going to sps..make me feel better

fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
I have decided I have to take the plunge into sps corals. I realize my tank wount look right without them. (in my eyes anyway) I have a 125 gal bare bottom with about 15x turnover about 100 lbs lr/ cal hovers in the high 300 to low 400 range, I huge skimmer, and a smaller skimmer to wet skim. trites 0 trates around 5 to 10 ppm. this is a pretty constant value for my tank is there anything I am forgetting, oh i have 175 watt mh hqi with t5 atinic. i think i am good but I dont want to take the plunge and fail and then be discouraged. any help would be much appreciated on care for these corals and general setup and flow patterns please. maybe a few pics for the inspiration to take the plunge.
thanks
 
escape2thewater

escape2thewater

Active Member
i'm far from any authority on the topic but I have been keeping a few sps specimens for a couple years now. IMHO I would say you need to have more consistant water params like you have a pretty wide range in your Ca ( 300's to low 400's) also you should have zero NO3 & zero PO4. Many sps reef keepers will run more then 15x turnover too, more like 20x. You will need to get in the habbit of maintaining ph & alk within a very narrow range also. I usually keep my parmams like this:
temp 78 - 79
sg - 1.027
ph - 8.0 - 8.1 ( a little on the low side, it should be slightly higher)
dkh - 10.0
Ca - 450
Mg - 1450
NH3/NH4 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0
PO4 - 0
My lighting is 2 x 250w MH (20k radiums) & 4 x 110w VHO URI Superactnics
My turnover is about 15x , again I would rather it be closer to 20x
Just my .02. Good luck to you, sps is really cool once you get them to thrive & grow!!
Heres a pic of my tank: just a few sps.... 120g tank
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
i agree with all of the above however i do think you need more light and to run your ca at around 500. one 175 on a 6 foot tank will not cut it. you need one for every 2 feet IMO. and atleast 250 each. i run 3x400 radiums on our 140. i only keep two sticks but i have lots of moti caps.
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member
Originally Posted by fishamajig
I have decided I have to take the plunge into sps corals. I realize my tank wount look right without them. (in my eyes anyway) I have a 125 gal bare bottom with about 15x turnover about 100 lbs lr/ cal hovers in the high 300 to low 400 range, I huge skimmer, and a smaller skimmer to wet skim. trites 0 trates around 5 to 10 ppm. this is a pretty constant value for my tank is there anything I am forgetting, oh i have 175 watt mh hqi with t5 atinic. i think i am good but I dont want to take the plunge and fail and then be discouraged. any help would be much appreciated on care for these corals and general setup and flow patterns please. maybe a few pics for the inspiration to take the plunge.
thanks

Nice that your asking before jumping in head first
1) 15x turn over for a spsbare bottom is kind of low.
2) You want zero nitrates, until you can get there I'd hold off on the sps
3) What kind of skimmers do you have?
4) no such thing as 175 watt HQI's...If you just have 175's I'd stick with the lower light sps
I do about 40x turn over on my 120 gal BB sps tank. Ca levels run in the high 400's but the high 300's aren't bad. Always zero nitrates, dkh runs on the low side, 9-10..I run two skimmers (waiting for the geo to break in) a Euro Reef CS6-3 and a new model Geo Recirc 828 and I run 2x400 watt MH's (20K XM's)...
Stable, GOOD water quality is a must. Once you can do that then sps are pretty easy to keep..I suggest you buy nothing but tank raised corals.
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
alright
i have the crappy jebo (odyssea) hqi maybe they are 150 w but i have 2 of them and am soon going to get another. i run a large skimmer made by a guy in jearsey (marine aquarium concepts) this thing kicks a$" and run a modded seaclone 150 to wet skim. ( i know the seaclone is crappy but after i turned it into an airstone skimmer it worked better than new. as far as the bio load a couple of smaller fish maybe 5 0r 6. is there a suggestion what to start with? maybe a monti cap or a acropora?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by fishamajig
alright
i have the crappy jebo (odyssea) hqi maybe they are 150 w but i have 2 of them and am soon going to get another. i run a large skimmer made by a guy in jearsey (marine aquarium concepts) this thing kicks a$" and run a modded seaclone 150 to wet skim. ( i know the seaclone is crappy but after i turned it into an airstone skimmer it worked better than new. as far as the bio load a couple of smaller fish maybe 5 0r 6. is there a suggestion what to start with? maybe a monti cap or a acropora?

i am by far an sps pro but i think monti cap is a great place to start. i dont really take any special measure other then having perfect and constant water and my monti is growing like a weed.
 
marvida

marvida

Member
I think monti's are a very good way to get started with SPS. Both caps & digis come in various colors and their growth rates give you immediate feedback on how you're doing.
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
ok so i guess i have a pretty good idea on the directions that i should take.
get the cal and alk where they have to be (constant)
get the trates to zero
start with a monti cap or a monti dig and gauge with those first
sounds good! I am excited ... and hopefully within a few weeks i can report with some progress. in the meantime can we see some sps tank pics for inspiration. (not that i have to be inspired) but eye candy is always nice, also helps in planning for the future.
thanks for the advice
 
fishamajig

fishamajig

Member
AMAZING!!!
definately the look i am going for, with some lps of course, i still like the look of the open brain, lobo's, and cyclomia, and a blasto here and there.
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member
Originally Posted by zman1
Golfish,
What is bryopsis, algae?
Great looking tank

Yes, bryopsis is the mother of all algaes but the pics I posted above are from my old tank. My new tank is built over an ancient Indian burial ground so it been nothing but problems
 
marvida

marvida

Member
I have been struggling with bryopsis for almost a year now. It first started as a small patch the size of a dime on one rock. If I had it all to do over again I would take the offending rock out of the tank immediately, frag whatever is on it & then kill the rock. I'm convinced that this stuff is the only thing on earth that will outlive a cockroach in the event of a nuclear catastrophe.
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member
MarVida,
If you can find a Sea hare that's been in a LFS for a while buy it. Mkae sure the guys doesn't expose it to air (might sound funny) I bought 2 a while back. One died, the other ate the whole tank clean of bryopsis.. After a few weeks I sold it to a friend and it cleaned up his tank, he sold it to another friend and it clenaed up his tank. The key is to get one and KEEP IT (please slap me now) I finally managed to get another one and its doing a fantastic job.
Side note: don't trust those crappy Salifert PO4 test kits. I've used 3 of them and they all read zero, even my tap water. I bought a Hannah PO4 colorimeter and can tell you the Saliferts aren't even close.
 
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