3 month SPS growth

psteeleb

Team RC
growth comparison on 9 sps I got from a local club member a little under 3 months ago

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man, maybe it's because i dip hard and qt for four weeks, but my new acquisitions usually don't even start to grow at all for about three months after they make it to my DT

nice video, I'd like to see another a year from now.
 
Can't post vidz like these and not tell us your secret!? LoL.

Kidding aside, what do you attribute your growth/success to? How do you maintain the trinity (Ca, Mg, Alk)?
 
no secrets here :)
maybe more an approach

I dip everything and in many cases will cut off the bottom of SPS frags and scrub with a mild tooth brush to rid it of pest and posible eggs

As eluded to with the 3 months before seeing much growth; I've always believed corals go through at least 2 acclimations; 1) to survive the transition, and 2) to become effective & efficient at feeding within the new evironment. This second acclimation can take a few days to several months. In this case these 9 specific SPS all came from another local reef tank so they were at least use to being in an aquarium.

Use of Kalc to keep the Ph up around 8.2 - 8.4

10 -15% water change every 2-3 weeks

I run carbon 24/7

And as rigleautomotive indicates I am a huge supporter of a vast biodiversity. This also means feeding that biodiversity at several levels of the food chain and providing surface area for them to survive. I feed pellets and cyclopeze daily and phyto and mysis every other day (mainly for the LPS/softies and maintaining a pod population). I have zero (or undectable) trates and I attribute this to having a large amount of live rock (some has been in systems for over 10 years)

I also know SPS will eat meaty foods if small enough. When I had my 300g many of my sps and mostly my tort colonies would go nuts over cyclopseze (I'll have to find and post the old video). They didn't start feeding on cyclops for well over 2 years, mostly I think this is again attributed to that second cycle I suggested but it could also be a coral maturation issue.

Currently I use Kalc and 2 part but will switch to Kalc and Ca Reacor once demand increases. I love 2 part but I also have concerns about long term build up of impurities or undesired chemicals.

I'm still watching, reading and learning
 
in that case how do I get my microbial life to be abundant?

start with some good live rock. But be carefull as you can also get some bad stuff so it's good to know the source, or let it sit in a seperate unlit vat for a while so coral predators and light loving pest nems die off.

I had mojanos and AEFW's in my 300g but the live rock sat for 6 months in a big tub with only a skimmer and some top off (no lights no heater).

When I set up this 100g system I started the sump/fuge first and let it mature for a month before starting up the main display, mainly just to keep an eye out for what survived / came back from the 300g tear down.
 
May I ask what lights you used while shooting your vid? The colors on those corals are amazing. Outstanding growth too, by the way. Great job, partner. :thumbsup: I'd love to see a full tank pic or vid.
 
As eluded to with the 3 months before seeing much growth; I've always believed corals go through at least 2 acclimations; 1) to survive the transition, and 2) to become effective & efficient at feeding within the new evironment. This second acclimation can take a few days to several months. In this case these 9 specific SPS all came from another local reef tank so they were at least use to being in an aquarium.


Definitely agree with you here. I've had frags go a year before really growing,

As well as much quicker adaptation and acclimation of frags from friends systems.
 
what lighting and whats your lighting schedule. Im betting not halides. not sure why i think that but im starting to think most people with great polyp extension typically have weakish lighting. None the less i love the vid. Thanks alot now im google seaching your camera...lol
 
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