What is the most important thing for SPS coral???

luc24cobra

luc24cobra

New Member
I just wanted to ask everyone about their opinion on what they think is most important when keeping SPS corals? I would like to know because they are the only coral I have trouble keeping.
 
M

markeo99

Guest
alk and stable water
I do regular water changes and so far it keeps up with everything but alk
the sps use a lot
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
I would go with light although thats the easiest thing to accomplish so perhaps it should go last. light and flow are a trip to the LFS away but good stable water parameters take more than money.
light (easiest)
ideal water parameters (hardest)
flow
 
paintballer768

paintballer768

Active Member
Aside from lighting setup, establishing a good current via powerheads is also pretty tricky, especially with other corals that dont like too much flow.
 
reefkprz

reefkprz

Active Member
IMO
I would say
lighting (with out proper lighting all else will matter not at all)
water quality (parameters)
proper/ample flow and flow types/patterns
tank stability/maturity (generally the more mature a tank is the less prone it is to fluctuations)
 
steelytom

steelytom

Member
Just to add, High phosphates will kill them. Most new reefers do not check phosphates. I did not until there was problem (cyano). Alk can get knocked out of balance fast and test kits can get out of wack if they are old. I had brand new API (new but must have sat somewhere) that read my alk at 11, then ten. I was not adding anything and it was staying up. When i noticed polyps were staying retracted I took water to have it tested at the lfs and my water was 6dKH.
 
S

saltycrab

Guest
Calcium, Alk, Light, Flow, in no order. I try to keep Calcium around 420 PPM and Alk around 8-9 dkh. I try to have as much flow as possible without having a power head blow directly on any corals and as much light as possible without costing a fortune. Actinic lighting seems to be what really colors up my SPS. I have left off my 10K lights for around 10 days and only have actinics and Im skimming very wet and my SPS have really brightened up
 
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