Can I come to the dark side?

[Mg4life0331]

Well I'm about two months into this. Fish and few corals have been great so far. Even got some coralline to grow. I had next to none on the live rock when I started. Right now I have a hammer, a zoa, a ricorrdia, and a monti. Could I add a birdsnest and an acro yet?

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

if you're keeping your chemistry right you should be ok. I would like to recommend doing research on the conditions that Sps prefer. I would not suggest that you go out and buy thousands of dollars worth of sps, but maybe pick up a frag and try it out.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Well I see they like clean water and lots of flow. I have both so far. I dont have to dose anything yet. But Im afraid of what can happen if I add one. I suppose I could pick up a 15 dollar frag and see what happens.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

If you have only been set up for 2 months then I would expect you to have clean water. There's nothing wrong with picking up a 15$ frag and giving it a go. Just be sure to keep a close eye on your chemistry. My tank was about as mature as yours when I first started with sps and I had positive results.

 

[Mg4life0331]

Did you buy the standard gambit of test kits first? Currently I only have the API cycle crap test.

 

[PeTe PoLyP]

Yes. You need to check your chemistry and keep it. Calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium at the least.

 

[Mg4life0331]

10-4. thanks. Ill check for a couple of weeks. if im stable, Ill start adding

 

[ThorEffex]

If you want to start growing some sps I'd get a test kit for calcium, alkalinity, mgand get a 2 part additives to raise calcium and alkalinity. Birds nests grows very fast

 

[Mg4life0331]

No matter what salt I get Ill have to dose?

 

[Reef or Die]

Start slow and don't worry about dosing yet. Add a few sps corals and see how they do. Water changes will take care of keeping your tank pretty balanced... Dosing comes into play when you have a lot of coral growing and they are consuming alk/ calcium at a fast rate. I dripped Kalk for a good year at night only in a mixed reef and that seemed to do the trick and is a lot cheaper than lots of dosing while you learn the ropes. Good luck

 

[Mg4life0331]

I was kinda thinking I could keep up with chemistry doing weekly 10 percent changes. At least while they were small frags. I imagine once I really get some growth Ill need to dose accordingly. Thanks for the comments.

 

[ThorEffex]

You should at least start with testing calcium and alkalinity. And it all depends on the salt you use

 

[small_polyp]

Test Test and Test..
There is alot written on the basics of keeping sps..but there is aways someone on here who breaks the "rules":worried:
If your ca and alk are high enuf...and ure nitrates and phosphates are low enough, in theory you'll be ok..many times its not that simple tho.
Give a frag a shot I say...everyone did at some point.

 

[Jettareefer]

If your chemistry is in line try a montipora digitata or capicornis they will the most forgiving, I wouldn't start off with acropora.
-Addison

 

[Mg4life0331]

Going to get some tests and wait a couple of weeks. I already got a monti about 3 days ago, Its doing well so far, but I am patient and will wait a while to see what happens.

 

[brad_G]

I personally would wait. Get some decent test kits and get a feel for your tank before you start spending money on acro. 2 months in the tank is hardly cycled and I can promise your water parameters with fluctuate significantly!