First SPS !

S

sweeper7

Member
So my cycle seems to have ran its course and quite rapidly too.

I had 2 shrimp in there for 48 hours to get ammonia going.

It has been 19 days now and my readings are:

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 10ppm
salinity did drop from 1.025 to 1.020, i sthat normal?
pH 8.4

I never had a nitrate spike either, is that normal?

So i have diatoms forming and was wondering when is it good to add SPS? I say this because I found a great price on a beautiful coral I am wondering if I can put in once I get my salnity up to 1.026 again.

I plan on doing a 8 gallon water change and add lots of salt so i can raise it back up in the DT and thinking once this is up, is it safe to add that SPS acopora?

I have a tek 4x39 fixture as well.

Wondering if there is anythign I am missing or need to do before I add this first addition.

Do I need to do any dips before i put him in as well? He is coming from a local reefer.
 
NO. Way too soon......give it about 300 more days LOL.. I would do a lot of research on SPS or a reef tank in general if you have to ask the questions you asked. Not trying to sound like a Richard but.....
 
1 year? WTH? I see lots of people popping SPS on new tanks or right from a tank transfer to trtansfer. I am confused now.
 
Your tank is going to have many ups and downs till it matures and balances. You stated you have diatoms and asked what sps to get. Conditions that grow diatoms can kill sps. What are your phospahte levels? Calcium? Alkalinity? Magnesium? A drop from 1.025 to 1.020 is an indivation of tank not balanced. That is a pretty big drop sps dont like drops, they need steady conditions. Are you using RO/DI water?
 
sweeper7 said:
1 year? WTH? I see lots of people popping SPS on new tanks or right from a tank transfer to trtansfer. I am confused now.
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Transferring one tank to another with established rock and sand beds is a lot different then starting a while new system. Most of the guys who do that also have a lot of experience with Sps. In your case I would wait until you see some coralline alage growing. Maybe wait a month or two.
 
kissman said:
Your tank is going to have many ups and downs till it matures and balances. You stated you have diatoms and asked what sps to get. Conditions that grow diatoms can kill sps. What are your phospahte levels? Calcium? Alkalinity? Magnesium? A drop from 1.025 to 1.020 is an indivation of tank not balanced. That is a pretty big drop sps dont like drops, they need steady conditions. Are you using RO/DI water?
Click to expand...


i did abou t7 gallons worth of top off the past 2 weeks without ever doing a WC.

I also did lose about 1/8th a gallon of water from teh DT that i dumped out without supplementing salt back in.

my local water store says its a ro/di unit they use, i think i believe him becuase that unit he has is about 12 feet high and GIGANNNNNNNTTTIIIC with hundreds of stuff going on but he was a bit confused when i first asked if its ro/di. maybe because he isn't really american so he was confused what i asked lolll

why do you ask btw? does it affect salinity if it isn't?
 
IMO if your going to start an SPS tank you should know the basics of reef keeping. Just because you have a light and a tank doesn't mean you can have a full blown SPS tank.. SPS are some o the most demanding species we keep in our little slice of the ocean. And if you don't know the basics like does RODI affect salinity you might want to save your money and do it right. Take it slow. A 19 day cycle most likely is not a full blown cycle. Have you added a clean up crew yet? Do you know what your big thre levels are cal,alk and mag? Are you testing for them? Have you figured out what the levels should be at and how you are going to supplement them? These are all things you need to know and test for religiously untill your tank settles in and you know how it's running.

You mentioned you dumped salt in to raise salinity up. If you did just dump salt in to your DT and had animals it could have killed everything that it touched.

I noticed your post count is higher than mine so obviously you have been here for a while but what I don't get is how you don't know the questions you are asking. I would take it slow.. Test your water allow a complete cycle to take place add a clean up crew of snails ETC.. And start with some easier corals like softies, mushrooms, zoas, etc. get the. bAsics down before you waste your money and kill livestock for no reason other than lack of knowledge and impatience.

You should start slow in this hobby it is not very forgiving If you don't know what your doing. It's not that hard to get a system up and running. The dedication to you maintenance is what's hard. Husbandry IMO is the most important part of reefing Along with patience. The year stretch is a little long to wait to add your first SPS It can be done sooner a lot sooner but if you don't have the basics your setting yourself up for failure before you even begin. JMO.

I would like to hear about your tank first. Like what size? Filtration? Skimmer? Parameters-PH-cal-alk-mag-nitrate-nitrite-ammonia-phosphate. Is it bare bottom? Live rock?do you currently have any other tanks? Again I am not trying to sound like a douche if I do I apologize I think you should take it slow and steady and not rush into this hobby. Good luck in your tank and I hope you do take people's advice on here..
 
i never said i dumped salt to raise salinity...i haven't even touched my salt all day loll.

How is my cycle not full blown though if the ammonia now is 0 as in nitrite? It wont just create another cycle on its own.

its a 40 Breeder, 20 L sump, using 16 lbs dry rock, 3 lbs LR, SCA 301 skimmer, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate (never spiked) 10ppm, pH 8.4, 30 lbs tropic eden sand about 1" deep.

QT has a HOB, heater, 425 PH nano, thermo, and a True Percula for almost 2 weeks now with lots of PVC which he doesn't care for loll.

none taken, more info the more i learn so i dont mind it. if i got attacked without info than i would mind ;) lolll
 
before you start wasting money I would suggest going to advanceaquarist.com and ready as many introductory articles as you can handle(there is also a sticky thread at the top of this forum with info). Much of this hobby does come from trial and error (take it from someone thats been at this for 10 years) however to mitigate the amount of wasted money and wasted innocent animals please read and ask as many questions until you feel COMPLETELY comfortable with keeping a difficult species of coral like SPS.

I can tell you that after 19 days, in my experience, your tank will not be ready to successfully keep sps long term. Until you can balance and stablize your system with a routine maintainence proceedure you shouldnt even consider SPS. A fully cycled tank is only the first step of many to a successful sps reef. Read and research to better understand what goes into a thriving healthly SPS reef tank because there is nothing more frustrating that to continually have issues and try to fix a "broken" tank when it all can be avoided with proper knowledge and husbrandry.

Best of luck!
 
Sorry for the salt comment I misread your post :-).

Pretty much anything your gonna add is gonna create waste and in a young tank the bio isn't established enough to be stable. Have you tested your cal alk and mag? It's important to have them stable.. Shoot for any of the reccomended levels or just go by the NSW parameters. IMO I would start with a CUC that will start to eat algae and diatoms in turn create waste to start the bio build up if you haven't already. Then move on to your fish he will do the same and his waste will build it up to handle more of a load in the tank.

Honestly I would start with something other than SPS to get the hang of what your gonna need to keep in check for a reef tank. Like stated above SPS need a stable environment or they won't do well or just plain die. I would invest is some sort of ATO or be religious on knowing how much exactly your tank evaporates and add it daily. I would guess you added too much fresh water to drop your salinity that much. PlUs starting with an easier cheaper coral will give you the experience and knowledge it's gonna take to go hard coral. And you could always just sell it when you take the plunge into hard coral..most SPS tanks need automatic or daily manual dosing for alk and cal. Do you have any nitrate reducers in your sump ? Macro algae or reactors for media.. Starting with a simpler coral and successfully keeping it alive and thriving and growing will be an indication of a stable tank and no fish losses ETC. keeping the big three in check is going to go a long way for you I've noticed you haven't posted about them so I will say (again LOL) that needs to be addressed and figured out.. Otherwise plan on doing weekly waterchanges to try to keep it up but with a stocked tank it could be difficult to do it with water changes alone.. Good luck and I hope it all works out for you. Most people do what they want to do without caring or knowing what's the right way. But you are already ahead of some just by asking the question so now it's all up to you the path you go. Have fun. And read read read all you can on the topic at hand. Knowledge is the best tool you can have in this hobby..
 
Do you have an ATO for sump evap. Do u have test kits for Alk, mag and calcium. Do u own a refractometer. What kind of light how many bulbs and what bulb combo. How much flow do u have (power heads) what's in your sump. Fuge/live rock ??? These are all the things you have to stay on top off before even considering SPS. Start with lps at least let the tank mature then go for it. Good luck. Look into a controller too if u want stability for ur SPS
 
I agree 1 year for more finicky SPS but u can def add some caps some green slimers are pretty hardy and easy. key is stability. U can add what u want really they just won't grow until tank is mature seeded and stable which is usually about a year in round numbers after that things start growing and coloring up nicely start to encrust etc don't rush do it right. U might still have a cyano phase ahead of you which will drive u crazy deal with all that stuff first then start picking out ur frags
 
sweeper7 said:
taking what was said into account, is a SCC tricolor a hardy coral? or still a bad idea
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Go back and read what everyone has told you.Alot of good info was given.Your tank is not ready for sps.Keep parameters stable for 3 or 4 months then try a Montipora digitata.
 
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