 below 5ppm and P04 below 0.1.

 

[reefwiser]

Would should never be confident when keeping an SPS tank. You must be vigilant and work on taking every human mistake you can out of the picture. SPS have developed thru time a very specific set of parameters and not matter how one tries you will have issues and each time you learn something new about keeping SPS corals.

 

[Macdaddynick1]

My system as it is has been running since Sept 2016, I have all the right equipment, combo lighting Kessil AP700s and T5s, Kalk dosing, maintain and test almost everyday. I have APEX Gold, big 10" skimmer (STO-5000) with Avast neck cleaner, 3 each Marine Pure blocks. 6 stage RODI with water saver, test for chlorine every week, always 000TDS. 55 gallon water changes every week. Just got rid of all Aiptasia, no pests as I eliminated AEFW and monti eating nudis before the tank move in Aug 16. Some bryopsis but I'll be curing that next week. Large and great looking BRS Pukani rock aged >1 year, use the best media (BRS ROX carbon and HC GFO when needed. Feed the best quality foods I can find (Hikari and NLS pellets, Nori, PE mysis, other frozen foods). I also feed occasionally BRS Reef chili or other SPS foods. Fish are fat and happy.

I have over 50 acro frags a few small colonies. Better than 90% survival rate for acros and SPS, all others 100%. Dip everything with Bayer.

I feel confident I can keep any SPS alive right now but my problem is growth, not color. I solved my pale colors with potassium nitrate (~10ppm). PO4 is .05 via Hanna ULR Phosphorus checker. ALK 10, Cal 465, Mag 1450, salinity 35 ppt. My system consumes Kalk and Mag only right now, ~4 gallons saturated Kalk everyday. Just reduced that to allow ALK to drop some.

I just feel like my corals are not growing like they should be. I have really great growth on Montis and a few acros but others seem stunted. I don't add a bunch of stuff, keep it simple with water changes and food. I don't really know why the growth seems slow-none.

Ideas? Please?

I was just going to post this in a separate thread, but here . http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2017/2/aafeature . Not all corals are the same, some take moths to get encrusted and grow. Sometimes the corals won't grow in a certain spot. I can see in my system that the same exact acro grows at different rates in different areas, because in one spot there is more flow than in another spot. Another trick I've learned is if your acro encrusts a little bit doesn't grow upwards, I cut off the top from the base and reglue it elsewhere, this actually promotes the base to heal up on the top and start growing much faster. And the frag starts encrusting again. I started doing that after watching this guy do it. It actually works great.

Oh yeah and PH everyone says don't race the ph, I think it's very important for coral growth

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Somebody really needs to make an "SPS Swagger" meme... #justsayin

 

[redtigrinus]

I don't get the blue thumb reference and I have no queen angle.

That comment wasn't meant for you.

 

[bif24701]

I was just going to post this in a separate thread, but here . http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2017/2/aafeature . Not all corals are the same, some take moths to get encrusted and grow. Sometimes the corals won't grow in a certain spot. I can see in my system that the same exact acro grows at different rates in different areas, because in one spot there is more flow than in another spot. Another trick I've learned is if your acro encrusts a little bit doesn't grow upwards, I cut off the top from the base and reglue it elsewhere, this actually promotes the base to heal up on the top and start growing much faster. And the frag starts encrusting again. I started doing that after watching this guy do it. It actually works great.

Oh yeah and PH everyone says don't race the ph, I think it's very important for coral growth

Thank you for the information. I'm just not sold on Dana Riddles science methods to be honest.

 

[Scott.h]

One thing that helped me is calling up the heavy hitters that grow for a living on the phone. Asking questions. I'm yet to find someone that wasn't willing to take the time to talk. To my surprise I've heard things like "there is no magic formula, Zero tds, quit chasing numbers, I only run a skimmer, I only feed the fish not the corals, quit running carbon and gfo, quit trying to achieve ultra low nutrients, leave stuff alone". .. and of course the obvious- good lighting, flow, and stability which includes checking kh every day. So when it comes to that, I did it and it's working. I just realized the other day I have well over 1k just on one small frag rack. Oh well..

 

[david p.]

One thing that helped me is calling up the heavy hitters that grow for a living on the phone. Asking questions. I'm yet to find someone that wasn't willing to take the time to talk. To my surprise I've heard things like "there is no magic formula, Zero tds, quit chasing numbers, I only run a skimmer, I only feed the fish not the corals, quit running carbon and gfo, quit trying to achieve ultra low nutrients, leave stuff alone". .. and of course the obvious- good lighting, flow, and stability which includes checking kh every day. So when it comes to that, I did it and it's working. I just realized the other day I have well over 1k just on one small frag rack. Oh well..

it's called KISS... but not sure KISS for a reef tank.. is KISS for a normal human been...

(KISS = Keep It Stupid Simple)

 

[Donovan Joannes]

it's called KISS... but not sure KISS for a reef tank.. is KISS for a normal human been...

(KISS = Keep It Stupid Simple)

101% agree. 10 gallon sump (half way filled max level), cheap chinese Dymax LS10 skimmer, and bacteria twin tower are the only thing you will see in my sump. 24/7 GAC (cheap 250g in a bag) changed monthly. Feed the fish, bi weekly gonio powder for corals and a bit carbon source for bacteria. KISS it is

 

[Macdaddynick1]

Thank you for the information. I'm just not sold on Dana Riddles science methods to be honest.

Oh, why?

 

[Scott.h]

Thank you for the information. I'm just not sold on Dana Riddles science methods to be honest.

There are definitely more then one way to do things. Luckily corals adapt to our doings. Personally I found his speeches to make sense, and started adapting some of his methods. For me personally, I've been having really good luck. I'm getting good growth and color on corals that are said to need high par by giving them lower par and lower alk. (200 peak/7.5). Unfortunately I'm going to need to start dosing nitrates before I can increase my kh. Definitely a first world problem. .

 

[Luis Figueroa]

There are definitely more then one way to do things. Luckily corals adapt to our doings. Personally I found his speeches to make sense, and started adapting some of his methods. For me personally, I've been having really good luck. I'm getting good growth and color on corals that are said to need high par by giving them lower par and lower alk. (200 peak/7.5). Unfortunately I'm going to need to start dosing nitrates before I can increase my kh. Definitely a first world problem. .

I never knew there was any correlation between n03 and alk. So n03 at higher levels allow for high alk levels which in turn causes rapid growth in corals pending calcium levels too, right?

 

[rovster]

I think it comes with time. After you've successfully grown a few colonies from nubs and can go an extended period without too much drama, then you start to get swag. I don't think you can ever be 100% confident with acros but if you don't mess with them and keep things relatively stable they can be just as easy as any other coral. The trick is leaving them alone. EVERY problem I ever had with my SPS was caused by ME. The more I do this the more I learn to not cause problems. The less problems I have, the higher my swag level

 

[HolisticBear]

I never knew there was any correlation between n03 and alk. So n03 at higher levels allow for high alk levels which in turn causes rapid growth in corals pending calcium levels too, right?

The way I think about it is that it's possible for corals to growth too fast. ULNS (low no3) can increase growth. Higher alk can also increase growth. Doing both is a bad idea. So higher alk more common on non ULNS systems, values closer to NSW on ULNS. Few things are black & white, but that seems to be the basic gist.

 

[Scott.h]

I never knew there was any correlation between n03 and alk. So n03 at higher levels allow for high alk levels which in turn causes rapid growth in corals pending calcium levels too, right?

dosing 2 part my cal levels just tag along and are always within range. My concern is keeping kh rock steady with a dosing pump spread out. I just test kh and add equal of ca alternately with the pump. As a result it stays between 420 and 440. Despite feeding heavy I can't see any pink or blue in the test kits. When I try to go beyond 7.5 a few corals lighten. So I feel low 7s is safe. I'd rather be at 8-8.5

 

[Luis Figueroa]

dosing 2 part my cal levels just tag along and are always within range. My concern is keeping kh rock steady with a dosing pump spread out. I just test kh and add equal of ca alternately with the pump. As a result it stays between 420 and 440. Despite feeding heavy I can't see any pink or blue in the test kits. When I try to go beyond 7.5 a few corals lighten. So I feel low 7s is safe. I'd rather be at 8-8.5

I was just wondering about testing alk. I dose about 15ml of alk mainly in the a.m. when I test my parameters it my show 8.3, 8.4 which is hours after it doses. If I were to test after my programmed dosing time would that 8.3 be higher? Or is 8.3 the "stabilized" parameter for it?

Walked into my living room today and corals were looking alot more pale then I like to see them under my full spectrum.

 

[Scott.h]

I was just wondering about testing alk. I dose about 15ml of alk mainly in the a.m. when I test my parameters it my show 8.3, 8.4 which is hours after it doses. If I were to test after my programmed dosing time would that 8.3 be higher? Or is 8.3 the "stabilized" parameter for it?

Walked into my living room today and corals were looking alot more pale then I like to see them under my full spectrum.

Its probably higher. What's the no3 and po4?
I have my dos set to dose between 5am to 11am every 10 minutes. Because that's my lowest ph area of the day. Spread out like that there are no spikes in ph or kh. When I test I'm at 7.5 at 8pm. 8 is when my lights start to dim. I don't know what everyone else does but I like to test the same time every night. And I never go more then 3 days without testing kh. The other parameters, not often at all.