My SPS experiences

mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
I thought I’d share my Nano SPS experiences so that anyone that was wondering about whether or not they can keep SPS in their Nano tank can look at my tank as a reference.
Background: I have a 46 gal bow with PC, softies and LPS no SPS. and a 10 gal with softies, LPS and SPS.
10 gal Specs: PC lighting; Coralife Aqualight - 96 watts (48 watt 10,000K, 48 watt Actinic). It has a Whisper 10 Power Filter so I can add carbon and a Mini-Jet 404 Power Head for circulation. 13 Lbs of Live Rock does the filtering, and I do weekly 10% water changes.
I began my SPS endeavors five months ago on this forum by researching whether or not I would be able to keep SPS with my setup. The basic idea that I gathered was that it was risky and people argue that the SPS will survive but will not thrive. I decided to go ahead and try SPS anyways. Since then I have had 9 SPS corals (8 different types). I've lost 2(both were thriving), and in my opinion, of the other 7, four are surviving and three are thriving.
I'm going to try and detail what has happened to each of the corals, in so far as growth and coloration.
So five months ago in march I went to my local LFS looking for a montipora digitata, but they didn’t have one so I ended up getting a tan stylopora with green polyps. I had it for a month before it died. There were no coloration changes and it was showing growth at each tip, so it was thriving. But due to an anemone that I never should have had in the tank, the stylo got nuked. Here is a picture midway through its demise.
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
My second attempt was a few days after the stylo got nuked when I got a small brown montipora digitata with a purple tip from a member of a local reef keeping club. Again I had it for a month before it died (don’t worry; it’s the only other loss). Within a week the purple tip turned brown like the rest of the frag, but it did show growth at the tip, so it was probably somewhere between surviving and thriving. A hermit crab managed to upturn the small rock that it was on and it fell into a frogspawn and got nuked. Here is a picture after it lost its purple tip.
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
Discouraged but determined, the next SPS came from my 46 gal where I attempted to keep a pinkish montipora digitata, but the lighting was inadequate and I moved it to the more powerful lit 10 gal to see if I could save it. It has lost its color at its tip and base and its polyps didn’t extent fully when it was taken out of the 46 gal. Here is a pic of it just after being placed in the 10 gal
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
And here it is again a week or so ago. The polyps fully extend now (thought not of them are out for some reason in this pic) and after a few months of recuperating the tips have gotten their color back and are growing. Thriving #1.
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
The next two SPS I got were a bluish acropora millipora and a brown pocillipora. The millipora lost its bluish color within the first couple of weeks, turning brownish, and hasn’t shown any noticeable growth in the three months I’ve had it, however the polyps are extending. Surviving #1. The pocillipora really hasn’t shown any difference since I bought it. Surviving #2.
The millipora shortly after purchase.
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
3 months ago I also got my 6th SPS was an orange montipora capricornus. When I picked it up it was partly bleached out and since then it has become a bright orange and has doubled its size. And even with being accidentally broken from its base and re-glued, twice, it is by far doing the best of all the SPS’s I have tried thus far. Thriving #2
When purchased…
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
And a week ago. You can see how it is growing over the part where it had snapped at the bottom, and about two thirds of the way up it you can make out a line where the growth had stopped before I got it.
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
The next SPS was a hitch hiker in that I bought a mushroom rock and an encrusting montipora was on the other side. I tried to split up the rock and ended up splitting the coral in half. (The rock itself(about football sized) looked as if it has been at one point a massive encrusting montipora and had been reduced to a small area of actual living coral.) I glued the two halves back together and hoped for the best. You can see in this picture how it was bleaching out in parts and wasn’t very healthy.
(this is the only picture I have of it, and I didn’t crop it because I kind of wanted to show off my blue coral banded shrimp)
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
The final two SPS’s I got about two weeks ago. An Acropora Tortuosa and a bright green Acropora Slimer (I think the actual name is Yugili or something). The tort was brown with a bluish hint and a blue/purple tip when I got it, but it is now mostly brown. No growth so far, but it really hasn’t been that long a time yet to tell if it will grow or not. Surviving #3
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
The bright green slimer is now not quite so bright anymore and as with the tort, No growth so far, but it really hasn’t been that long a time yet to tell if it will grow or not. Surviving #4
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
So now after having tried several different types of SPS, in my particular setup I think id be best to stick to montipora and other easy to keep corals, and try to keep away from acropora’s. However, if I could go back and do it different, I probably wouldn’t because I like and enjoy the acro’s all the same, even if they don’t hold their color very well. As for other SPS I think I’d like to try maybe a pink or yellow stylopora to see if colors at those ends of the spectrum will fair better then the blue’s have for me. I hope that my rambling on has helped give newcomers to the Nano world some idea of how SPS may fare, but every tank, setup and coral are different and therefore others may have completely different outcomes.
 
7days

7days

Member
Hey mjsdas, wonderful post! And great pictures showing what you are describing. I have a 10 gal, and am slowly turning it into a reef. I'm procuring lighting right now, and was wondering: Is the 96w you have in your 10 gal too much for softs? The reading I have been doing has me leaning toward approx 30w to maintain shrooms, leathers, etc. Or am I missing something? Like I said, I don't even have corals yet so...
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
When you first put it on the tank it does seem like a lot of light caue its so bright. However i dont think its too much for the softies. lets see... as far as softies go i have many many zoo's, a toadstool, gsp, a kenya tree, and several different shrooms(regular type, ricordea, and yuma) and they all do great under the lighting. In fact, I took a green flouresent mushroom from my 46 gal tht was about 1 inch or so in size and put it in my nano and it expanded to probably 4+ inches. i think that 30w isnt enought, i'd go with the 96
 
7days

7days

Member
Thanks for the feedback. I have just purchased an eclipse hood for my tank and have found a way to modify it to house
2-32watt compact bulbs for a total of 64. Would that be enough juice for softs? It's not 96, but its more than I was originally going to install. Eventually I would like to get some more advanced corals, but for now (and likely the next few years) softs are fine. Besides, my wife likes 'em too :happy: .
 
mjsdas

mjsdas

Member
64 is a nice middle ground and should be find for the softies or LPS, SPS i'm not sure about, maybe try a montipora and see how that does b4 trying anything more advanced
 
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