Do I really want to switch to an SPS dominant system?

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BAMatter

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Dose some bacteria to increase your biodiversity, that was the difference in my tank when I started last feb. since I started dosing bacteria, the system has been thriving, sps stopped stn, and came back to life. its amazing how a sps frag can go half dead skeleton, to growing new tissue in a matter of a couple of weeks... This is my experience... a friend of mine minus9 recommended that I get some bacteria from algae barn, and it the best thing I have done to my tank.
What bacteria was is?
 

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Hey I have started like you earlier and used to be in same confusion like you..here are the basic things to strive SPS tank—

1. Good water(always use RODI),weekly 10% water changes unless you dose trace elements.I do weekly water changes religiously

2. bacteria(this is very important to strive SPS)..there is thread by Anthony and read it fully.Here is what I am doing right now Aquaforest Bios and NP pro daily as recommended.start with 50% of dose and slowly go to full dose.If you are using dry rock fry to put some established live rock in sump which will have lot of strains.Some people use zeovit,some use Aquaforest,some use others

3. Patience,don’t get tensed if anything jumps..relax and let it settle and do changes slowly.

4. Flow and light.I assume you know this :)

if you do all this they will be alive and once they are alive growth will come automatically.sit and let nature do it’s own thing.
 

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Here is the thread for you

 

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Looks like you've got all the right tools, now you just need the time and experience. If you are struggling with LPS I'd work to nail what's going on there. In all reality, you can keep and grow SPS with nothing but regular water changes, a little rock, some water movement, heat, and light. All the extra stuff is there to make our lives easier and help maintain stability. A lot of what is needed to maintain a successful tank (be it SPS or LPS) is learning when to do nothing. Parameters everyone has their lucky socks, personally, I shot for close to NSW with enough wiggle room for testing error on either end.

Keep it simple, don't dose a bunch of stuff, don't chase problems that are only impacting cosmetics, instead of chasing a target number our goal should be to influence trends in order to maintain stability over long periods of time.

Once you got that worry about tweaking color, growth, nutrients etc etc etc.

Start with something simple find someone selling some cheap abundantly available frags locally like a monti cap or something.

and last but not least learn about the pests that can take out your corals.. the real pests. not bristle worms, pods, that random crab that gave you the stink eye once.. but real pests like AEFW, Monti eating nudis, and red bugs (debatable).
 

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I agree with those that say to give it a try with an easy-ish frag. Watch it and see how it does. If it doesn't do well, you have a point to compare to and appreciate when you have SPS that DO do well in the future.

Some environments are actually better for SPS than LPS (my tank for example) so even that is a possibility.

I also agree re: bacteria. Put in very basic terms, I think bacteria is the "mature" in a mature tank. And can be the difference between growing SPS and dwindling SPS.
 
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Need stable ,do what I'm doing now concentrate on 1 thing get it perfect then the next ,first was temp getting that dial in for 1 month making sure it's stable with the ac unit of your home where to keep your ac unit to keep tank at the right temp also have a backup when ac unit goes out with power to keep tank cool ,then evaporation replacing water getting that stable 1 month making sure it's right now I'm working on phos and nitrates for 2 months making sure it's right + 2 months of cycling and feeding fish that's 6 months but I'm waiting till I hit the 9 month mark then I will see . There's no hurry remember corals grow slow they take there time also.. work on keeping everything stable first have fun testing dialing things in,learn your tank.
 
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@Rams @brahm @undermind @125

thank you!

Been working through the ugly stage and overall stability of the tank. Got hit hard with cyano and GHA, and trying to balance out the NO3 and PO4 levels. Alk, cal, and mag are all finally stabilizing. PH floats between 8.3-8.5. Just finished a 2 week Microbacter 7 dosing regimen and I have a ceramic brick sitting in my other tank that’s been up for about 18 months and will steal some of that tanks biome to put in the new tank, probably in a of her 3-4 weeks once it’s really cooked. Im planning on taking the next 3-4 months to dial things in and logging parameters, and I’ll reassess which way I’m going to go by looking at charts and trends.
 

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Historically, I’ve always like having euphyllia dominant systems. The looks, colors, movement, etc… BUT, historically I’ve always struggled keeping them. Plenty of planning just to watch them whither away and melt. It’s like a rollercoaster for me. Monitoring water, dosing, watching good growth… and then melting time- but while nutrients are lower I seem to enjoy watching SPS grow.

That said, other than obvious higher and more stable care needs for SPS over LPS, what are some insider tips for success if I were to consider an SPS dominated system

Some system info:

My tank is a 75 gallon with a 34” Trigger Systems V2 set up for Triton Method dosing off of a RedSea ReefDose. Skimmer is a ReefOcto 152S. I have plenty of nutrient export power with the fuge, and have already bottomed out NO3 and PO4, which I’m feeding heavily and dosing ESV Nitrate to help bring levels back up. Also running 2 Hydra 64HD’s so I have plenty of lighting power for SPS. I also run a 15 watt UV, and a Bashsea reactor for carbon or GFO.

Tank has been running since January and have already been hit with a couple issues from moving too fast, nutrients too high, too low, and everything in between, but things are settling down. I’m confident I can create a stable SPS environment.

I am NOT willing to re-do any filtration equipment or dosing modalities. IE setting up a CARX.

Hoping to open a nice dialogue with some tried and trued methods and advice. I’ve never had an SPS tank but think I’d fully enjoy one.

Thanks!
-Ben
I would recommend making sure you have a healthy population of bacteria, algae and microfauna, Bacterial additives, small bits of live rock, keeping up with WCs, adding pods if your tank doesn't have any and just general growth with time all help.
 

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I’m interested in doing this as well. I’m just waiting for all of the pieces to come together. It’s not really a method but keeping everything as simple as possible will yield lots of success in the long term
 

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Best advice from a long time reefer is get a plan from day one.
Pick the parameters you want to run and focus on keeping them in range.
Stop adding this and that as you go unless your plan dictated it.
To many people come here for advice and start changing things without a plan.

Its alot like life. If you dont have a plan you may not end up where you want to be.
Pm me if you want to discuss any aspect of reefing.
 
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Best advice from a long time reefer is get a plan from day one.
Pick the parameters you want to run and focus on keeping them in range.
Stop adding this and that as you go unless your plan dictated it.
To many people come here for advice and start changing things without a plan.

Its alot like life. If you dont have a plan you may not end up where you want to be.
Pm me if you want to discuss any aspect of reefing.
Thank you, appreciate it
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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On the question posed in the original question of the thread, I’ve never been a big fan of the appearance of SPS systems compared to tanks with moving hard and soft corals, anemones, and even macroalgae.

in my opinion, a pair of spawning clownfish in a large carpet anemone is vastly more interesting to watch, and can be just as colorful as SPS.
 
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On the question posed in the original question of the thread, I’ve never been a big fan of the appearance of SPS systems compared to tanks with moving hard and soft corals, anemones, and even macroalgae.

in my opinion, a pair of spawning clownfish in a large carpet anemone is vastly more interesting to watch, and can be just as colorful as SPS.
This is my other tank that’s been up for about a year and a half. Bit of a hostile anemone takeover but I do enjoy watching the clown/anemone relationship.
 

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So anyways, long time thread revival, I scrapped the SPS dominant idea and went with primarily euphyllia and have a couple sticks up top. Will add a couple more SPS down the road, but waiting for the tank to grow out a bit. Plan on adding a bit more to the torch garden on the right side of the tank…
 

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Ancient Mariner

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Looks great! Going through this thread and your build thread looks like you started dosing kalk in Aug and have recently switched to 2 part. Is this when things really started to take off? Were you dosing anything when you first started this thread? Besides getting maturity and stability, steady and consistent Ca/alk dosing really got things going for me. I would guess SPS won’t be a problem, especially in 6-10 months!

I think your experience can help a lot of newbies.
 
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Looks great! Going through this thread and your build thread looks like you started dosing alk in Aug and have recently switched to 2 part. Is this when things really started to take off? Were you dosing anything when you first started this thread? Besides getting maturity and stability, steady and consistent Ca/alk dosing really got things going for me. I would guess SPS won’t be a problem, especially in 6-10 months!

I think your experience can help a lot of newbies.
Yea this system has seen Triton Method Core 7, and BRS 2 part. I actually ended up jumping on the PH train in August, and started dosing kalk based off the ACI aquaculture method. Having a couple hiccups with that, and being generally uneasy about the alk swings, I went a bit more conservative and dosed kalk based on a set amount instead of PH based, and really felt the stability of the tank settle in. Alk has been very slowly dropping from the original 12ishDKH from the ACI kalk method, and has been holding around the 9.5 mark. If it starts to drop further, I plan on supplementing the kalk with ESV B-ionic 2 part system. So, between the kalk, higher PH (tank runs at 7.7 without kalk, and I also run a CO2 scrubber now to maintain 8.2-8.3) and a seemingly established biome, things are finally going well - knock on wood. Tank is crawling with pods, and I dose live phyto, ESV Transition Elements, and Aquavitro Fuel daily, as well as feed the tank pellets 4 times a day and frozen at night. PO4 floats around 0.05-0.1ppm and NO around 9-12ppm.
 
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Couple losses, couple additions… but current tank shot. Figured I’d post the occasional pic for the h*ll of it… have added some SPS and plan on adding some more. Need to address the scape on the right side as I’d like to add more real estate.
 

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I’ll keep randomly updating this thread with progress. Just adjusted lighting and PAR is much better… post in my build thread as well.
 

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Troylee

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Nevermind guys- was looking for some help and to increase my knowledge. Didn’t say I was ready or that I was going to be stuffing my tank with SPS. Actually feel like I was doing the responsible thing by trying to find out what works for people and best ways to stabilize my tank in the upcoming months.



Who WANTS to kill any coral? Literally asking the “community” for some pointers.

Have a good day man.
I some how missed this thread! This is what I think is best for you! Tank age doesn’t matter that’s all hog wash… grab a green slimer some digis and maybe even a couple torts! Throw them in your tank and go for it! When I see people like you determined you’ll get the hang of it very fast! Why??? Cause you’re gonna test and you’re gonna pay close attention to your tank and that’s what is gonna make you successful!!! I got faith you can do it, it’s really not that hard and nothing has to be perfectly stable it just needs to be in range! Lol.. tons of people fail and most of the time it’s from neglect!
 

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