First SPS

the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
2 days ago I bought a little $4.99 frag of a Brown Birdsnest. It looks good and healthy with white tips which to my knowledge means that it is growing. Ive seen enough SPS tanks to figure out that when a coral is healthy and thriving, its little polyps are fully extended making it look almost "fuzzy". Well hopefully mine is healthy. I have T5HO 2 10k bulbs and 2 Actinic bulbs making a total of 216w. It is position at the highest possible place making it in the upper 1/3 of the tank. It has moderate flow on it at the moment.
How do it look to you SPS keepers?
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
looks great for a $4.99 frag! besides being browned out it looks healthy. good water quality and stability should bring the color back although with sps that can take months to happen (at this point you probably dont even know what color its going to be
). be sure to take note of lighting needs of the particular coral and the tank they come from when placing new frags up high.
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
So your saying that this will eventually change colors to a brighter more "SPS" type coral? If so, that would be awesome.
In the LFS tank, it was in maybe a 20g long tank with T5's sitting about 6-8'' away from the water.
When inspecting the coral at the LFS, it didnt have any polyps out like it does now which I think is a good sign
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
Awesome I would love, being my first SPS.
A few questions though or at least one.
I dont run a sump and/or refugium. I dont dose anything or have a calcium reactor or any other fancy gadgets. I simply have a HOB skimmer and filter, 2 powerheads, 60lbs of live sand, and 100lbs of live rock. Being my only SPS at the moment, is there aqnything special I need? I did spot feed it some Phytoplankton when its polyps when they were fully extended.
Anything else?
All perameters check out ideal and I did a 10g water change every week. Its a 55g.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
hard corals dont eat phyto so dont spot feed it phyto (or anything yet). all you want to do at this point is keep water conditions as prestine as possible. I wouldn't use phyto at all (down the road you can feed it oyster eggs, or rotifiers). you must keep alkalinity stable for them to do well so alkalinity/dKH testing is pretty much required as possibly dosing a carbonate/bicarbonate buffer as needed to keep alk up (such as Kent superbufferdKH, seachem reef carbonate or baking soda). you must test and maintain calcium in the same manner. I wouldn't worry about mg at this point unless you are having trouble keeping ca and alk stable. If you dont have alot of corals you can likely get by maintaining alk,ca and mg with just regular water changes depending on the salt but as things take off and stock increases daily dosing or a calcium reactor will pretty much be required eventually.
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
Wow. Alot more work than I antisipated. Sounds like you need alot more than I have to start putting some more SPS in. I think I will work on this simple frag and work on my LPS and softies.
Thank you for all your info
 
teen

teen

Active Member
you wont need to do anything special for that one small frag. just keep doing what your doing if everything is in line.
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
NYCBob Can you post some info and a picture of your lighting fixture?
Im thinking about getting one this Christmas.
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
its the nova pro extreme 6x54w with uvi and giesemann bulbs. i got it like 2 years ago.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/366208/pics-of-my-reef
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
Dead.....
Added something I shouldnt have and it screwed up my tank. Didnt expect it to live. Tough times in life and less dedication to the tank lead to its death.
I will hopefully be upgrading soon and when I do Im upgrading lights to MH, adding a sump/fuge, and an RO/DI unit.
 
P

pelagic

Guest
Originally Posted by The_Bandit
http:///forum/post/3154811
2 days ago I bought a little $4.99 frag of a Brown Birdsnest. It looks good and healthy with white tips which to my knowledge means that it is growing. Ive seen enough SPS tanks to figure out that when a coral is healthy and thriving, its little polyps are fully extended making it look almost "fuzzy". Well hopefully mine is healthy. I have T5HO 2 10k bulbs and 2 Actinic bulbs making a total of 216w. It is position at the highest possible place making it in the upper 1/3 of the tank. It has moderate flow on it at the moment.
How do it look to you SPS keepers?
Nice birdnest, a little brown but it will get colors soon!! What you have for filtaration?
I got these frags today!! I'm switching to SPS. I will be getting everything from calcium reactor to zeovit reactor. A friend has a 75G SPS, so frags will be cheap for me.
My friend's SPS, NOT TAKING ANY CREDIT FOR IT!!

My first SPS
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
You are a lucky guy. I dont have any local saltwater friends so Im stuck with LFS prices. The SPS died. My fault but I did start another tank (40g breeder) and added a 250w MH. Bought a Birdsnest, Digit, and a Green Birdsnest. Polyps are opening and extending which is awesome. One day I'd like to go full or close to full SPS tank but thats after I save enough for premium lights, reactors, larger skimmer, RODI Unit, and all that good stuff.
 
kraylen

kraylen

Member
Where did you get your SPS from? Pets inc? I used to live out in AZ and I did a lot of store hopping... I send coral packs to my buddies all the time if you wanted in on it :p
 
the_bandit

the_bandit

Member
Yup got it in the 4.99 section. Looked better in my tank than it did in their frag tank.
What about these coral packs?
 
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