Easy SPS

[Stickboy97]

So once I get my manjano problem under control I want to try raising some SPS. What is a good SPS to start with? I currently have some LPS and they are all doing fine, so I figure I'll try somehting new.

Like the look of the Green Slimer or other branching corals. Are they hard to keep?

 

[AdamDeMamp]

Green slimer is prettys easy to keep. I've had best luck with monti's. Good luck, mate.

 

[dunc101]

Yep. Most people seem to think Montipora's are pretty easy to keep (caps and digitatas grow easily ime). Any birdsnest seems to work good as well. For an Acro, a Green Slimer as Adam stated is usually grows pretty fast and is pretty easy to keep, not to mention they look gorgeous when grown out! The thing that will help out the SPS the most is to get your parameters stable and keep them there =).

 

[Laddy]

Pound-for-pound you really can't take anything away from the Montipora Digitata, as a first run coral. I've had a green one for the better part of twelve years, which has done everything from recede, grow, not grow, bright colors, muted colors, due to varying tank conditions.

It has grown under VHO, T5, MHs......two-part, CaRx, and two months where saturated kalk as part of my top off system provided for Ca/Alk. Two years ago my stand-alone display experienced an RTN and a 8" colony died off to just the original frag I received (that was weird)......it then grew back to full colony size, which I sold to a LFS. While breaking down my display tank and frag tank, into the holding tank I have running right now due to our home renovations, I found a finger nail size portion which was growing on the underside of a piece of LR.......six months later its doubled in size in a 55g with 3 T5s.

Ya, they're hardy little corals.....slimers too, but I never liked the growth pattern of slimers. Mine looked out of place for the dimensions of my 100 I had running.

Good luck.

 

[Stickboy97]

T5 lighting sufficient? I have a 4 bulb light above my tank with ATI & Geisman (sp?) bulbs. What color bulbs work best? I think I have purple+, Auqublue, daylight & actinic currently.

 

[mess7777]

i personally have had trouble with montipora digitata....monti caps grow well no matter what , and birdnests are the other can't go wrong starter.

 

[gbru316]

birdsnest (seriatopora), hands down

 

[jcolletteiii]

Montipora digitata. I had a tiny little blob come in on a piece of LR way back when I wasn't into sps because of how hard I perceived that they were to keep. That thing grew pretty nicely, and although I keep accidentally breaking it, it's still going strong. I've never kept a cap, but I also have a spongodes that grows like a weed, a blue-polyped digi that is a very fast grower, and a piece of the bright pink one (forgot the name) that grows quite slowly and seems to be much pickier. I've also been unable to kill Acropora prostrata - stuff grows very fast (bordering on weed-like) as long as you keep the alk and ca up.

 

[Redbellyjx]

i'd like to add milleporas too. i have a green mille that, I swear, grows every time I look at it.