The SPS Q&A Thread.

[Troylee]

mariculterd or wild stuff is very finiky....the copper band could be it, but i keep one in my sps reef and never witnessed any nipping either...
i have over 100 different acros and each has there day.. i have never looked at my tank one time and seen every coral just sparkling and happy.... if it's 2 corals out of 100 i wouldnt worry about it to much...."your doing something right" just keep a eye on it and see if it continues or spreads....
possibly red bugs???? post a pic of the 2 in question if ya could....

 

[Troylee]

Lee, becareful with those stones they take out some good stuff out of the water such as potassium. That's why you see those zeovit guys always dosing stuff to supplement whats been taken out by the zeolites. Just dose more Vodka if you want your tank cleaner. Just my opinion and experience.

i dose a ton of crap daily...lol
all brightwells products besides some cheap albertsons vodka...
mb7
coral amino
potassium
strotium
a drop of lugols
cal
alk
mag

and some reef snow occasionally....;)

 

[JRF]

Thanks, Ill try to get some pics of the 2 acros, my camera is a joke but I will see if I can get a couple decent pics...

 

[buzzy]

Hi

What is the best way to dose carbon? when people say they run it in a reactor is it like a ro filter housing?

 

[SunnyX]

Hi

What is the best way to dose carbon? when people say they run it in a reactor is it like a ro filter housing?

Hello, I dose carbon manually with a syringe. If you decide to pick up the biopellets then you would need a reactor, something like this: vertex-reactor Premium Aquatics or a phosban reactor.

 

[ryanuy]

Hi guys! This is my frist post in R2R but i have been lurking for a while!

I currently have a 120g SPS DT with 50g sump and everything there is going great. The system has been running for about a year and im getting pretty good growth on my sps but i think it could be improved. The colors are still pretty good though and polyp extension is great as well. For lighting, im using 2 maxspect g2 160W that i keep on for about 8hrs(30W LED). Im also using using BP and i have a pretty overpowered skimmer(XP3000 of reef octo thats rated for 350g). All other conditions are pretty stable. I dose 2 part cal and alk everyday and i add mag every few days. I test at least 2x a week to make sure everything is in check

I was however thinking of adding aminos or perhaps some sort of sps food and maybe that would make them grow faster. What are you guys using and how often do you dose?

 

[dougers31]

i dose a ton of crap daily...lol
all brightwells products besides some cheap albertsons vodka...
mb7
coral amino
potassium
strotium
a drop of lugols
cal
alk
mag

and some reef snow occasionally....;)

Holy cow that makes me feel like a newb. All I dose is cal/alk/mag:) Is there something I should be dosing besides those(I don't dose carbon).

 

[MimicOcto8]

dude doug thats crazy man???why so much doseing? i use a kalkwasser and only dose when something is low

 

[DrTrey]

Hello everyone! I have a nice little Elos MIDI setup, and I'm looking to add in some nice acros soon. I think this is a great place to get some solid advice and good pointers before I get going, so here I am. My tank has currently been up and running for about 11 weeks. I put in a couple of "tester frags" of purple slimer and Joe the Coral three weeks ago, and they look pretty good so far, so I'd like to wait about 4-5 more weeks and start with a few hardy acros. A few questions:

1) What are 3 or 4 beautiful but hard-to-kill acros to get started with?

2) I currently manually dose Brightwell's ReefCode 2-part every other day, but I'd like to add in a doser for two part and mag, and I'd like some advice on the best and most reliable dosing system. Litermeter vs BRS vs Profilux?

3) I have a bit of carbon in my system, just a couple of bags of ChemiPure elite in the sump chambers, as well as a bag of Purigen. I'd like to start running carbon more efficiently, possibly Elos carbon. Should I be using a reactor, and if so, which is the best fit for my little Elos sump? Should I be running phosban in a reactor as well if I have just a tiny level of phosphate?

4) What is an optimal photoperiod with 4 E-stripes, each containing 9 CREE-XP LEDs?

Here is the tank info
FULL TANK RUNDOWN:

36G cube display with about 4-5G in the sump, for total system volume of approximately 40G

AquaController Jr with temp and pH probes, controlling lights and heater.

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.9
Ca: 420
KH: 9
PO4: 0.05
NO3: <1
Mg: 1300

Lighting: Elos AquaTop with 4 LED E-stripes (2 royal blue 20K & 2 white 10K), for total lumen output of 6940. Each e-stripe has 9 CREE-XP LEDs.

Filtration: NS-100 Skimmer, 35 lbs live rock, and 2-3" sand bed

CURRENT LIVESTOCK:
Wyoming White Clownfish Pair

Acid Trip Mushroom
Aftermath Chalice
Nightmare Palys
Pot of Gold Favia
Pandora Favia
Tangerine Dream Acan
WWC Oaksterdam Chalice
WWC Stardust Chalice
Frogspawn
WWC Blonde-Eyed Girl Chalice
WWC Tony's Fuzzy Watermelon
WWC Grafted Lepastrea
WWC Wolverine Chalice
SC Blue Angel Favia
SC Rainbow Rhodactis
Superman Rhodactis
Melting Pot Chalice
AC Intense Watermelon Chalice
Emerald Mummy Eye
Original Mummy Eye
SC Weirdo Chalice
Amazing Race P
Raptors Peace Favia
Utter Chaos Palys
Sunny D Palys
Blue Hornets Zoas
Mind-Blowing Palys
Green & Gold Lobophyllia
Tyree Space Monster Palys
SpiderMan Zoas
Haley's Comet Zoas


Tank has been running since Christmas 2010

Dosing: Brightwell ReefCode A&B Two-Part every other day, as well as Brightwell Magnesion.
Brightwell Reef BioFuel 2ml daily

Reef Crystals brand salt.

Elos test kits for Ca, Mg, nitrate, and phosphate. 

FLOW: Sicce 2.0 568gpg pump for return, Vortech MP-10 ESW

 

[DrTrey]

Alrighty-then! I apologize for the super-long epic post, but buuuummp...

 

[VegasRick]

Cant answer several of you questions, but I would recommend a reactor for your phosphate remover, you can probably mix your carbon and gfo in the same reactor without much problem. Some people recommend changing the carbon out more often than the gfo but that depends on the amount of phosphate in your system.
A dosing pump keeps it much more stable, but I don't use one so can't help you there.
Not familiar with those lights but the same photo period you are using on the rest of the corals should be fine.
As for choice of acros. Most are fairly hardy but some easier than others, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Find something you like and ask about it

 

[DrTrey]

Thanks. I'm thinking I'll go with the TLF Phosban reactor for phosphate removal, and it looks as if the Bubble Magus doser should be a good choice for dosing two-part as well as mag.

 

[youngtimothy]

Thanks guys I will check into the dosing system. Any good advice about that and equipment recommendations? I hate adjusting the reactor!

PS. I will start up the carbon as well. :)

I use two doseing pumps from BRS and a reef keeper lite 3 controller to dose my two part and it works great! I get excelent growth I set timers to come on for X mins on and X mins off every hour for the amount of alk and cal needed to keep params stable. my 100 gallon is set for like 4min 20 sec on and 55mins 40 sec's off

 

[DrTrey]

However.......I was also considering a TLF Kalk reactor in lieu of the 2-part system with Dosing device. I understand that both methods should provide a reasonable degree of much-needed calcium and KH stability, but it seems as if people seem to claim better results with the Kalk. In addition, I believe that the Brightwell Kalk+2 provides Mg and Sr as well. Does anyone have experience with both of these methods, and if so which would be best for my 36G setup?

 

[SunnyX]

Hello,

To answer some of your questions :

1. If you are looking for SPS, you can try out green slimer, Orange/Green/purple digis, monti caps, pink/green nest, and policipora. A combo of all three digis would look great in your setup.


2. I dose my two part manually , never seen the need for a doser. From what I have heard, the BRS dosers are good for the price and work well.

3. I would suggest a a phosban reactor , or maybe a two chamber reactor from BRS. I wouldn't mix carbon and GFO as they may mash each other into dust , and you may get channeling of water due to the different sizes of the media. I would run carbon 24/7, and small amounts of gfo as needed.

4. Photo period is subjective. The length of time will depend on the height of the tank, distance of lighting from water, water clarity, and coral conditions. I usually change up my photo period as needed, based on the look of the corals. When corals look darker I increase the photo period. If the corals look pale I reduce the photoperiod. 8 hours should he a good starting point, adjust up and down from there.


I would stick with the two part and skip the Kalk reactor on a small setup. It will be hard to dial in, and you will make mistakes doing so. With a small margin of error any rapid change could be fatal. Check out BRS two part if you woukd like to save a little cash. This is what I have used for years with great results.

Good luck,

Sonny

Hello everyone! I have a nice little Elos MIDI setup, and I'm looking to add in some nice acros soon. I think this is a great place to get some solid advice and good pointers before I get going, so here I am. My tank has currently been up and running for about 11 weeks. I put in a couple of "tester frags" of purple slimer and Joe the Coral three weeks ago, and they look pretty good so far, so I'd like to wait about 4-5 more weeks and start with a few hardy acros. A few questions:

1) What are 3 or 4 beautiful but hard-to-kill acros to get started with?

2) I currently manually dose Brightwell's ReefCode 2-part every other day, but I'd like to add in a doser for two part and mag, and I'd like some advice on the best and most reliable dosing system. Litermeter vs BRS vs Profilux?

3) I have a bit of carbon in my system, just a couple of bags of ChemiPure elite in the sump chambers, as well as a bag of Purigen. I'd like to start running carbon more efficiently, possibly Elos carbon. Should I be using a reactor, and if so, which is the best fit for my little Elos sump? Should I be running phosban in a reactor as well if I have just a tiny level of phosphate?

4) What is an optimal photoperiod with 4 E-stripes, each containing 9 CREE-XP LEDs?

Here is the tank info
FULL TANK RUNDOWN:

36G cube display with about 4-5G in the sump, for total system volume of approximately 40G

AquaController Jr with temp and pH probes, controlling lights and heater.

Water Parameters:
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 7.9
Ca: 420
KH: 9
PO4: 0.05
NO3:

 

[misoldier06]

Any ideas on why a few of my SPS would have PE at night and not during the day? My Green Slimer and a few frags I got from the infamous Kraylen are exhibiting this trait. Could it possibly be too much light? Tank is light by an AquaticLife T5 HO system with ATI bulbs.

It is natural for corals to have PE at night. In the ocean this is really the only time you will see PE. The reason we have acros that have PE in the day is because we feed during the day. Your pretty much training your corals to open during the day because they think they will be fed. Same thing goes for sun corals. They usually dont come out during the day but you can train them to come out by feeding them when you turn the light's on.

 

[SunnyX]

it is natural for corals to have pe at night. In the ocean this is really the only time you will see pe. The reason we have acros that have pe in the day is because we feed during the day. Your pretty much training your corals to open during the day because they think they will be fed. Same thing goes for sun corals. They usually dont come out during the day but you can train them to come out by feeding them when you turn the light's on.

+1 :d

 

[Russter]

A. Total water volume ( Please include sump, etc.)
45 gal
B. What are your parameters? ( CA, ALK, PO4,Salinity, etc.)
CA 485
ALK 10.024
PO4 0
N03 2.5
Salinity 1.026
pH 8.15
Temp 80.0 F
MAG 1250
C. Type of lighting. Please include age, watts, and bulb/ballast name.
60 watts Cree LED. 3 months old.
D. Filtration method (Skimmer, GFO, DSB, etc.)
SWC Xtreme 160 skimmer, GFO/Carbon in reactor, refugium
E. What types of corals do you keep other than SPS?
Soft corals, LPS, zoas (mixed reef)
F. How long has the tank been running?
10 months
G. What are you dosing? Dosing schedule?
Two-part every hour. Trace elements 1/week.
H. Which brand of salt are you using?
Seachem Reef Salt
I. What brand of test kits are you employing?
Hanna checkers for ALK and CA, Elos for MG, API for PO4 and N03
J. What are you using for CA/ALK supplementation?
Randy'sTwo-part
K. What are you using for flow? (Pump names, how many, placement, etc.)
Vortech MP10

Yesterday I did a water change and at the same time changed out my carbon and GFO. Later in the day I noticed my two birdsnests (and my hammer) looking PO'd. The birdsnests polyps were not fully extended and still were not this morning (although lights were out today).
Could this be the result of the combination of the water change and the GFO or should I be looking for something else? I have heard that changing your GFO can sometimes PO your corals but have never had it happen to me before.
Thanks,
Russ

 

[SunnyX]

Hello, your issue could be a combination of all three changes. How long has it been since you changed the carbon? If you wait too long between changes it can cause issues. Yellowing compounds(phenol) can build up over time. This compound can block up to 30% of light reaching corals. A rapid removal of these compounds can shock corals, akin to adding new bulbs without shortening the photoperiod.

Gfo can and will cause dips in ALK. The gfo raises local ph, thus precipitating the ALK.

Do you have any other corals with issues after the change?

Thanks,

Sonny

 

[Russter]

Hello, your issue could be a combination of all three changes. How long has it been since you changed the carbon? If you wait too long between changes it can cause issues. Yellowing compounds(phenol) can build up over time. This compound can block up to 30% of light reaching corals. A rapid removal of these compounds can shock corals, akin to adding new bulbs without shortening the photoperiod.

Gfo can and will cause dips in ALK. The gfo raises local ph, thus precipitating the ALK.

Do you have any other corals with issues after the change?

Thanks,

Sonny

Thanks Sonny. It had probably been 1.5 months since I last changed the carbon and GFO (I know...slacker). Water did not look yellow, but it may have been. The only other coral that it seemed to be bothered was the hammer which was not fully expanded as well. Is this something that they bounce back from in a couple of days or should I be doing something to help (dimming the LEDs?) or just not worry about it. Thanks for the input as I am kinda new to SPS but the one that I have in my tank (Three different birdsnest, montipora confusa and capricornis) have all been doing great and growing very fast.
-Russ