Am I ready for SPS?

[818]

Well I think my tank is mature. My 110g was set up using water from my old 60g tank that was running for 8 months. Live rock and sand from reefers who've had it in their system for 1+year. Ive never had ammonia spikes, ph swings, cycles. I do water changes every 5 days.

Ive successfully been keeping anemones, all softies from size and shape, zoos, clams with ease(I thank my MH).

I just finished connecting a skimmer(Aqua Medic Turbo Flotor 1000 rated for up to 225g) for the sake of going full blown SPS.

My question is to you reefers, when do you know your ready? I have a dual Hamilton 175w MH 14K set up pointing straight down on my two islands.

My fuge is just crawling with life, and in my main tank at night as well.

My Beautiful clown tang. I love this guy. He has the best personality of all my fish.

How fast or how many SPS frags/colonies can I add without die off?

Im sure Ill keep asking questions but Im going to get take more pics of my new aquascaping.

Sam

 

[®eefer]

That question, my friend all has to do with how much money you have in your pockets!! haha. JK try some cheap easy frags like orange monti, millipora, etc. You'll be able to get some cheap test specimins at reefapalooza.
I'm no sps expert but I dont see a CA reactor in there...only way to keep calcium at a decent levels, also stablizes PH since you can control it within a hundredth of a point.
I'd be more concerned with your ca, alk, and ph than critters in your fuge. just my $.02

 

[818]

O yea. I manually dose this stuff.

MY CA is at 400. I have no idea what my ALK is but Ill go get that tested at the LFS tommorow.

I started using PH Kent Super Buffer+DKH I havent noticed any swings when adding the calcium additive. AS this additive gaurantees no effect with PH, and says when used correctly can completley replace a CA reactor. So far so good. I've trusted Kent going back to teh freshwater days in MiddleSchool.

Keep it coming guys....Thanks

Sam

 

[818]

Ill take more pics in the morning. I currenty have a Red Montipora, and 2 unknown Sps. I got 2 of the 3 frags in bad shape(3 moths ago maybe 4?) and the have recovered in full color. The other frag was just recieved the other day from ScallopKing.

 

[818]

Tank params:
SG:1.026
PH: 8.1
Ammonia/Nitrate/ite: 0
Ca 400

Alk is so that PH doesnt swing right? Whats a good level 8?

 

[Bebo77]

for sps you need to know

alk
mg
ph
salinity
temp

keep them all constant

 

[Yinger]

because you have a tall tank you'll want to put all sps around the top with the 175s. How's your flow in the tank?

 

[glaudds]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7836779#post7836779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by My F1sh R D34D!
O yea. I manually dose this stuff.

MY CA is at 400. I have no idea what my ALK is but Ill go get that tested at the LFS tommorow.

I started using PH Kent Super Buffer+DKH I havent noticed any swings when adding the calcium additive. AS this additive gaurantees no effect with PH, and says when used correctly can completley replace a CA reactor. So far so good. I've trusted Kent going back to teh freshwater days in MiddleSchool.

Keep it coming guys....Thanks

Sam

I would suggest using a two part additive like B-ionic to maintain your ca and alk levels. It will probably be cheaper in the long run over what you are using now. I believe Kent makes a two part additive also.

Another suggestion would be to get your own test kit for alkalinity. You are going to need it to dial in your parameters.

 

[818]

Cool thanks guys.

Temp is at 80F in the morning and can get to the high 82F in the day with MH.

 

[®eefer]

Any decent amount of sps or clams and I dont think that stuff will be abe to keep up with the tank. Figure you'll be buying a ton of that stuff and it may be leaving other trace, unwanted things in your tank..like chloride which will eventually become more and more concentrated in your water unless you do large regular water changes which might make your parameters swing...I think stability is key.
I bought this ca reactor a couple of months ago...it's cheap, and believe me, it's not top quality, but after a little initial tinkering, it's working fine with out any attention.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=ES33502
I found a co2 tank and regulator for $50 on craigslist. Bought a solenoid from MD for $50.
Find a good deal on a co2 tank, regulator, solenoid and ph controller and it might actually be cheaper than buying that liquid reactor stuff, killing sps, etc. One thing is for sure, it will be easier to maintain.

But again, I'm no sps expert.

 

[GTR]

You gotta measure kH. I'd worry more about it than ph.

SteveU

 

[Yinger]

I agree with Cooltank. You will be able to use that stuff for a short time while your sps remains small, however, once you start getting colonies, your CA demand will increase quite drastically. I would recommend you do kalk dripping. cheapest and easiest method. Even cheaper than dosing 2 part esp for 110 gallons. You can get ms. wages pickling lime for 4 bucks a jar and just mix it into your ATO water. Then as your demand goes up again, get a CA reactor.

 

[818]

Heres my new aquascaping. Got rid of all my zoos, shrooms, all softy in general. Im going with SPS and clam only.

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

nice! i love the clown tang! see u at rap!

 

[818]

Thanks man. Yeah I love that tang as well. All 3 tangs sleep together at night but Im guessing it will change a bit as they mature a little more.

My cleaner wrasse was eaten by my monstrous RBTA....I need to go get another cleaner wrasse since my clown tang doesnt like the cleaner shrimp. And on that note I need some sort of blue night light so that wont happen again. I left the lights off all day Saturday since I wasnt home and when I came back I saw him getting his last breathes as the RBTA was slurping him in.


Sam

 

[Bebo77]

dude you said i could have some zoas.... aww man ....

 

[818]

I have urs dude

I had to do a massive trade off for my skimmer though

 

[Bebo77]

you got another skimmer?

 

[818]

Yea. A needle wheel.

Aqua Medic Turbo Flotor 1000.

Of course nothing compared to your deltec, but I like it more than the ASM.

 

[818]

Look at 1st pic. 1 hr after breaking in. Thats wet skimate Im now working on some dryer stuff.