Ok I'll just go ahead and admit it. It's embarrassing....

[revhtree]

Ok I'll just go ahead and admit it. It's embarrassing though. I hate it. I want to change it. I have tried everything.

I suck at keeping sps.

I love all types of corals. I love moving and swaying corals. I love corals that grow in little button colonies. I love those monstrous big mouthed meaty corals that love to eat! But I also love colorful sticks and protruding acro polyps.

In the past I have kept some some acros and montipora successfully but as of the last few years success has been pretty abysmal. I should also say that over the past few months I have been doing "ok" with a few tester frags but I'm tired of tester frags! I want to buy some NICE pieces but I'm afraid. To those that can grow them like weeds it even seems as easy as riding a bike but I'm stuck here with bike and still have the training wheels on.

PICK ONE!

Encourage me please!
Enlighten me please!
Teach me please!
Whine with me please!

What about you? Do you like SPS corals and wish you could keep them more successfully?

@Sahin's Sps Dominated Reef for fun....

 

[Kellie in CA]

Well, you are doing better than I am. 15 years into the hobby and I'm still to scared to try SPS and Anemones!

 

[sbash]

Oh this should be an interesting read!

I have had limited success with SPS. Last year, my birds of paradise was growing well and my stylo wasn't, this year it is the opposite...

I think a lot has to do with the variety of SPS and its pickiness in general. The stylo and the birds of paradise mentions above are literally side by side, so the get similar light and flow... I suspect micro-nutrients have a lot more to do with things than I give credit; this is where Triton testing would be good (although its not really available in my area).

 

[Crabs McJones]

I've been keeping SPS for a while now, didn't really have much luck with growth or color until recently when I simplified everything. No dosing anything I cannot test for, and dosing BRS 2 Part. Before I was keeping up alk by adding baking soda to my water change mix, and using Kent Marine liquid calcium, and I was pretty much throwing numbers at the wall and seeing what sticked. I was also dosing kent marine trace elements, magnesium, and a couple others. So I stopped dosing everything. Then I did a series of water changes to bring my levels back to what they should be at, and started dosing 2 part only and got my daily amount dialed in. And let weekly water changes replenish my minor and trace elements, and everything is taking off like a weed! I also like to believe that my incorporation of an LED T5 Hybrid with the Aquatic Life and the Kessil AP700 has to do with it as well.

 

[happyhourhero]

I have periods of time where it is easy for me but I have been doing this long enough to know that when I think “I got this” something goes wrong. Wrong is usually defined by a choice I made to start tinkering when I shouldn’t have.

 

[Lloyd Williams]

Well, you are doing better than I am. 15 years into the hobby and I'm still to scared to try SPS and Anemones!

The only nems I can keep are rock flower!

 

[happyhourhero]

I will say that high flow and dripping kalk has helped me greatly. Both renditions of my tank over the past couple of years have done much better when I had kalk dripping.

 

[Rakie]

For a long time I had not considered SPS to be too hard. But when I royally screwed up and didn't calibrate my refractometer for like 6-8 months my Salinity slipped all the way down to 1.021 -- And you know what? No SPS died. They continued to grow, and were colorful. The missing salinity caused magnesium precipitation, giving me mag in the 1100's too. That's the only way I eventually figured it out...

Even though it was royally boned -- It was stable. Stability really is everything with SPS. Screwing the pooch for half a year showed me even with bad parameters, stable parameters are the foundation for the entire equation.

Did things improve when I stopped being a bonehead? Absolutely. But nobody could tell there was something wrong with my tank visually whatsoever.

So even BAD Stability > Instability.

 

[DancingShark]

Simple water changes, kalkwasser on my top offs. Simple as that for me. And I thought they were hard.

 

[NY_Caveman]

For a long time I had not considered SPS to be too hard. But when I royally screwed up and didn't calibrate my refractometer for like 6-8 months my Salinity slipped all the way down to 1.021 -- And you know what? No SPS died. They continued to grow, and were colorful. The missing salinity caused magnesium precipitation, giving me mag in the 1100's.

Even though it was royally boned -- It was stable. Stability really is everything with SPS. Screwing the pooch for half a year showed me even with bad parameters, stable parameters are the foundation for the entire equation.

Did things improve when I stopped being a bonehead? Absolutely. But nobody could tell there was something wrong with my tank visually whatsoever.

So even BAD Stability > Instability.

A great example @Rakie !

 

[rkpetersen]

SPS, particularly acros, seem to do quite well for me. High light, high flow, low nutrients, everything as stable as possible. Feed some zooplankton now and then.

It's LPS that sometimes seem to die on me for no reason. Euphyllias, trachyphyllias, even scolys. (Although at least CC's 'bulletproof' catalaphyllias are thriving.) I've wondered whether it's because there really are no 'low flow' areas in this tank. Also, I am not able to effectively feed them (although I've tried over and over), as the greedy fish and shrimp steal it all. Feeding the SPS is easy as the other animals ignore their food.

 

[MJNTWise]

Kalk Water...Cx reactor....AWC with RS Pro....easy peesy....lolol

 

[Orcus Varuna]

For any sensitive marine critter I am firmly in the stability is key and never change anything drastically camp. Specifically alkalinity stability. I tend to tinker so I cause my own problems but the people I know who are the most successful sps keepers may use different methods but follow the same patterns. 1) They are anal about testing alkalinity at least once a week at the exact same time of day. 2) They sweat anytime their dKH starts creeping away from 7 toward 8 and immediately adjust dosing or reactor to get it back down. 3) When they change something they change one thing at a time and observe for weeks to months before doing anything else. 4) The idea of moving rocks or adding/removing rock gives them an ulcer as they are all convinced it disturbs slow growing anaerobic bacterial colonies that take years to mature and help to stabilize nutrient levels. 5) They all use regular instant ocean or another nsw salt mix like fritz rpm. None of the spiked parameter salts. 6) some dose trace elements and feed and some don’t but if they do they under dose and usually automate it. 7) all use an ato.

I am quite sure their are plenty of other successful ways but those 7 points seem to be the constants between all of the reefers I know that grow acros like weeds without fail. Im trying on my new system, which has been up since March, to cut out complexity, automate as much as possible, and just leave the darn tank alone. I have one tester acro in that is doing okay now and will add more in a few months if all goes well! Since I travel a lot though and work long hours I can’t wait for the apex trident to automate my testing, I am sure stabilizing my dKH will do wonders for me as well.

 

[Scorpius]

I still kill Acropora. I can grow quite a few of them though. I can grow cyano too!!! Lol.

 

[DancingShark]

Well, you are doing better than I am. 15 years into the hobby and I'm still to scared to try SPS and Anemones!

I haven't been reefing for to long. So my post reefing memories are still fresh. I remember reading online post after post, thread after thread of now much of a nightmare these little guys were. I went to local lfs and they told me the same thing.

So I know where you are coming from. For me a 20% water change plus dosing kalk has worked. Try something simple(cheap) and take it from there.

 

[cracker]

SPS? I don't even want to talk about it . LOL
No seriously, I'm real close to graduating the sps corals. Last time I tried though I. melted a green slimmer in short order.

 

[Scorpius]

S.P.S.

Stability Promotes Success.

 

[TexasTodd]

That surprises me Rev. They're not that hard, but you have to get good equipment and be somewhat "anal" watching your tank.

I think all the talk about needing to dose nitrates is probably detrimental for most getting in. My belief is that MOST in the hobby still have nutrients too high for sps. Stock lightly, skim heavily (3-5x rating on skimmer), drip kalk, add more as needed (2 part or CA RX), feed lightly. Personally I skim wet. Never seen a study if that matters but I figure it has to pull more and the cleaning to keep skimming gets taken out as you don't get build up as fast. Plus, more salt added to keep sg. 10% ish water change weekly. Good lights, good skimmer, good flow, temp control, stable alk.

 

[Scorpius]

My system has benefited greatly from 10% weekly water changes.

 

[lilchris_357]

I have noticed once I left my tank alone, maintained Alk with 2 part dosing, (took my CARX offline, couldn't keep it stable). Kept No3 and PO4 low but detectable via Refugium and skimmer, (I stopped carbon dosing) and finally, i took my hands out of the tank, my SPS have all colored up nicely. I did get PAR readings and made sure I adjusted my lights to get good PAR readings, 350+ from middle of the tank and up using T-5 and LED combo. I barely touch my tank now and I have dancing polyps and colorful polyps all day. Keep it simple, refugium, skimmer, flow and lights. You will be successful. Oh yeah, I don;t do water changes for the sake of saying I do water changes. Water Changes are good if you have a reason to do one. If your water parameters are good, no need to do them.