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

[Livinlocal]

This is a tough one, mainly because I don’t want to say it’s easy for me to grow SPS and jinx my system LOL. But to be realistic, I wouldn’t say it’s easy to keep/grow, but it’s not anymore difficult for me then any other coral. It’s all about knowing what your corals demand, and that is hard a lot of the times.

 

[ReefWeeds]

I can commiserate with you! But can’t offer much in advice! I have no luck with anything but montis.

 

[WV Reefer]

I have several types of hard Corals: a few types of Birdsnest, a few types of Montipora and even a few acros. I’m sort of the opposite end of the spectrum because I have a high nutrient environment and do not dose or supplement anything.

 

[Reefing-Around]

So far, success in a small frag tank that I have to rely on 25% water changes every other day or so due to the lack of space for propper filtration and skimmer. Probably 20 frags currently to include RR Walt Disney and tiny JF Homewrecker. Running a single AI Prime on the 18x18 frag currently and seems to be working. SPS and LPS aren't jumping out of their skin but some are showing good, steady growth. Have a wwc slimeball that has grown 4x original size in the 6-7 months I have had it. Using Red Sea Coral Pro since I started the tank.

Planning to set up a deep blue 60 gallon frag with 36" Biotek sump, running a fuge with a Kessil 380 grow light. Should not require quite as many water changes.

Still learning as I go but luck has been on my side thus far. Not a ton of feeding, once a week if that with some reef roids/reef chilli. I do have a flame clown housed in there for a buddy of mine and he does some feeding via the natural method..

 

[ca1ore]

I picked the 'easy' answer . Not necessarily because I think they are easy, but because I have been able to grow most of the frags I have bought. I do tend to go for the less demanding species (perhaps an oxymoron) and avoid wild harvested colonies in favor of cultured. Also, keep in mind that many of the pictures you see of folks tanks are 'photoshopped' fakes - like the one in the first post. FWIW, a good quality CaRx is what got me over the SPS hump ..... 20 years ago.

 

[Elgringodiablo]

@revhtree Assuming they are staying alive, keep adding them as frags. Eventually once they are happy, they will fill in the space and you will have to prune the overgrowth. Whenever I've bought medium sized maricultured colonies, they have died pretty quickly. Homegrown frags are the best way to go.

Of my 4 systems, only one grows SPS well, and as murphy's law would have it's my smallest (21g) but also most mature (3.5yrs). I just rebooted my Red Sea Reefer 450 (92g) to go SPS dominant... more light, more flow, CA-Rx, Kalk, Zeovit, less fish... but at this point I only have a dozen or so tester frags in there and have a feeling it will be a LONG time before it really grows SPS well. Maturity and stability seem to be the two biggest factors.

Another suggestion. If you can, frag backups of nice stuff in case something happens to the mother colony.

 

[TexasTodd]

Rev, to clarify, I'm surprised as I know you're a very experienced reefer.
I think it gets tricky as people try to tweak super fast growth, super high color, the newest gadgets, etc. I'm all for that, but I think it helps to learn how to keep them in a more basic way first. Basic has a lot less factors to go wrong.
Also forgot in my first post, RODI is a must in my book. I'd also start with T5 not LED. We all know LEDs work, but they're also trickier.

 

[sghera64]

1. Stability
2. Consistency
3. Constancy
4. . . . And stability

 

[Mini Coop]

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

I am experimenting with this as well in my 180 (250 TWV)

 

[Mini Coop]

I am really interested in following along @revhtree - I just got my first SPS 2 weeks ago. A red digi, a stylo and a green slimer. My parameters are "perfect" if there is such a thing, except high po4 and my nitrates are around 15 always. My stylo looked like it was going to bite the dust - a big water change and boom - he is back. I only have starter frags for my first try - but hoping with VERY stable parameters in my tank and knowing I need to get more lights eventually that it will be a good experience.

And for those of us who "worry" - thank you to everyone and to you for the honesty to know that this isn't always an exact science and we aren't failures if we have trouble with one thing or another!

 

[jda]

I would like to propose a forum rule that nobody gets to use the term "SPS" anymore. I need to know which kinds people are talking about for appropriate help. Failure to grow M. Digitata is a different set of issues than failure to grow Acropora. Advice for one type does not always apply to others... it is kind of like saying "coral."

I can grow any type of Acropora that I want. I am not into MBP&S and only have a Leng Sy cap. High quality lighting (MH), CaRx, decent flow, patience, a tank that grows coralline like crazy, routine water changes, heavy skimming and stability (like everybody else).

I would rank lighting (food), stability, spot-on water parameters in that order. I would rather have a "SPS" tank (see, I just did it) with MH or T5 and middling water quality than with the best possible water quality and middling lights.

 

[Robink]

When I first tried SPS a few years back, I pretty much killed everything or turned it brown. I upgraded my skimmer and my sump and was able to keep some alive. I started testing my alk daily and even though I was manually dosing I kept the tank pretty stable and that's when I started to see some success. Since then I've upgraded my tank (still wish it was bigger) and have continued to successfully keep SPS.
The tank was set up end of February 2017, and yes I know you're supposed to wait for it to mature before putting your acros in it. I moved, so once this tank had cycled and I got fish in it, I put a few sacrificial corals in, kept my parameters steady, waited about a month and moved about 70 frags from my old tank, which was at a friend's (who was extremely stressed over taking care of corals-no experience with a reef tank and all instructions given over the phone). Only lost a few of the frags during the change, some had damage from alk getting to 14 dkh while at my friend's. She was dosing without testing...
So here is a cell pic today, tank almost 1.5 years, and all acros started from frags either purchased or fragged from my original colonies.
I dose BRS 2 part
Fritz salt
Red sea coral colors
Fish are fed 2-3 times daily.
Calc 430
Alk 8-9
Mag 1500
PH 8.1-8.3
N03 10-20
P04 >.1 when last tested
weekly 10% water changes

 

[fabutahoun]

I can keep acropora even if I am 1000 miles away for a month.

Rev you can do It just don't give up.

Stability in all water parameters, dosing every hour for KH and calcium, decent equipment from good manufacturer like Ecotech and reef octopus, APEX controller is a must !!! Auto top off is also important. Use RO/DI water. big and good skimmer and good size chaetomorpha fuge with kessil Halo LED.

Weekly 10% water change.
And a good Tank sitter while I am out of town just in case the apex send me an alarm.

You can do an ICP test (Triton) to check if there is something out of order in your tank water.

 

[hart24601]

One thing that is interesting is the amount of pico tanks that are keeping spa including acros. While of course not growing colonies like Sanjay, me and few others grow various sps enough to trim them from time to time so they fit. These are systems that get big changes like 100% weekly waterchanges and no dosing, so while the growth isn't on par, so to speak, with large systems it has really led me to question what is really key to keeping these guys with all drops weekly with no dosing and then instant spike back up with 100% w/c to high reef Crystal levels and I personally change the kessils intensity and color to whatever I fancy that day and it doesn't seem to matter.

Now this doesn't mean this is best, but I have coraline algae and it does make me consider what is the driving force with loosing corals. Not that I have answers but still interesting.

My fav pic of my pico. Maxima has great growth still after several months. I have never tested a single parameter in this system. Yes I know the rules are different with pico, but I think there are things to learn from them when comes to coral survival.

 

[Jerett83]

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).

You can order ICP test kits from pets and ponds online. They are based out of Orillia and are 39$ for one or60$ for two

Edit: I just noticed they are MarinLab not Triton

 

[Brian W]

My 100 + SPS frags that I had were growing well until one of the fine sponsor ;Spitoutdummy here named Triton ;Spitoutdummy ran out of their Core 7 supplements and my alkalinity dropped to the low 6's

 

[mitch91175]

I am getting heavy into Acropora at the moment. Not in my DT but in my 75 frag tank. I specifically bought a frag system just so I could get more into SPS in general. I am running the frag tank with much less equipment than I have on my DT (ATI 8 bulb T5, ReefBrite VHO, CoralBox doser, Vertex 180i, and CO2 scrubber). To me that isn't much equipment,

Also have a few tester frags in my DT. I was able to grow montipora without issue before and few few pieces of acropora, then I stopped taking care of my tank. Needless to say everything died except the fish. At that time I wasn't dosing anything or doing water changes so that's why every perished.

But now I have been rejuvenated (well for the last 6-8 months) and went straight to keep SPS. Although I haven't been extremely successful, I do see/know that stability is paramount in keeping SPS. As someone else has mentioned, having good equipment definitely helps. Good equipment isn't just the extra stuff, but a good skimmer, good lighting, your own RO/DI, good ATO, etc I feel are a prerequisite to venturing into keep SPS.

So to wrap it up, I am having great success not killing frags in my frag tank. I will use that knowledge I am gaining from the frag tank (stability, PAR, etc) and am applying the same to the DT (even without having many SPS in there). I am planing one last re-aquascape to the DT and once that is done and things have settled again, in goes the frags from the frag tank. Mounted into places where they will get the flow they need and PAR similar to what they are getting in the frag tank.

ADDED: I also have a friend of mine that has an amazing SPS dominant tank helping guide me to having a successful SPS dominant tank. This was his advice. STOP buying frags from unreliable sources (meaning frag shops that have those huge sales of hundreds or thousands of frags at a time). Most of that stuff is maricultured and if you aren't prepared for the undertaking, it will die). STOP messing with stuff when it is doing well. BUY ONLY from someone that you see have a thriving tank with SPS colonies, not just a bunch of 1" frags and no picture showing the mother colonies.

Before that advice, I was always on auctions adding this frag and that frag and even eBay buying frags. Absolutely avoid eBay like the plague. The frag packs are cheap for a reason (most of those there are from chop shops that could care less if you are successful or not).

Oh and one other note, NEVER buy from someone that has overly saturated pictures of the stuff - with a few exceptions for shops that are known to take care of their stuff).

 

[ca1ore]

Intended to augment my earlier post, but waited too long .....

I think there are enough people successful with SPS corals (regardless of the genus or species) that it's no longer the 'secret' from 20 years ago. Get the proper lighting, keep physical parameters like temperature and flow in order, avoid fish that will pester the coral to death and be mindful of chemistry (mostly the big 2). Stay away from the really demanding ones, get frags from local reefers that are fully 'acclimated' to captive conditions and success is almost ensured. The difference between the two pictures is essentially 4 months. First (earlier) picture is a much more accurate depiction of the tank. Second was taken with my phone and has an unnatural red push to it. My red dragon is NOT that colorful (back to my earlier comments about fake pictures ).

 

[ca1ore]

Most of that stuff is maricultured and if you aren't prepared for the undertaking, it will die

That is actually an excellent piece of advice from you friend. I DO buy maricultured colonies on occasion from my favored LFS, but they are twitchy and I would always suggest that folks that are novice with SPS avoid them. I probably get 3/4 of them through, but it is not unusual to have one just die. The cool thing about them is that many come with a commensal crab. Once they settle in, and get fragged; those frags are quite 'hardy'.

 

[themcnertney]

Below are some pics of some of the sps I have kept or are still keeping. I attribute my success with sps to the basic keep things simple method. I don't dose, just perform water changes every week. I think the results speak for themselves.