BradsOcean
Active member
title ^^^
Are lps or sps easier to keep?
- Thread starter BradsOcean
- Start date
thecichlidpleco
New member
You have plenty of room for error with lps, my stint in sps killed an acropora in a month.
elegance coral
They call me EC
Everybody says that sps's are much harder to keep than lps's. This is the way it has always been. I don't understand it though.
I am not a sps guy, so is there something I don't know? If you give them good lights and good clean water don't they pretty much handle everything else themselves? I know some people feed them and some don't, but even the ones that feed them just put food in the water and the coral does the rest. With LPS corals you have to give them good lights and water, but you also have to feed most of them. It seems to me that LPS corals would be harder because you have to thaw out food for them, cut it into the correct sizes and feed them one by one every week or so. I keep a few sps corals in my tanks just because..... I ignore them and they do fine. What is it about sps care that I'm missing?
I am not a sps guy, so is there something I don't know? If you give them good lights and good clean water don't they pretty much handle everything else themselves? I know some people feed them and some don't, but even the ones that feed them just put food in the water and the coral does the rest. With LPS corals you have to give them good lights and water, but you also have to feed most of them. It seems to me that LPS corals would be harder because you have to thaw out food for them, cut it into the correct sizes and feed them one by one every week or so. I keep a few sps corals in my tanks just because..... I ignore them and they do fine. What is it about sps care that I'm missing?
drummereef
Team RC
Depends on what species of SPS you are keeping. I find my Montis are very easy. Equally as easy as my LPS.
I know I'll probably be called stupid for this, but I think SPS are WAY easyer to keep. but thats just my personal experience. I decided to be brave and tryed sps under my pc's and all of them flourished and grew like you wouldn't believe. They did brown out a bit, but that will be changed when I get a new light fixture on it. With that being said, I have a hard time getting some LPS like acans and favites to do anything but die under the pc's. LPS is so tempramental in my tanks too. One minute they're doin fine, next minute, they're either dead, or covered in brown slime and dead.
my vote is SPS!!
my vote is SPS!!
vessxpress1
Premium Member
You don't HAVE to feed them if you don't want to. They get plenty of energy from the light. I can let my candycanes go for months without giving them a single scrap. Or, I can feed each head a few times a week. I just feed the things whenever I feel like it.
My acan lords usually don't eat food fast enough before a shrimp or crab rips it away. Actual food is just a bonus for LPS and helps them grow faster.
As for the original question, I'd say LPS are far easier. They don't need as much flow or as much light or as good of water conditions. They can adapt to parameter swings.
I'm 0 for 4 on SPS in my tank under T-5s. I think a lot of people (myself included) like mixed tanks and it's not necessarily the best thing for SPS.
I believe an SPS dedicated tank will give you a better chance than trying to mix loads of softies, LPS, and BTAs in the same tank with the same flow. Usually something wins out. Although there's always exceptions to the rule.
SPS also use up calcium at a much faster rate, which means a normal 2-part supplement and topoff mixed with kalk, won't be enough to sustain a heavy SPS tank long term, without getting a Ca reactor. It can be done but you will also go through obscene amounts of 2- part supplement, depending on how much SPS you keep.
cediss
New member
I have been in this hobby for more than 20 years and have kept many different corals using many different methods and equipement. You can have success keeping most corals if you strive to meet their needs. That being said, the following generalities can be universally applied to this hobby.
SPS have the most difficult needs to be met. Most SPS need higher intensity lighting. Most SPS need more water flow. Most SPS need better water quality with tighter controlled parameters. These needs can be met but it is more costly to do and is more difficult to maintain. The last point that needs to be made is that even when all these needs are met, SPS are less forgiving. Even some the best SPS keepers have had catastrophe strike with parasitic outbreaks, power outages, equipement failure etc. Most make a comeback to the hobby vowing to never let that happen again, some of these hobbiest are succesful. I envy those who are.
LPS in general don't have as difficult to meet parameters. That is not to say that this is true for all LPS, but for the majority of available LPS species, it is much easier to maintain a healthy tank. For either type of tank the hobbiest must be committed to understanding the corals needs.
I don't mean to sound so pessimistic, but there are to many people who jump into this hobby with money to burn who say it's easy. But will they still have a sucessfully operating SPS tank in 10 years? It is only those who have had years of continued SPS success (mature growing colonies that can be fragged and shared with others) who have a true right to claim SPS are easy. But if they are honest about their experiences, they won't make this claim. Only a minority of new SPS hobbiest's will still be going strong in 5-10 years from now.
If you are in this for the long haul. Meaning you will understand that it takes a lot of money, patience, and committment to these little creatures and you take into account that SPS will be harder to keep than LPS. Then take your pick and enjoy an amazing hobby!
SPS have the most difficult needs to be met. Most SPS need higher intensity lighting. Most SPS need more water flow. Most SPS need better water quality with tighter controlled parameters. These needs can be met but it is more costly to do and is more difficult to maintain. The last point that needs to be made is that even when all these needs are met, SPS are less forgiving. Even some the best SPS keepers have had catastrophe strike with parasitic outbreaks, power outages, equipement failure etc. Most make a comeback to the hobby vowing to never let that happen again, some of these hobbiest are succesful. I envy those who are.
LPS in general don't have as difficult to meet parameters. That is not to say that this is true for all LPS, but for the majority of available LPS species, it is much easier to maintain a healthy tank. For either type of tank the hobbiest must be committed to understanding the corals needs.
I don't mean to sound so pessimistic, but there are to many people who jump into this hobby with money to burn who say it's easy. But will they still have a sucessfully operating SPS tank in 10 years? It is only those who have had years of continued SPS success (mature growing colonies that can be fragged and shared with others) who have a true right to claim SPS are easy. But if they are honest about their experiences, they won't make this claim. Only a minority of new SPS hobbiest's will still be going strong in 5-10 years from now.
If you are in this for the long haul. Meaning you will understand that it takes a lot of money, patience, and committment to these little creatures and you take into account that SPS will be harder to keep than LPS. Then take your pick and enjoy an amazing hobby!
SeanT
Premium Member
elegance coral,
Here are a few of the things you are missing, not all, but a few:
Lights at good enoug par, good enoug spectrum, correct photoperiod, water movement, parameters, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity (too little nothing too much recession), calcium reactors, huge skimmers, siphoning, placement, alleopathy, water changes, keeping all corals away, price, being knocked over by current or livestock, red bugs, AEFW, STN, RTN, etc.
LPS corals require care as well for sure.
But, to me, SPS, in order to have a crunk SPS tank, you have to walk the razors edge, daily.
Sean
Here are a few of the things you are missing, not all, but a few:
Lights at good enoug par, good enoug spectrum, correct photoperiod, water movement, parameters, nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alkalinity (too little nothing too much recession), calcium reactors, huge skimmers, siphoning, placement, alleopathy, water changes, keeping all corals away, price, being knocked over by current or livestock, red bugs, AEFW, STN, RTN, etc.
LPS corals require care as well for sure.
But, to me, SPS, in order to have a crunk SPS tank, you have to walk the razors edge, daily.
Sean
cediss
New member
Yes Sean you are correct. I wasn't exactly missing this, rather I was not trying to go into specific parameters. I think our points are the same and are clear. The "razor edge" is a good analogy. And successful SPS keepers do this well, usually with relatively sophisticated and expensive equipement and a good amount of time committment.
elegance coral
They call me EC
This is a pic of one of my SPS frags next to a very ill Elegance. I don't know what species it is but it has doubled in size. This may be one of the easier SPS corals for all I know. I have two other species in this tank and they both are doing great. One of them has grown to the back glass of the tank. I can tell you that these SPS corals I have are much easier to care for than the Elegance corals in the tank. Elegance corals are just one LPS and don't represent all LPS's in general. With the overwhelming number of people that claim SPS corals are harder to keep, it must be true in a general sense. I believe that some LPS corals can be harder to keep than some SPS corals. At least this has been my experience.
graveyardworm
Premium Member
Unless I'm mistaken the coral pictured next to the Elegance is considered to be an LPS, related to Goniopora/Alveopora.
elegance coral
They call me EC
Why would a coral with such small polyps be considered a LPS? I'm not saying your wrong, because I have no idea what it is. You are the second person that said this about this pic. What ever it is seems to be one tuff coral. The pic does make it look larger than it is. It is growing from a frag plug you can see in the pic. The coral is only about 1 inch long in the pic.
cediss
New member
Yes it is a LPS (Goniopora/Alveopora). This points to another issue. Certain corals do better in different conditions. Many people have problems keeping some of the goniopora's such as the flower pot coral. But for you this coral is doing great. If you moved it to a place with more or less water flow it might not do as well.
Fifteen years ago elegence coral was a mainstay for the hobby and it was very hardy. Then about 10 years ago there was a "plague" of elegence corals being imported that were dying off (atleast here on the West Coast). I don't know if it was ever determined why or if that "plague" ever went away. But your limited experience with any of these corals does you no good to draw conclusions from.
You need to rely on your personal experience to an extent, but those who have more experience can guide you through your learning curve better than your own conclusions alone!
Fifteen years ago elegence coral was a mainstay for the hobby and it was very hardy. Then about 10 years ago there was a "plague" of elegence corals being imported that were dying off (atleast here on the West Coast). I don't know if it was ever determined why or if that "plague" ever went away. But your limited experience with any of these corals does you no good to draw conclusions from.
You need to rely on your personal experience to an extent, but those who have more experience can guide you through your learning curve better than your own conclusions alone!
elegance coral
They call me EC
I too have 20 years of experience at this. (check description below) About 18 with Elegance corals in particular. For about the past year and a half I have been working on the Elegance coral problem by doing research on live corals. I believe I know what the problem is and I'm working on a video to prove it. While I don't have the husbandry requirements memorized for all the corals we keep, I feel that my understanding of Elegance corals would be hard to match. As this hobby grows I am seeing more and more people specializing in one area of reef keeping. I believe in order to do this we have to give up something else. In my case it would be my understanding of SPS corals. I don't know squat about SPS corals. This little frag is in my research tank where I have changed lighting and flow many times. It has changed colors several times from this dark brown to a light almost pink color. It has withdrawn, sometimes for days at a time, but always comes right back. The polyps are less than 1/16 of an inch. They are much smaller than the typical branching goniopora.
cediss
New member
I 'm sorry. I was not trying to offend or insult you. It just seemed to me you were making anectdotal observations that to most of us didn't match our experiences.
I hope you continue to make progress in your research and I would love to hear what you found when you are ready to present that information. Good luck and again. I apologize if I insulted you!
Chris
I hope you continue to make progress in your research and I would love to hear what you found when you are ready to present that information. Good luck and again. I apologize if I insulted you!
Chris
E-A-G-L-E-S
New member
I can leave for vacation or work for a week with LPS....if I don't make plans for assistance or have a completely automated system when I get back there will be unhappy sps.
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