How to successfully keep SPS Corals!

[sportzfish]

Wow! How many years have you had this tank running?

325 gallon main display
6 x 400 watt mh
remote very deep sand bed
remote dark zone with live rock for sponge growth
some algae harvest in one sump
1900 gph closed loop
large skimmer with ozone
large ca reactor
test alk and ca
feed 1/2 sheet nori and about plum size fresh squid daily
ten percent water changes
suppliment with sodium bicarb and ca chloride occationally if reactor isnt keeping up.

 

[Dog Boy Dave]

Dave Turner | Facebook

Some bad video. I posted a better one in get aquanted video but this one does show some pretty colors.
Tank has been set up for five years but I have had many of the animals and rocks much longer. Got my first accros in 2001 but started learning to keep inverts in 87. My anenomes were a gift in 1995 from my wife as a wedding aniversery present and we collected some of the rock in 1990 on our tenth wedding aniversery during a dive trip to south Florida.

 

[xcorallusx]

Dave those pics are ancient we need some fresh ones

 

[MyNameIs]

i don't post much, but here goes.

tank- 120 oceanic, lights- tek t-5 5 blue+, 2 pink+ and one aqua blue special.
add kalk through the ato for calcium, alk and ph control. also a luft pump for 3 minutes every couple of hours after the lights go out.
eco mag. twice a week.
10% water change every 3 months or so.( i know, but it works)
tank is a little over 5 years old. there is another 30 gal lps cube plumbed to it.
also have a nice size mangrove in the sump.pro clear protein skimmer. no vortechs. can't bring myself to spend the money.
i think thats it, but if you have any other questions just ask. thanks

This tank is absolutely stunning. Running for 5 years and looks absolutely amazing. How long did it actually take before you saw nice growth out of all your hard SPS? I bet half of those acros wouldnt even fit in my 40 breeder

 

[Reef Man]

Nice! Suscribed!!

Enviado por medio de tapatalk!

 

[REEFCRAFT]

good thread for those who want to compare notes, but all systems are different in many ways. still a good point of reference i suppose. do what works for your tank, not what the "in" thing is... unless the in thing works for you of course.

 

[midnight coffee]

Hello everyone! some update of my 120g tank.

 

[MattL22]

Midnight coffee what is that stylo? Really like it!

 

[mcarroll]

First, lots of +1's on various posts above.

The #1 point in SPS is that Alkalinity is the most important parameter by far. Read everything you can find that relates and you'll be head and shoulders above most people in the hobby in terms of base knowledge. If you can make this number stable, your SPS will most likely be happy. Maybe more importantly to many - they will be able to compete for space with your soft corals in the longer term. (I recommend only stonies together for ease of management.) If this seems intimidating, it's really not all that different from the routines involved in properly feeding your fish. Nobody thinks twice about being there every day like religion to feed their fish. Many feed multiple times per day. Corals generally require no more (or less) dedication.

#2 is to keep nutrient levels low. Light levels over an SPS reef will grow algae FAST. This makes #2.5 realizing that most tanks you see online are waaaaaay overstocked with fish. You can do it (like Evel Kneivel "can" jump a canyon), but it's very likely you'll underestimate one of the costs (hidden or obvious) of overstocking and a price will be paid. Sooner or later. Algae if you're lucky, fish loss to tank crash if not.

#3 is lighting, but there isn't much mystery here IMO. 3-5 watts per gallon of traditional (mh/t5) lighting per gallon (traditional tank sizes) of a quality brand of bulb is an easy solution. As close to 20k as your tastes allow will bring you the best coral colors. Use Radium halide bulbs on non-electronic ballasts for the best results IMO. LED's may not be as easy a target, but they're the latest technology and have a lot of good qualitites to recommend them.

Some random details and observations that are useful to me:

My system has been running since 2007 with the addition of the second tank a couple years ago. I lost three corals in the first couple of years, but all were my fault/no mystery. (i.e. not going to be repeated) No current photos as the tank is completely overgrown and in need of transplant to a larger system. Monti's are 6-8" up the front, left and back glass. Culling and fragging are not my strongest suits and I like BIG colonies. ;-)

I've used Reef Crystals almost exclusively since the first stony corals went into the tank. I will most likely switch over to Instant Ocean once I'm settled in with my new dosing pumps.

Target parameters haven't changed much over time:

Ca: 420
Alk: 4.0 (scaled down to 3.5 with addition of dosing pumps)
Mg: 1350
PO4 and NO4: so there are desireable levels of algae growth (too much = too much feeding and/or too many animals)

Salifert kits are used to measure Ca, Alk and Mg and to gauge dosing rates.​

I've never had better growth or color than when I was doing 10% daily water changes. (plus req'd 2-part dosing) You better go out of your way to make it easy or automated if you want this to be a long term plan.

Dosing has almost always been a two part formula. Started with Brightwell and ESV, dosing baking soda and calcium chloride these days.

About half way through I also added a small Tunze kalk reactor to my ATO. Highly recommended once you have significant stony growth. I see about 100ppm Calcium in the kalk effluent (abt 5 gallons per week), and dose about 200mL of two part every day. I do not recommend anyone take a stony coral tank to this rate of consumption without automated dosing - at least for Alkalinity. AquaLifters are better than nothing (good thread on nano-reef Chem Forum) if budget is an impassable factor. Peristaltic pumps are better and between eBay and some of the other Chinese vendors are much more competetively priced than even a couple years ago - save up for at least one.

I've always kept fish stocking very low, or even at zero.

My current and by far favorite piscine inhabitants are a trio of Barnacle Blennies. They are accompanied by nine Sexy Shrimp. That's it. As you may guess, I've never had nutrient issues. Be aware of the nutrient load and what you are both willing and able to do to manage it. I can certainly fit in more/bigger fish, but it's likely I'd need more cleanup crew and maybe to increase my water change rate as well as add capability to run chemical media like GFO and carbon. I might even need to upgrade my skimmer and flow in the tank to handle the extra waste. (...and screen the top of the tank.) Then I'd have to maintain all that stuff too!

I'm sure I left out some stuff...better save something for another post tho.

-Matt

 

[Sahin]

Matt, many thanks for your input. I am glad to see that you've put Alk @ no.1; I didnt realise this until last year...I was always chasing low nutrients.... trying to achieve 0 on the phosphate meter etc...but since I bought my Fauna Marin Triple Doser and nailed down the Alk, Ca and Mg, colours started to come in.

Its good to get input from the seasoned SPS keepers. This is a brilliant thread. I hope more people with colourful SPS tanks chime in with thier thoughts and experiances too. Of course there are so many factors, but its good to see the most important factors stand out after going through a thread like this.

 

[Dog Boy Dave]

I would have to agree withthe alkalinity advice given above. Perhaps the most important factor in long term coral coloration and general wellbeing.

 

[Grant W]

A few pics of mine

Im new here so I'll stop there, enjoy. Grant

 

[Grant W]

A few pics of mine

 

[swannyson7]

Stunning tank Grant! How long has the tank been up?

 

[Grant W]

Swannyson 7thanks, The tank has been up for a little over 8 years but got my first sps about 2 years ago.

 

[Scoly]

Great thread guys, keep em coming!!

 

[Grant W]

You guys have some amazing tanks. well done all of you. I see you have the same prob I have, the constant need to cut them away from each other. never thought I would see the dat when I had to add gerden shears to my coral care tools lol.

 

[Stpatrick]

A few pics of mine

What type of lighting are you using Grant?

 

[Grant W]

I built my own. Mh and t5. 175w 14kk ushios x2 in lumenarc minis, lumenmax dimmable ballasts, 4 t5's with geissman pure actinics and actinic plus bulbs, tec2 faceted reflectors and driven by 2 icecap 660's. Led blue moonlights on digital lunar schedule.(I like the spawning events) all controlled by the reefkeeper.

 

[MattL22]

Grant amazing tank!!! I'm about 8 months into my first sps tank and can say alk has been the biggest battle I bought a used cal reactor and dose kalk through my ato I found the sweet spot for few months tank looked great then I started adding vinegar too my kalk water my alk wet up too 10-11 I had alot of problems !!
I got it back too 7-8 but now I'm convinced I have way too many fish for a real sps tank my nutrients r a bit too high so I'm gonna remove 4 fish and hope that with less food and poop the tank will do better! Plus the lg fish keep knocking frags lose which then have too be reglued and take a while to recover!! Anyway thanks for help this is best thread IMO on reef 2 reef!!