SPS questions

[fishes2889]

I need some advice and some questions answered. I've recently been buying more hard corals like LPS, and a whole ton of zoa's, but i want to get into sps a little more.

Some questions:
Is a refugium absolutely necessary for nutrient extraction for sps?

How much sand should be in a 30g system (20g display, 10 volume sump) ?

What are the easier sps i should look at before getting into acros, milli's and monti's?

What are the faster growing sps?

Sorry for all the questions, i just want to have a wide range on the coral that i have inthe prop system...

Thanks Steve

 

[I-K@ndY]

Easiet for me is Monti caps, Digita's, Elhorn, and monti superman etc etc...As long as you have good parameters (alk,ca,mg,no3,po4 etc) are in check you can keep anything and also lights and tons of flow....

 

[fishes2889]

bump..

 

[gflat65]

Most captive raised Monti's are going to do fine (and tend to be very fast growers). Most A. millepora's I've had seem very hardy, too. There are a number of hardy SPS... Sand and refugium are personal decisions, IMO. I run a DSB in my SPS tank with about a 3-4" bed in the fuge and have pretty good success.

 

[fishes2889]

thnx...

 

[twon8]

i have some acros that are amongst the hardiest corals i have, green slimer,

id say the fastest growing sps are birdsnests, green slimer, some mille's,

the most important things are flow and water quality, ime more flow= faster growth; an auto top off is very important imo, and if you top off with kalk you will help meet your alkalinity demand

 

[fishes2889]

So i have a Rio 1700 coming up the return on the 20g L, and it's tee'd off to make the flow more even throughout the tank. Thats 642 at 0 feet of head. So around 3 feet to go and a couple of 90 degree elbows narrows it down to 450-500 gph. Maybe even lower. So around 20-25x overturn. Should i throw an mj in there?

And when your dosing/topping off with alk, what should the drip rate be on the container? There is a kalk container at my store for cheap so i could use that with a drip moderator sort of attachment.

Thanks
SB

 

[twon8]

optimally the drip rate will match your evaporation rate.

i would add more flow in there, a cut nozzle maxijet would be great.

 

[fishes2889]

optimally the drip rate will match your evaporation rate.

i would add more flow in there, a cut nozzle maxijet would be great.

.......so cutting the nozzle would give more indirect flow, do they like that?

Won't the calcium get up real high in the tank if im dosing that much? but of course the sps will take that out....

 

[twon8]

ive topped off with kalkwasser for years, the kalk doesn't really raise your levels, just maintain them

and your alkalinity is more important than calcium,

 

[fishes2889]

Thnx alot twon, if you have any sps to sell LMK.

 

[twon8]

Thnx alot twon, if you have any sps to sell LMK.

im leaving for italy tom. when i get back i'll be in touch. should be first of the month

 

[fishes2889]

Sweet, have fun!