I read through some tanks of the month and some reefers test levels once a week, others once every 2 weeks and some even once a month... but what most always say is let your eyes be the best judge when it comes to corals... can sps gurus please share what they look out for and remedies.. e.g. how do you know if a coral is getting too much or too little light... how do you know if a coral needs more flow or less flow.. how do you know if your nitrates or phosphates are high etc etc... all tips would be HUGELLLYY APPRECIATED!!
Let your eyes be the best Judge-SPS GURUS
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living_tribunal
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Are us lps gurus not allowed to comment here?!
SeaDweller
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I'm not a guru, but I'll add something to this thread.
I test alk daily, which literally takes me 20-30 secs; I test alk twice a day if I'm tuning my CaRx for any reason (some people on a different sub forum want to contest the fact it only takes me this "short" of time with a salifert kit). That's the only thing I monitor that closely, daily.
some things take some time to manifest symptoms, and by then it may be too late to correct.
Lighting: for me, using LEDs if I blast them with too much light, it may take some time but things bleach out. Too little, then things grow slowly and may darken up a bit. Too wrong of spectrum and in most cases, I see more greens develop than there should be. N and P levels: too high of N and P then I can see the direct effects in my tank (algae dusting very soon, darkening of some acros, algae growth), too little and I see colors pale out. Regarding flow, I've had to turn it down lately as I've seen some tips of acros become very concave from the flow; they form little spoon like ends, and you can tell when the flesh isn't looking good. If you look at your tank daily, you get a feel for when things are running like a top and not. Not enough, and then things just look stagnant, for me.
I have a pretty large ORA Laura's purple polyp colony TN'ing but it's due to a few things: drop in PAR, increased N (maybe not so much), but the drop in par and the fact it's getting over shadowed by a huge mille colony above it, is causing all the shaded areas to die: it became brown in those areas, then TN'ed. But I didn't knee jerk to go changing everything and sending out ICP cuz I know what the cause is, likely.
I've had a complete crash within a week or so when each piece grey'ed out then all TN'ed that was thru water contamination. I believe most people who really care about acros or SPS are super in tune with their tanks.
I test alk daily, which literally takes me 20-30 secs; I test alk twice a day if I'm tuning my CaRx for any reason (some people on a different sub forum want to contest the fact it only takes me this "short" of time with a salifert kit). That's the only thing I monitor that closely, daily.
some things take some time to manifest symptoms, and by then it may be too late to correct.
Lighting: for me, using LEDs if I blast them with too much light, it may take some time but things bleach out. Too little, then things grow slowly and may darken up a bit. Too wrong of spectrum and in most cases, I see more greens develop than there should be. N and P levels: too high of N and P then I can see the direct effects in my tank (algae dusting very soon, darkening of some acros, algae growth), too little and I see colors pale out. Regarding flow, I've had to turn it down lately as I've seen some tips of acros become very concave from the flow; they form little spoon like ends, and you can tell when the flesh isn't looking good. If you look at your tank daily, you get a feel for when things are running like a top and not. Not enough, and then things just look stagnant, for me.
I have a pretty large ORA Laura's purple polyp colony TN'ing but it's due to a few things: drop in PAR, increased N (maybe not so much), but the drop in par and the fact it's getting over shadowed by a huge mille colony above it, is causing all the shaded areas to die: it became brown in those areas, then TN'ed. But I didn't knee jerk to go changing everything and sending out ICP cuz I know what the cause is, likely.
I've had a complete crash within a week or so when each piece grey'ed out then all TN'ed that was thru water contamination. I believe most people who really care about acros or SPS are super in tune with their tanks.
SeaDweller
2500 Club Member
there's tons of guys who are super good at this stuff here. I've only really done SPS beginning in like 2012+, and it's alot of ups and downs and learning. Find someone around you who has a goal you want to achieve, and learn from them, learn from a lot of people; but it's hard to implement everyone's success into ONE tank. If you see someone with a tank like how you want to run, then it's easier to copy what they do at 100%, and maybe copy their success.
Glott3133
Active Member
I agree, it was very helpful. I have a hydnophora and a birdsnest and I am watching them everyday to see if there is anything to worry about with them. My LPS and softies, you can generally tell when they are happy. My only concern, is when SeaDweller said, they can look good today, but some issues may take time to manifest. That's scary, because you never know what to expect.
NanoDJS
Valuable Member
Not a "Guru" either, I do like me some coral though 
I guess its the same as watching kids, you find out all the quirks , needs , normal behavior and it becomes easier to notice when things go south visually first . I test dkh weekly at minimum , and cal once a week to see where I am at with nutrient uptake, and adjust my dosing accordingly. As your tank gets older and especially in the 4th 5th year or so , it should be really stable and things are not as hectic as new tank swings. If you keep acros and $$$ coral and dont test at all , well then more power to ya. But if your a freak who is chasing optimal color/ health then its kinda silly not to figure out what you need to change.
I guess its the same as watching kids, you find out all the quirks , needs , normal behavior and it becomes easier to notice when things go south visually first . I test dkh weekly at minimum , and cal once a week to see where I am at with nutrient uptake, and adjust my dosing accordingly. As your tank gets older and especially in the 4th 5th year or so , it should be really stable and things are not as hectic as new tank swings. If you keep acros and $$$ coral and dont test at all , well then more power to ya. But if your a freak who is chasing optimal color/ health then its kinda silly not to figure out what you need to change.merereef
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Not a "Guru" either, I do like me some coral though
Thank you very much for your input... i think i know what you mean... when i started keeping LPS i could tell after a while when something was wrong just by looking at my tank
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
^^^ excellent advice here OP. Agree 100% with everything said above.
Would also add, and I know I say it a lot, that one of the best ways to judge an acropora's "happiness/stability" is nocturnal axial corallite polyp extension. Daytime PE from radial corallites is also a good sign, but not always accurate for determining the whole colonies' stability/happiness. I have seen great radial daytime polyp extension on remaining branches while the colony was RTNing.
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Not at all, sorry I didnt explain.
I circled axial corallites (branch tips) in orange
Red lines point to radial corallites (all over the sides of the branches)
Blue points to incipient axial corallites. (developing branches)
merereef
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Ahhhh thank you makes sense... so if the polyps are out on acros mainly at night they are happyNot at all, sorry I didnt explain.
I circled axial corallites (branch tips) in orange
Red lines point to radial corallites (all over the sides of the branches)
Blue points to incipient axial corallites. (developing branches)
motortrendz
2500 Club Member
I really agree with this, having someone close by that you can learn from seeing and watching what and how they do on a system you feel if where youd like to be is a great way to learn. Alot better than reading a million different theories and a million different right ways. Also you will see that they go through tough times and ugly phases too. It really is normal.
As for the guru's most people that have had a tank running for a few years and in the hobby for many grow with the tank, and you've seen the trends in this specific system, so when a coral has a color shift or something didnt open the same as it has for the last few months. You pick up on it. I recently went though a acro stn event. I knew something was off before my test kits showed there was an issue. some of my brightest acros started to dull, and my tests showed things were normal. Well about 4 days later my nutrients bottomed out and then one by one they started stn'ing from the base up. I was able to fix it. But not before loosing a good solid dozen acros. So yes your eyes are definilty your best tool, paying attention to the tank and let it tell you what it needs. Unfortunalty for me I knew something was off, but wasnt sure what until it was almost too late. But it becomes another tool in the toolbox... nothing beats experience at the end of the day.
C. Eymann
2500 Club Member
Yes, but the axial corallite polyp extension is what you are really looking for at night -the tip polyp that, on many species of acropora dont extend at all during the day, but they will at night if stable and happy.
MrWheelock
Valuable Member
@C. Eymann are you using a red light to view these at night?
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