Very first SPS coral bought this weekend

[smork81]

I bought my very first SPS this weekend for about $70.00 mounted. It came with a hitchiker crab which I can't identify yet and also has this brownish stuff comming off of the mounting plug(which is about 6 inches across)that looks like a half circle kind of like a fungus on the side of a tree that grows out in half circles and in bunches. The crab is Pink all over..and very very small less that a half inch and is trasnparent also. It does not leave the SPS branch at all and has been their and stayed their since I bought the SPS thursday of last week. It wasn't a frag either it is a pretty nice size piece standing at about 7 inches high with 7-10 or so large branches and lots of smaller ones. So I was and am very very happy to have this new coral. It looks healthy in my tank like it did at the store so I think I am doing good so far. What are signs of a stressed SPS and/or dying SPS?
For my tank just to let you know what it is...55g display(about 4-6 inches of sand depending on where in the tank..29g refugium(has all sorts of pods, baby serpernt stars all kinds of good critters, 8 different kinds of plants or more and live rock rubble and red mangroves about 20 of those with fiji mud..29g sump(holds all the equipment pumps skimmer heaters etc.) My lights are the outer orbit 150w x2 HQi and dual 420 nm and 460nm actinics 130 w x 2 i believe. I thought this is enough lighting for the sps but just wanted to make sure about that since my carpet anemone does fine I thought it would be allright. The only thing I can't seem to keep alive is chalices and plate corals for some reason. So are my lights sufficient for SPS?
My parameters are as follows on a routine basis unless I overfeed(which I do occasionally or if my starfish and anemone dont eat what i give them and I can't find the food they don't eat it just adds to the problem) or "something" odd happens occasionally. Nitrites-0 Nitrates-.5 Ammonia-0 PH-8.2 DkH-9.8 Calcium-500 phosphates-0 I test for a few more thisngs liek silicates iodine magnesium etc...but just wanted to put the ones that are normally used. Now these are my normal parameters. I just added some more livestock one pair of maroon striped clowns, a pink and blue spotted shrimpgoby, an engineer goby, 2 firefin goby's of which one died in QT and an extra serpent star that was huge hidden in a pvc pipe that has Zoanthids i had bought with the SPS. I added them too quickly so my bioload is high and my tank hasn't had time to catch up yet. The gobies were added first then about 3 days later the clowns and starfosh were added. I have ammonia at about 0.4 nitrites at about .02 and nitrates are at 0..I don't understand why I have no nitrates. Oh and my salinity is 1.025-1.024 I will have to do another nitrate test when i get home from work today just to be 100% positive I'm gettinng a good reading. I Have been doing water changes etc..to get it back to normal. Anyways will this extra bioload and change in the water kill my SPS hands down or are they pretty hardy at a small change in water?
I would like to know what other's experiences with SPS corals are and how will I be able to tell if mine is dying because of the water parameter changes recently. If my lights are good enough for it to thrive not just to "get by" and maybe is thier any site out thier where they have an ID forum for SPS corals..Mine is pretty much a bland dark brownish with some other coloration on it oh and its an ACRO btw....The LFS couldn't tell me what kind it was..They said they just get in a shipment of an assortment and sell them all at the same price..
ANY help..advice on SPS keeping would be appreciated but please don't slam me for anything in this thread. I respect your opinion and everyone is entitled to them.
Thanks
-NIka

 

[peef]

Your lighting is more than enough to keep and have sps thrive. You can tell if they are happy or not by polyp extention and color. If they are extending all their little polyps and have a nice color then you are all good. If the polyps never come out (even at night) and it starts to bleach then that is not a good sign at all and may require you to frag off the parts that are bleaching. Your ammonia and trites are there because like you said you added too much too quickly and it started a mini cycle. Keep up with water changes and keep your fingers crossed. I can't really say if the amount of ammonia and trites you have will kill anything but for the sake of optimism I think in the long run you should be ok! If anything will be affected I think your fish will be the first. Post up a pic of your sps and we will id it for you.

 

[yosemite sam]

How old is your tank? You likely had a small cycle due to adding too many fish at once. How do your water parameters change when you overfeed? Most SPS corals in generaly, and acros specifically do poorly in unstable water. Did you add the coral while you had positive ammonia and nitrite readings?
A photo is a must to try and get an ID for your coral.
The fungus-like thing could be a type of algae called lobophora. If you do an internet search, you should find some photos for comparison.
The crab you have is a common hitchhiker on many SPS corals. They are commensal crabs that live in the branches of the corals, and are nothing to worry about.

 

[smork81]

Thanks Peef. The polyp extension is Great as far as I can tell. It looks just like it did in the store under way better lighting and I can not see any bleaching either. Also I have to find my camera first befor I can take a pic, I just recently moved about a month ago and It's in a box somewhere packed up lol

I have searched and searched for that darn camera so I could take pics and can't find it. Oh well.
Yosemite sam,
My tank is 2 years or so old maybe a bit older. As far as your questions about overfeeding...Well as I stated in my thread sometimes my starfish(5 of them) will spit out the food and will not eat it, also the anemone does the same sometimes when he just isn't hungry. So the extra shrimp, silversides etc get behind or under rocks that I can not reach to fish out of the tank and my cleanup crew snails hermits etc will eat alot of it but not all of it so the extra food leftover that i cant reach turns into waste therefore producing EXTRA nitrates nitrites and ammonia that my bacterias can not handle all at once. Also my boyfriend will sometimes come behind me and feed them not knowing I had allready fed them for the day which inturn is overfeeding my tank. My water parameters will change and trites trates and ammonia depinding on the level of and what size of waste will make all of those go up sometimes.
Also I would never add anything to my tank if my water parameters were off in anyway. So for that question NO i did not add the acro with my ammonia and trates or trites having any reading at all. And sorry I can't get a photo atm. Like i said to Peef my camer is boxed up somewhere and I have to find it.
The crab you id'd for me has the pointy pinchers on it...I thought those were pretty much a "get rif of" kind of crab...So I can keep it is what your saying? I always like to keep any critters if I can and they dont cause too much of a pain. It;s a really pretty pink crab though and it just chills in the accro all day moving ocassionally. I like it! I will look up the algae you say that is on the mount to find out if that is it. thanks Sam!
The acro looks good though and as soon as I find my camera I will post a pic of it on here so you guys can ID it for me.....It just looks like any other acro to me except it doesnt have any wild colors or anything.
Thanks you 2 for your post!
-Nika