Easy SPS suggestions?

aggie13reef

aggie13reef

Member
I have had a red monti cap for about a month now and it is doing great. I have noticed nice growth. Before I purchased it I did plenty of research and the guy at the LFS said they could pretty much grow in toilet water. I am wanting to try another SPS but I know I would be extremely limited based on my setup. Basic info would be no sump, hand dosing, manual top off, etc. My monti is growing so I feel I have sufficient lighting. Pretty much an LPS dominated tank, just want one nice looking SPS to put in the top right side of my rockwork. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 
Pretty much any of these. I have these in my tank and are growing nicely. And like you, manual dosing and manual top off but with LED lighting.

Montipora digitata
Montipora capricornis
Pocillopora damicornis
Seriatopora hystrix
Seriatopora guttatus
Millepora Acropora
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I ended up picking up a pretty small green birdsnest frag for 15 bucks today. Going to see how things go with that, I feel pretty confident.
 
I started SPS with a green birdsnest frag a couple months ago and it's doing great, simmilar set up to you without all the automation. Seems to like moderate flow for realy good polyp extension, and just noticed recently it's starting to grow. Supossed to be very fast growers once they get going. I'm even feeding mine oyster feast to help growth. seems to like it alot
 
Well an update, birdsnest looks great, just not seeing much growth after 1 month of being in the tank. I can notice a very small amount of growth and it seems to be getting thicker, just doesn't seem to be growing like it should. Still adjusting to the tank? Ca 420-435; mg haven't tested in a while; Alk ~10. Water change 5 gal every 14 days or so.
 
If you are noticing growth after a month that is a good sign. Some times it takes much longer than that. If the flow in your tank is higher than the tank you got it from it will thicken up, totally normal. Birds nest do not encrust like other SPS so make sure it is in a secure spot.
 
Wazzel said:
If you are noticing growth after a month that is a good sign. Some times it takes much longer than that. If the flow in your tank is higher than the tank you got it from it will thicken up, totally normal. Birds nest do not encrust like other SPS so make sure it is in a secure spot.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. Did not know they didn't encrust. The LFS I bought it from has it on a pretty large frag plug. Over time do you think that the growth will hide the plug? Didn't really consider that when I bought the piece. The plug is glued to a rock securely.
 
aggie13reef said:
Thanks for the input. Did not know they didn't encrust. The LFS I bought it from has it on a pretty large frag plug. Over time do you think that the growth will hide the plug? Didn't really consider that when I bought the piece. The plug is glued to a rock securely.
Click to expand...

It might. I took mine of the plug and set in a crack. It looks like new growth will encrust on to whatever it runs into, but not at the base.
 
Some encrust, some don't in my experience. I had a green bird nearly the size of a basketball that was still held on by a single stem in putty, never encrusted. Crazy! :)

Are you making sure your Alk is rock solid stable? Test before and after a water change to make sure it doesn't swing to much. If you can keep it stable everything will fall in line.
 
I would recommend Seriatopora guttatus as it grows like weed and colour up reasonably well under different light intensities. As mentioned above, Montipora corals are a good choice. I also regard Porites cylindrica as bomb proof.

Personally, I found that Pocillapora damicornis is very easy to look after, but it was always the first coral to strip (RTN/STN), along with Acropora yongei (aka Bali slimer) when my water quality suffered. I have had to frag my Bali slimer quite a few times in the past five years to save it from tissue necrosis. For this reason I hesitate to recommend them as "easy SPS".
 
Does any of you guys know of a good store in NYC or NJ that sells SPS corals or wide selection of Corals in General.
 
Wazzel said:
It might. I took mine of the plug and set in a crack. It looks like new growth will encrust on to whatever it runs into, but not at the base.
Click to expand...

I had the same experience. I accidentally fragged mine a couple times (~10). The first couple I glued upright on the frag plug and they never encrusted. The last several I glue horizontally and wherever the unglued portion touches the plug they're starting to encrust.

FWIW I have the ORA green tipped variety. They seem to just thicken along the skeleton, but anywhere the green tips hit rock/plug they begin to encrust. The last couple I've purposely glued with a growth tip resting on the plug. In 3 weeks they've formed 1/4 plates.
 
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