Time to get into high light corals! help please?

[mark_d]

I got a 150watt MH lamp for my 24gal aquapod for xmas. My tank has been running for a good while now (8-9 months or so).
What id like to know, first off, whats a good and cool looking starter SPS?
I know most of em like high flow, but the aquapod doesnt exactly give you high flow at all. Is there anything I can keep or is there a way to increase my flow? My LFS says Hydnophora is a good starter and not too hard. Ive read Pocillopora is ok.
Are SPS suceptible to any noticeable or common problems? I know that when Ive had hair algae outbreaks some of my SPS have got hit pretty bad. Does this happen to SPS too?
Finally, what do I dose to keep stuff perfect?
I was told to do purple up for calcium. I will be doing that 2 part homemade additive for cal mag and alk as soon as i get all the stuff to make it(probably this weekend) since ive started hearing bad things about purple up. Also, my LFS's premixed water has a whole bunch of stuff added to it, so im sure that helps too (coral vite, calcium, stronium, magnesium, and trace elements is what they add).
I am feeding DT oyster eggs, mysis, brine, Chromaplex and Phytoplex. is this good enough?
Finally, about skimming. I do not have a skimmer. What skimmers work well with nano's like mine? I understand SPS like very low nutrient water so skimming seems like something Ill actually NEED now.

 

[teen]

a good beginner sps IME is a green montipora digitata. or any color digitata for that matter.
you will need a decent amont of flow, take a look at the tunze nano- streams.there designed for small tanks.
hydnophora is a nasty coral. if it touches any other corals, theres a 90% chance the other coral will die.
there are a lot of common problems with sps. redbugs, acro eating flatworms, species specific nudibranch and they overall need pristine water conditions.
i suggest before you get any sps, you get some good test kits and start testing magnesium, alkalinity, and calcium. make sure all those levels are stable (as well as nitrite/trate, ph, salinity, temp)
and i would invest in a skimmer as well. you may be able to keep up with the nutrients doing frequent water changes, but a skimmer will save you time and benefit your system.
ask if you have any more questions.

 

[shrmnator]

or u can also start with a browned out acro and see what color it turns.. usually green.. but fun to try for the first one since brown is cheaper..
or u can also try frags of several different species and see which ones you like in your tank and either let them grow out, or buy a whole colony.. buying the frags will also help u find what will do good in your tank..
another thing u will want to look into is dosing for magnesium, calcium, alkalinity, and pH... careful.. sps are the most addictive!!

 

[mark_d]

1) Could I get a digitata now to test the waters or am I best off first gettin the skimmer and increased flow?
2)Any good skimmers that work well with nano's? do the nano skimmers work fine? I do weekly water changes anywho, usually 10% sometimes 20%, depending on test results and the situation overall, so maybe even if nano skimmers arent awesome they are good enough? suggestions?
3)Will algae easily grow on SPS? this seems to be my number one problem. Im guessin with the skimmer algae will go down anyway. I might get a PHOSreactor while im at it. I dont know what to do.
4) My LFS offers to test my water for anything i want relatively cheap. Is it a good idea to depend on them? they do the tests right in front of me and i know they use good tests (its a family owned and operated shop and these people are really good (not that they havent failed it a couple of times but the good outweighs the bad). I forget the tests they use but i know they are expensive and not commonly found. Also its the same type of tests they do for their own tanks.

 

[teen]

1) i would get the skimmer and powerheads first. but its your tank.
2) tunze made a nano skimmer, not sure if its even out yet but i would check that out. ill see if i can find the name of it for you.
3) if you dont have enough flow algae will grow on sps, this is why i suggest what i said in #1.
4) theres no problem with the lfs testing your water, but i like to test my calcium and alk a few times a week, i suggest doing the same if you want sps. id definetly invest in some good test kits before buying any sps.

 

[mark_d]

luckily the only good tests i have (all the rest i got apparently arent good ones) are cal and alk... coincidence! haha.
Ok, Im picking up the stuff this week. Guy at my LFS says its best to just put a more powerful pump in my nano rather than add powerheads. Showed me the 24 gal aquapod they have SPS in and they switched the pump for a rio... er.. 1700 i believe? the flow is much better than mine. He insisted that was enough.
Agree disagree?
Ive yet to find a store carrying the Tunze powerheads offline.. online might work.. but who knows..
Ill try looking for that skimmer u mentioned as well. If you find the name before i post again post it please!

 

[mark_d]

bump!

 

[bonebrake]

Protein skimmers made by Sapphire Aquatics are supposed to be awesome for JBJ Nano Cubes and Aquapods and they are reasonably priced.
:joy:

 

[mark_d]

Bumping + questions:
I installed a new pump in my tank, supposedly it does ~300gph
(it was either 295 or 345... i know, they arent similar numbers but I dont have the box with me and I forget how much this was... so lets just say it does 300gph).
I also bought some lockline with two er.. nozzle things... (so I can direct the flow 2 different directions i guess) for my tank and its made a very big difference flow wise. Sandbed is so much cleaner and the one coral I had with some hair algae on it is almost completely free of it.
Is this going to be enough flow or will I still need powerheads?
What readings do I want to see for Cal Alk and Mag? (which from my understanding, are the new things to really look out for if I want to keep SPS(as in, besides from the usual ammonia, trite, trate, pH, temp etc))

 

[bonebrake]

What is your total GPH?
You want to shoot for 500+.
If you want to keep SPS maintain the following levels:
Temperature: 76-82 degrees Fahrenheit
Salinity: 35 ppt
Specific Gravity: 1.026
pH: 8.2-8.4
Alkalinity: 4.0 meq/L or 11.2 dKH
Calcium: 420-450 ppm
Magnesium: 1300-1400 ppm
Nitrate: 0.0 ppm
Phosphate: 0.0 ppm
Also if you use cheap salt or a cheap buffer watch out for artificially high borate levels (B(OH)4-). This will greatly slow down growth or even slowly kill SPS.

 

[mark_d]

total GPH is at the 300 odd... I worry about creating more current but ill look into it. This is starting to make me think that if I keep SPS, LPS and softies might be out of the question in a tank as small as mine.
Refractometer can check salinity and spec gravity right?
Looks like im OK in all my levels except pH which is a tad low (8.0. . . . waht the hell?). Whats a good, safe way to raise it? pH buffer?
Also, what is a cheap buffer and cheap salt to make sure i avoid it.

 

[bonebrake]

A safe and easy way to raise pH is to use a solution of calcium hydroxide for your top-off water. It is also commonly called kalkwasser which is German for limewater. As far as salts that are high in borate, I cannot remember the name off hand, but I do know it was not any of the big names like Instant Ocean, Tropic Marin, or Red Sea.
:joy:

 

[mark_d]

oh ok.. phew ... hahaha... had me worried there for a sec, cause the salts I use arent obsenely expensive like lots of things in the hobby.. so i was starting to think brands like those (which is what i use/have used at some point) you mentioned were cheap.. hahaha
Ill try to get some kalkwasser then. I hear this also makes a good calcium supplement right?

 

[bonebrake]

Originally Posted by mark_D
I hear this also makes a good calcium supplement right?
It is not so much a calcium supplement as it is a calcium maintenance solution. For example, I wouldn't use kalkwasser to boost my newly mixed saltwater from 350 ppm calcium to 420 ppm calcium because in order to do that it would make the pH way too high, instead I would use a calcium chloride supplement because that will raise the calcium and not change the pH. Kalkwasser is great for any tank with pH problems and/or tanks heavily populated with SPS and clams because it will maintain calcium at 420 ppm if you drip it or top off with it at the appropriate concentration and the pH increase is an added bonus. If you plan on using it for an SPS/clam tank I highly recommend using a drip system or an auto top-off system. You want to add it slowly so it does not change your pH too fast. You never want your pH to go above 8.6 because you will then have a precipitation reaction.
Not to play semantics, but just to give you an example of what it is good for and not good for.
:joy:

 

[mark_d]

Awesome. I will pick up some Kalkwasser next time I have money T__T. Bought a 2 part Calcium Alk solution (B ionic, ive heard good about it, hope i wasnt scammed lol).
So basically Im missing:
Powerhead that does at least 200GPH
Kalkwasser
skimmer
oh god....

 

[bonebrake]

If you can find Mrs. Wage's Pickling Lime at your grocery store it is super cheap and is exactly the same thing as the lime sold as kalkwasser at the pet store except about 5% of the cost. It will be in the canning section with empty Mason jars, pectin, etc.
The 2-part ionic solution is good stuff. One part is calcium chloride and the other part is sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or sodium carbonate (soda ash). Make sure you have good test kits to keep track of these when you start dosing.
:joy: