SPS why wait?

[FlameangelLover]

I hear a lot of people say for the harder acros wait a year to 1.5 years. Which is fine but I’m wondering why. Can someone break down the science of a 6month old aquarium v a 1.5 month old tank.

Also let’s say everything stays the same . Same salt mix same dosing and same tank inhabitants. What happens in that extra year that is so different?

 

[Aaron75]

I'm going to guess the answer you are going to get is something something tank maturity or stability. I don't buy into it either but I'll let someone that does promote those time lines chime in.

 

[billyocean]

Mature rock.

 

[zwalter38]

I'm going to guess the answer you are going to get is something something tank maturity or stability. I don't buy into it either but I'll let someone that does promote those time lines chime in.

I was going to say the exact same thing.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

Yea pretty much stability thing. You don't want swings left and right which is common in a new tank setup. But honestly if your using all liverock. Your good to go. buy some cheaper frags and try it out for a few weeks.

 

[Matt L]

To give you time to mature in your reefing journey, that’s the science. I can put sps in a one month old tank, but I know what to look for and have other mature tanks to move a coral if something goes awry.

Demystifying SPS Coral Care

Demystifying SPS Coral Care by Reefer Matt Hello Reefers! I thought I’d share my thoughts and experience with SPS coral and how I care for them. In this article, I hope you’ll find something to take with you, and apply it to your tank. Reefer...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Naturalreef]

To give you time to mature in your reefing journey, that’s the science. I can put sps in a one month old tank, but I know what to look for and have other mature tanks to move a coral if something goes awry.

Demystifying SPS Coral Care

Demystifying SPS Coral Care by Reefer Matt Hello Reefers! I thought I’d share my thoughts and experience with SPS coral and how I care for them. In this article, I hope you’ll find something to take with you, and apply it to your tank. Reefer...

www.reef2reef.com

Exactly!

 

[X-37B]

On my current 150 I added 150lbs live rock and started adding coral in a couple weeks.
Today 1 year later it has 50+ hard corals and all are doing well.
It is not that difficult if you know how to maintain a system from day one.

 

[slingfox]

If you have experience running a reef tank and have access to live rock then starting out with SPS could be okay.

If you are a first time reef keeper and plan to use all dry rock, then it’s probably risky to put in a Homewrecker colony on day 1.

 

[FlameangelLover]

I'm going to guess the answer you are going to get is something something tank maturity or stability. I don't buy into it either but I'll let someone that does promote those time lines chime in.

lol I’m sure someone will say that. But what does “Maturity “ even mean if everything in your tank stays the same

 

[FlameangelLover]

If you have experience running a reef tank and have access to live rock then starting out with SPS could be okay.

If you are a first time reef keeper and plan to use all dry rock, then it’s probably risky to put in a Homewrecker colony on day 1.

BOOM!

So I think when people say that 1.5 to 1 year I think what they really mean is gain experience in that time. And that’s how long it took them to get experience. But if your a super reefer from from 30 years of reefing im sure you could do it day 1 based on your knowledge. I think that normal timeline is a guideline rather than a strict rule

 

[FlameangelLover]

To give you time to mature in your reefing journey, that’s the science. I can put sps in a one month old tank, but I know what to look for and have other mature tanks to move a coral if something goes awry.

Demystifying SPS Coral Care

Demystifying SPS Coral Care by Reefer Matt Hello Reefers! I thought I’d share my thoughts and experience with SPS coral and how I care for them. In this article, I hope you’ll find something to take with you, and apply it to your tank. Reefer...

www.reef2reef.com

Yessss this is exactly what i was looking for. This is exactly why i think I should wait and others. It’s all about the journey. You probably could get the hardest corals ever and keep them alive but I couldn’t. That 1.5 years gives you time to learn make mistake with cheap corals and upgrade equipment. This is 100% the correct answer

 

[Tahoe61]

BOOM!

So I think when people say that 1.5 to 1 year I think what they really mean is gain experience in that time. And that’s how long it took them to get experience. But if your a super reefer from from 30 years of reefing im sure you could do it day 1 based on your knowledge. I think that normal timeline is a guideline rather than a strict rule

Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?
Add sps, spend the money, learn as you go.

 

[FlameangelLover]

Why are you trying to reinvent the wheel?
Add sps, spend the money, learn as you go.

lol people don’t want them to die

 

[bubbgee]

Yessss this is exactly what i was looking for. This is exactly why i think I should wait and others. It’s all about the journey. You probably could get the hardest corals ever and keep them alive but I couldn’t. That 1.5 years gives you time to learn make mistake with cheap corals and upgrade equipment. This is 100% the correct answer

There are a ton of cheap montis to put in a tank that is a few weeks old. But like Reefer Matt says, as long as you know what you're looking for to maintain, you will be fine. If not, that's a few bucks to lose in a learning experience.

Lesson from me: don't be overconfident and start buying cheap maricultured colony pieces just because you have a few months of success. Newbies still need to understand what is needed to maintain colonies which is vastly different than frags.

 

[FlameangelLover]

There are a ton of cheap montis to put in a tank that is a few weeks old. But like Reefer Matt says, as long as you know what you're looking for to maintain, you will be fine. If not, that's a few bucks to lose in a learning experience.

Lesson from me: don't be overconfident and start buying cheap maricultured colony pieces just because you have a few months of success. Newbies still need to understand what is needed to maintain colonies which is vastly different than frags.

I 100% agree. My tank has had some small success but also my tanks biggest coral is maybe the size of a quarter . So to say I have success and go get a acro is crazy. Because what happens when things grow and I can’t handle it because I went to fast

 

[Tahoe61]

lol people don’t want them to die

So read and research the abundant resources available to hobbyist on R2R.
Seems like common sense, you research the corals and fish you plan acquire. If you can't realistically meet the needs of that fish or coral wait until you can.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

you can start with digitata at that point. Caps even sooner. I wouldn’t risk doing acros when rock is still leeching phosphate and parameters are all over the place.

 

[TankYouVeryMuch]

Most of the advice out there is to minimize common problems, it is not anything that’s “required” for a tank to be successful.

Case in point: Jake Adams and Reef Builders set up a nano coral tank in one day and fully stocked it with corals, and a couple clownfish. They then followed up periodically with updates. In years, they claim to have only done a handful of water changes, rarely clean the protein skimmer (which they had even installed incorrectly), and add almost nothing to the tank, including topping off the water or even dosing. And they’re using tap water (granted, Colorado’s tap water is pristine, but still).

1-day nano reef tank build:

500 day update:

Two year update:

First “deep clean”:

Questions and answers:

 

[TankYouVeryMuch]

To add a bit more information for people who don’t want to watch the videos:

The key to success on the tank was minimalism. Not too much flow, not a lot of light, minimal feeding, low bioload. Red Sea tank was stock, they only added a heater and a light (and later an ATO, although Jake says he’s generally not a fan—he prefers keeping a tank covered).

No refugium, they rarely use chemicals (although since they’re not using RO there are trace minerals in their topoff water), thin sand layer so it doesn’t build up detritus. As Jake put it, “people never come to us because they’ve not done enough, it’s always because they did too much of something that they get into trouble.”

There’s a video on YT where Jake discusses how to optimize flow for corals. He notes that during the day oxygen is waste respiration for corals, and they want to be rid of it. The stronger the light, the more photosynthesis happens and the more oxygen they produce, thus requiring stronger flow to wash it away. If you use dimmer light you need less flow. Temperature also plays a role, but not as much as light.

The coral just need to be able to breathe easily, and they’ll be happy. If the water flow is too weak they’ll suffocate, too strong and they’ll have a hard time staying secure and won’t spread as quickly (but may get denser to slow the flow).