Coral dilemma - can we ever put other SPS's in a suddenly LPS dominant tank

KarenLR75

New member
Looking for opinions/experiences which as we all know..everyone has them.

Not my tank but I help with it, research when I can and have some vested interest (especially as I personally like SPS corals). Based on list below, in a 120 gallon tank that has an avg amt of rock work, can we ever add other SPS or softies or are we stuck unless we do some trading of ones below?

Also, is there anything you see listed other than ones I already know we got ourselves into a jam with as they're incredibly hard to keep corals (i.e. goniopora/alveopora), that you personally would NEVER EVER have in your tank (not due to 'aesthetic tastes' but due to properties of the coral like aggression, over-prolific w/o trying, etc.)

  • Elegance Coral – (LPS to my surprise) long established, ok well 9 months but it is thriving
  • Green & Pink Montipora Coral Frag (SPS) – have had 9 months, lost color but readjusted placement and green slowly growing back; pink almost ALL pink again
  • Hydnophora Coral (SPS to my surprise) – have had for 6 months but it got covered in bryopsis and is slowly growing back its color (green)
  • Trachyphyllia Brain Coral (LPS) – have had for 6 months, unsure if it is completely happy or not
  • Goniopora Short Polyp Encrusting (LPS) - have had over 5 months was happy until aptasia irritated it, think part of it has died?
  • Duncanopsammia Coral (LPS) – new and very happy
  • Alveopora branching (LPS) - new and shockingly happy
  • Alveopora tabling (LPS) - new and NOT happy
  • 2 Acan’s (LPS) - need clarification from husband on specifics
  • Lobophyilia brain coral – (LPS) new and looks almost as it did LFS
  • War Coral (LPS) – new and deep/rich colors but leery of aggression

Personally, the war coral makes me very leery.
 
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SPS require super clean water to thrive. If you aren't going to do a 20g WC weekly...imo...you're gonna be buying expensive SPS only to watch them die over 3-6mos

Me personally wouldnt put a SPS coral in my tank even if was FREE. disappointment watching it grow then die.

Sorry for the negativity.....I'm very anti-SPS

SPS especially Acros are super duper finicky
 
SPS require super clean water to thrive. If you aren't going to do a 20g WC weekly...imo...you're gonna be buying expensive SPS only to watch them die over 3-6mos

Me personally wouldnt put a SPS coral in my tank even if was FREE. disappointment watching it grow then die.

Sorry for the negativity.....I'm very anti-SPS

SPS especially Acros are super duper finicky



That's ok, nobody likes to do things they are not good at!


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Don't see why you couldn't add SPS to the tank. Just keep them away from the aggressive corals.
 
Generally, tanks that make LPS happy are not as successful with SPS, and vice-versa. Could you find some hardy SPS that would survive, and perhaps even thrive, in that tank? Absolutely. Would you probably sacrifice quite a few SPS frags (and a lot of money) to find an SPS that would be happy in that tank? Probably...

Kevin
 
SPS require super clean water to thrive. If you aren't going to do a 20g WC weekly...imo...you're gonna be buying expensive SPS only to watch them die over 3-6mos

Me personally wouldnt put a SPS coral in my tank even if was FREE. disappointment watching it grow then die.

Sorry for the negativity.....I'm very anti-SPS

SPS especially Acros are super duper finicky

I'd love some branching corals...was hoping to have some that would grow nicely as an additional small/somewhat refuge for smaller fish in our tanks. Are there branching corals that are NOT SPS (i.e. acros...and opinions seem to be mixed on Kenya tree coral...)?

Do you know/feel that SPS..esp acros are harder to care for than the very hard to care for goniopora/alveopora. Just trying to put my own 'scale of difficulty' on it.

I realize what one person considers 'difficult' can be something another doesn't mind but to your point on water chgs..if one has to do 20% water changes every wk, that would be difficult for me to commit (thus I'd hesitate to acquire that coral & if in my possession now & not doing well, may consider trading) to as husband does WC's. I don't have physical ability back yet to do them.
 
Generally, tanks that make LPS happy are not as successful with SPS, and vice-versa. Could you find some hardy SPS that would survive, and perhaps even thrive, in that tank? Absolutely. Would you probably sacrifice quite a few SPS frags (and a lot of money) to find an SPS that would be happy in that tank? Probably...

Kevin

Thanks for the reply, Kevin...is it a dirty water vs. clean water kind of a thing or even deeper than that?
 
That's ok, nobody likes to do things they are not good at!

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Or if they were raised in my family, if you aren't good at something..sometimes it becomes a personal challenge...lol. THEN after work &/or research/practice if we still aren't good at something..we pretend to be extremely nonchalant/uncaring about the activity..lol
 
Or if they were raised in my family, if you aren't good at something..sometimes it becomes a personal challenge...lol. THEN after work &/or research/practice if we still aren't good at something..we pretend to be extremely nonchalant/uncaring about the activity..lol



[emoji106]


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Don't see why you couldn't add SPS to the tank. Just keep them away from the aggressive corals.

+1

Sps frags are pretty easy to get these days and not very expensive. I don't think the conditions needed to keep both sps corals and LPS corals happy are really that far apart either.
 
Thanks for the reply, Kevin...is it a dirty water vs. clean water kind of a thing or even deeper than that?

Pretty much. LPS often need more nutrients in the water, and many SPS have a low tolerance for that.

There's also water flow. LPS prefer a more "lagoonal" environment, whereas SPS like more movement.

Kevin
 
Like anemone said sps require lower no3 and po4 where as lps prefer more of both and tend to do better with higher levels. Not to say as it can't be done or isn't, it's just a finer line and requires more work on your part.

Sps, acros in particular require rock steady parameters. Out of the main 3 ALK being the most important. A swing as much as 1dkh can whip out an entire tank overnight.

There are sps though that are more tolerant and beginner friendly. Birdsnest are pretty forgiving and branch, Plating monti's are also a good choice but be aware they will shade anything under them, I have heard that stags can be pretty easy, pocillopora are pretty easy but some will not put them in there tank because once settled and happy they can begin to pop up everywhere, Monti digitata would be a good choice as well.

All those corals are readily available and fairly cheap to obtain, if you find the right person they may even give it away. Unless you are willing to invest a lot of time and energy I would avoid acros as there not very forgiving to the beginner sps keeper and you lose a lot of money fast.
 
Pretty much. LPS often need more nutrients in the water, and many SPS have a low tolerance for that.

There's also water flow. LPS prefer a more "lagoonal" environment, whereas SPS like more movement.

Kevin

Kevin, that makes sense. I guess we'll need to consider/see if there is a small cross-section of SPS that might be a good fit...if we do go down that road. We already have 3 so they are stuck with us.
 
IME do what you want. Just do not be stupid about it, you have a brain use it XD

I keep Small SPS frags Monti, GrinchMonti, acros, and capricornis just fine had them for about 9 months and a large cup coral as big as my palm. and this is in a tank with a bunch of LPS if it is an LPS I pretty well have a frag of it somewhere. I love LPS like my tank is dominated by them but it does not mean you can not keep SPS too

You just have to pay attention that is all. Do not put it near aggressive corals and do your water changes and test once a week or more whatever tickles your fancy
 
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Kevin, that makes sense. I guess we'll need to consider/see if there is a small cross-section of SPS that might be a good fit...if we do go down that road. We already have 3 so they are stuck with us.

If you haven't already you might want to take a good look at that tank on the RC home page. Lots of LPS corals coexisting with sps corals there. As a matter of fact alot of those old TOTM were like this. It's really not that difficult to please everybody IMO.
 
You can keep nitrate and phosphate high enough for LPS corals and keep SPS corals as long as you adjust the alk accordingly. Most people dont take this into account and set an arbitrary alk level that is not capatible with their N and P levels, SPS corals are particularly sensitive to this. There are many successful tanks with large colonies of acros and montis that have +10ppm nitrate and +0.08ppm phosphate (some as high as 40ppm nitrate and 1ppm phosphate). You can also keep LPS corals in low nitrate and phosphate levels if you periodically feed them, or if you keep them in low light. So we cannot generalize it, there is no such thing as SPS as clean water and LPS as dirty water. There are tanks not stable and/or balanced enough for SPS and tanks that are.

Furthermore, there is no such thing as LPS reef and SPS reef in nature. There is something as hard coral reef and soft coral reef. Not to mention LPS and SPS is a non scientific nomenclature that people made up. For example, gonipora and alveopora which are considered LPS corals are more closely related to porites coral, which is considered SPS, than any other LPS coral. In nature all hard corals, SPS or LPS, live together in mixed communities in nutrient poor waters.
 
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