Going with some sticks now!

nayrgaijin · May 20, 2010

Well I feel comfortable trying sticks out, have quite a few nice ones too!
Any tips or advice on them?

Calcium 480
Magnesium 1050
Dkh 11.5
Salinity 1.025
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
PH 8.1

Any tips on photo taking with blues like this?
This is whiter than I usually run it too. haha
Went ahead and put my Aquablue Special in to add some whiteness.

CapnMorgan · May 20, 2010

If there is one word to sum it up it would be stability. If your tank remains rock solid and all parameters are kept steady they'll grow. If provided with great parameters and lots of flow and lighting, not only will they keep their great color (higher mg levels help in the color dept. as well); they will grow very fast! Feeding at night when polyps are fully extended also makes a noticeable difference.

nayrgaijin · May 20, 2010

Thank you Capn! I raised the Mag to 1220, slowly but surely I hope to get it to around 1400-1500.
I will try feeding them tonight!

ReefChili good for them?

MikeB · May 20, 2010

Stability ... Stability ... Stability

Troylee · May 20, 2010

nice welcome aboard....;)
there not as hard as everyone makes them out to be imho.....
i jumped in it head first and lost my share, but hey thats how we learn right????
just keep it stable as you can no need for perfection!!! it causes more harm imo. if your tank stayed 100% stable all the time thats great but!!!!! when something does drop it's really dramatic to the live stock from my exp...my tank jumps around and all is well, but i don't have huge fluctations just minor ones here and there..... the worst i ever came across was a couple weeks my salinity was way down...:( brought it up slow and all is still well....;)

nayrgaijin · May 20, 2010

Well I will say that my testing schedule will go from every week to every 2 days with having sps now haha. Currently doing daily, just so scared of losing any! I've had LPS and Softies for awhile, but those are a walk in the park. SPS seems like it's going to be getting into a whole different hobby haha.

roscoe · May 20, 2010

Well you know what they say. Once you go sticks you won't go back. I love these colored sticks!

TopNotchCorals · May 20, 2010

Welcome to the wonderful world of SPS nayrgaijin.What troylee says is pretty much how I feel,it isnt as hard as some may think.I love my SPS and hope all goes well with your experience with SPS:)

agent462 · May 20, 2010

The aquablue will help you greatly with getting a good spectrum for the sticks. What other bulbs are you running?

I don't find them as hard as everyone makes them out to be. Yes you want a somewhat stable tank but that's to be said for most things. As long as you don't have some sort of crazy stability where you don't do water changes, don't add calcium, mag, etc you'll be fine. If I lose something it's usually in the first week as most unhealthy corals will die the same fate.

nayrgaijin · May 20, 2010

roscoe said:
Well you know what they say. Once you go sticks you won't go back. I love these colored sticks!

Hehe we'll see about that!

bayreefer said:
Welcome to the wonderful world of SPS nayrgaijin.What troylee says is pretty much how I feel,it isnt as hard as some may think.I love my SPS and hope all goes well with your experience with SPS:)

Thanks man, super stoked to watch how they do in my aquarium, params have been stable for the past 3 months! It's somewhat of a new aquarium.

agent462 said:
The aquablue will help you greatly with getting a good spectrum for the sticks. What other bulbs are you running?

I don't find them as hard as everyone makes them out to be. Yes you want a somewhat stable tank but that's to be said for most things. As long as you don't have some sort of crazy stability where you don't do water changes, don't add calcium, mag, etc you'll be fine. If I lose something it's usually in the first week as most unhealthy corals will die the same fate.

Right now...
blue+
fiji purpl
blue+
aquablue
blue+
blue+

Sounds ok? I replaced my other fiji purple with the aquablue. Looks like enough light, but I guess looks are deceiving! haha

TopNotchCorals · May 20, 2010

My tank has only been running for 1 1/2 months and I added stuff 3 weeks in but my LR was cured for almost 2 months and my tank has been very stable with my husbandry.I have lost only 1 frag due to RTN but everything else is looking great.Be sure to keep an eye on your phosphates too,I didnt see that in your parameters you listed above.I am running almost the exact bulb config you are mine from front to back are blu+blu+,ati actinic,blu+blu+,aquablue special.I had a fiji purple but it wasnt doing much for me color wise and agent462 recomended the ati actinic and they really make all colors pop.

nayrgaijin · May 20, 2010

Man I likey what you say!
Yeah I need a Phosphate test or what about those Hanna electronic ones? Think that would be ok?

inactive · May 20, 2010

One day I will try some SPS.

TopNotchCorals · May 20, 2010

nayrgaijin said:
Man I likey what you say!
Yeah I need a Phosphate test or what about those Hanna electronic ones? Think that would be ok?

I use the new hanna phosphate checker for $40 be sure to buy extra reagents as the checker only comes with a few.

TopNotchCorals · May 20, 2010

Kraylen said:
One day I will try some SPS.

You aint fooling me bro,I have never been a fan of the green slimer until I got a piece of Kraylens Bali Slimer......wait that isnt sounding right.....ughhhhhh....you know what im saying.......whatever forget it

inactive · May 20, 2010

haha, I think when I move my 55g it will be SPS only... actually, there is only SPS in my 55g now that I think about. I sleep moved all my LPS out that one night. Hmm... nice..

rng_pw · May 20, 2010

congrats on the decision to add sps. you wont be dissapointed. the best advice, i can give is to just keep your params stable and dont mess with them (corals) to much. good luck bud.

ricky,