Is my tank ready for SPS

[Eskew77]

My Nuvo 30l has been up for about 8 months. I’m keeping euphyllia successfully, and the favia, zoas and acans look great. I have it lightly stocked with a clown, blue cleaner goby and a scooter blenny. My CUC is 4 nasarius snails, 6 astrea snails, blood shrimp and 2 blue leg hermits.
I have a healthy share of spirorbis in the back chambers and a few pineapple sponges in the back as well as the display. I haven’t introduced copipods and phytoplankton yet but there are tons of amphipods in the substrate after lights out.


These are my test results from tonight…

2/9

Sal 1.025 temp 77.8

Ph 8.0

Alk 8.4

Cal 450

Nitrate 10.0

Phosphate 0.06

My question is, is the tank ready to start with an easier sps like digi or a green slimmer?

 

[Sdoutreefer]

what kind of flow do you have? And what light fixture are you running?

 

[Eskew77]

I have two mp10s at each end and 2 AI Prime 16hds.

 

[Ryan Souza]

Only one way to find out, slimer is a good test frag, cheaper and resilient. Some use coralline algae as an indicator.

 

[Eskew77]

Only one way to find out, slimer is a good test frag, cheaper and resilient. Some use coralline algae as an indicator.

I have coralline growth but it is frustratingly slow.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

I have coralline growth but it is frustratingly slow.

Are you dosing a 2-part? Or 3-part?

Coraline does grow slow, but will take off if you’re keeping parameters stable.

I’d get a frag of a monti cap and see what happens.

 

[Eskew77]

Are you dosing a 2-part? Or 3-part?

Coraline does grow slow, but will take off if you’re keeping parameters stable.

I’d get a frag of a monti cap and see what happens.

I’m using ESV bioionic 2 part.

 

[Eskew77]

I feed frozen and feed reef roids sparingly once a week.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

I’m using ESV bioionic 2 part.

Make sure you’re keeping your Mag in check as well. But ya, go for an easy SPS like a montipora cap. I had a green slimer RTN on me. I think it was due to stress from being shipped, but it was the only acro out of 8 that RTN’d. People say they’re an easier acro, but I haven’t had that experience. My more “difficult” acros made it and are thriving.

 

[Eskew77]

Make sure you’re keeping your Mag in check as well. But ya, go for an easy SPS like a montipora cap. I had a green slimer RTN on me. I think it was due to stress from being shipped, but it was the only acro out of 8 that RTN’d. People say they’re an easier acro, but I haven’t had that experience. My more “difficult” acros made it and are thriving.

My mag is 1340 and hasn’t really moved

 

[Featherweight]

Try a monti digi or cap. You are ready to try

 

[BryanM]

I'm very cautious on this topic, the easier to keep SPS are fine, but the flow requirements for most of them are so much higher than LPS, that I wonder how people can keep both in the same tank.

 

[Tahoe61]

Sounds like you're good to go. :-)

 

[backbayreef]

I wish that we'll be more data driven in the future to know when (exactly) that SPS will thrive in our tanks. So far, I've heard of two milestones to be able to keep SPS, assume that your parameters are stable: (1) growth of coralline algae and (2) tank maturity at one year's anniversary.

On my big tank, I have good coralline algae growth but the tank is only 5 months old (started with 50% LR). However, I could not keep SPS alive after 2 weeks, even easy & encrusted torts, like the Green Slimer. I'm treating fish with some meds currently but will need to send ICP tests out for clues. Perhaps I'm missing some trace elements that I can't test for? Anyway, I wish there's an easy indicator(s) before I kill more frags...

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

with what you said and 1) coralline? 2) how often are you cleaning your glass? Can we see a pic of your tank? I would start with some basic sps. Birds nest, slimer, purple tip stag, etc. study the polyps. Remove the frag from the plug and glue it to a rock. How long did it take to puddle? What is your photo period like? For me, when I first got into the sps game I had flow but my lighting was off. I had only 8 hours and most of it was blue as I was avoiding algae. I learned I needed to pound them with full then give them a break with blues. Not exactly, but think about it like this - Light creates energy, flow blows the by product off and food fuels them (feed your fish not your coral at this stage, this is important). The more light, the more flow the more fuel, rinse and repeat.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

I'm very cautious on this topic, the easier to keep SPS are fine, but the flow requirements for most of them are so much higher than LPS, that I wonder how people can keep both in the same tank.

I do it in mine. Just gotta keep LPS lower in the tank, and/or behind an island

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I do the same. I have Tampa Bay sand also, it’s very light and blows easily. I’m at 110x display turnover. It can be done.

 

[DanP-SD]

with what you said and 1) coralline? 2) how often are you cleaning your glass? Can we see a pic of your tank? I would start with some basic sps. Birds nest, slimer, purple tip stag, etc. study the polyps. Remove the frag from the plug and glue it to a rock. How long did it take to puddle? What is your photo period like? For me, when I first got into the sps game I had flow but my lighting was off. I had only 8 hours and most of it was blue as I was avoiding algae. I learned I needed to pound them with full then give them a break with blues. Not exactly, but think about it like this - Light creates energy, flow blows the by product off and food fuels them (feed your fish not your coral at this stage, this is important). The more light, the more flow the more fuel, rinse and repeat.

I agree with this post and would add a couple other points. You posted a snapshot of parameters and they’re fine for SPS. But SPS appreciate stability - especially alkalinity. If those parameters are steady, they’ll do ok. You may find that acros tend to have subdued colors or more brown and peach tones in your tank bc your nutrients are a little high. I’d try to get nitrates down to under 5ppm and phosphates to under 0.04. A turf scrubber or refugium would help with that. Carbon dosing could help. More water changes and less food could help. But do it gradually and keep parameters stable with slow moves in any you want to adjust.

If you succeed in getting the nutrients to or below the levels I suggest, you can try slowly dosing aminos to feed the corals. Slowly and keep an eye on nutrients.

Montipora cap is a great canary. It’ll handle a wide range of light and flow but will also show you what’s going on by how fast it grows and how colorful it is. Seriatapora, stylophora, anacropra, hydnophora and pocillapora would all be good starters as well. If your system is steady and providing for the corals, the poci might spawn all over the tank with new colonies popping up in the rocks. This will either be really cool or a PIA depending on user preference.

Good luck, add corals slowly and dip them all. Polyp labs Reef Primer is good. It’ll help keep out the many coral-killing pests that SPS frags can harbor.

 

[Dburr1014]

I'm very cautious on this topic, the easier to keep SPS are fine, but the flow requirements for most of them are so much higher than LPS, that I wonder how people can keep both in the same tank.

I keep lps closer to the rock structure. Protects them from the high flow. The sps are at the top or in a wide open area where they can have all kinds of flow.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

I agree with this post and would add a couple other points. You posted a snapshot of parameters and they’re fine for SPS. But SPS appreciate stability - especially alkalinity. If those parameters are steady, they’ll do ok. You may find that acros tend to have subdued colors or more brown and peach tones in your tank bc your nutrients are a little high. I’d try to get nitrates down to under 5ppm and phosphates to under 0.04. A turf scrubber or refugium would help with that. Carbon dosing could help. More water changes and less food could help. But do it gradually and keep parameters stable with slow moves in any you want to adjust.

If you succeed in getting the nutrients to or below the levels I suggest, you can try slowly dosing aminos to feed the corals. Slowly and keep an eye on nutrients.

Montipora cap is a great canary. It’ll handle a wide range of light and flow but will also show you what’s going on by how fast it grows and how colorful it is. Seriatapora, stylophora, anacropra, hydnophora and pocillapora would all be good starters as well. If your system is steady and providing for the corals, the poci might spawn all over the tank with new colonies popping up in the rocks. This will either be really cool or a PIA depending on user preference.

Good luck, add corals slowly and dip them all. Polyp labs Reef Primer is good. It’ll help keep out the many coral-killing pests that SPS frags can harbor.

Dan great points. For OP- for comparisons on aminos, I have 525 g of actual volume and I dose 18mil of amino. Your mileage will for sure vary. Great mention on canary’s. For me my Duncan’s or my pectina are my canary’s. If my Duncan isn’t out, something is up. If my Pectina is deflated and looks like I can see the skeletal structure, something caused a swing. Reading a tank is super helpful.