Growing sps corals

uerayan

New member
I have a 6 months old tank.
I havr many lps. They are all well.
I want to grow sps.
I tried ones in early days of tank, it was not successfull.
10 days ago I bought montipora and acropora. Montipora is just fine.
Unfortinately acropora is getting whitish on some parts.
I have good water parameters and 6 T5 24 watts bulbs.
What do you suggest
 
the biggest things i can stress for really any corals to thrive, but especially SPS, are as follows:

1. having the correct set up for success
2. keeping that set up stable

when things start bleaching, my first thoughts are usually the parameters, especially alkalinity numbers, lighting, and potential disease/pests.

with a T5 fixture i doubt the problem is too much light, could it be too little? where was the coral placed in your tank, what kind of lighting did it come from? T5 are perfectly capable of growing SPS, but you often need to give a little more thought to your placement, since they won't create as much power as deep as MH or LED.

in regards to your alkalinity, or other params, most LPS is pretty forgiving. so when was the last time you tested your alk, what was it, and how are you maintaining it? even relatively small swings in alkalinity can be very detrimental to more sensitive corals. when dialing in my supplements (i've used both kalk and two part) i try to test often, every 24 - 48 hours. once i feel i have a handle on my dosing regimen, i usually dial that back to once a week.

and finally, pests/disease. did you dip or QT the coral in any way? is it possible it would have been sick or harboring some kinds of pests?

oh, and one more thing. sometimes tanks just don't like certain kinds of corals. i have no idea why. my old tank hated montipora digitata and pretty much any kind of sertiapora. i never determined why. for some reason my new tank hates scolys, and acropora digitata, but likes sertiapora and M. digitata just fine. it is infuriating, but likely something i will never unravel.
 
I would be leery to add SPS yet, your other post concerning bubble algae says to me that there is an issue with your parameters of some sort. I think you would be best off to resolve them first. While it is true some SPS tanks get bubble algae, I doubt many would recommend starting off with the algae. Get your nitrates and P04 under control for a few months and watch your other parameters as well. Then maybe try a frag from a local grower.

Corey
 
Also, how are you controlling the temp in your tank? I could not keep acro's either until i added a ranco temp controller. I had fluctuations of +/- 3 degrees daily. Once i added the controller and kept it within +/- .5, i had success.
 
Growing sps corals

Sallnlty 0,025
Temp 25 C
Ca 468
Mg 1400
Kh 9
Ph 8,2
No3 < 0,2
Po4 < 0,01
Test are made with salifert, tropic marine weekly.

10% water change every other week
Red Sea coral pro salt is being used.
Acropora is placed at the top of the tank and next to the strong currents.
I am giving grotech vitamino ,zooplankton, phytoplankton every other week.
My kh, mg and ca parameters are stable, so I don't give any supplement.

Test
 
Last edited:
ORA Aquacultured SPS & thriving frags from other reefers will give you a better start, of course I am not guaranteeing that is the end all answer but if you are diligent with tank maintenance & proper water conditions, you will have a better success rate.
 
Some SPS like montipora, are often no harder to keep them many LPS corals.

Acros are different. Harder to keep for many people. What you describe on your acros sounds like STN/syndrome (sudden tissue necrosis). A common bane of SPS keepers. Plenty of info on the SPS forum on Reef Central.
 
ORA Aquacultured SPS & thriving frags from other reefers will give you a better start, of course I am not guaranteeing that is the end all answer but if you are diligent with tank maintenance & proper water conditions, you will have a better success rate.

This is generally true in my experience. Frags grown in aquarium like conditions improve your odds of success over wild collected colonies. IMO some stock at LFSs are more susceptible then others.
 
Some SPS like montipora, are often no harder to keep them many LPS corals.

Acros are different. Harder to keep for many people. What you describe on your acros sounds like STN/syndrome (sudden tissue necrosis). A common bane of SPS keepers. Plenty of info on the SPS forum on Reef Central.

Almost right: STN (slow tissue necrosis) RTN (rapid tissue necrosis)
 
the biggest things i can stress for really any corals to thrive, but especially SPS, are as follows:

1. having the correct set up for success
2. keeping that set up stable

when things start bleaching, my first thoughts are usually the parameters, especially alkalinity numbers, lighting, and potential disease/pests.

with a T5 fixture i doubt the problem is too much light, could it be too little? where was the coral placed in your tank, what kind of lighting did it come from? T5 are perfectly capable of growing SPS, but you often need to give a little more thought to your placement, since they won't create as much power as deep as MH or LED.

in regards to your alkalinity, or other params, most LPS is pretty forgiving. so when was the last time you tested your alk, what was it, and how are you maintaining it? even relatively small swings in alkalinity can be very detrimental to more sensitive corals. when dialing in my supplements (i've used both kalk and two part) i try to test often, every 24 - 48 hours. once i feel i have a handle on my dosing regimen, i usually dial that back to once a week.

and finally, pests/disease. did you dip or QT the coral in any way? is it possible it would have been sick or harboring some kinds of pests?

oh, and one more thing. sometimes tanks just don't like certain kinds of corals. i have no idea why. my old tank hated montipora digitata and pretty much any kind of sertiapora. i never determined why. for some reason my new tank hates scolys, and acropora digitata, but likes sertiapora and M. digitata just fine. it is infuriating, but likely something i will never unravel.

Well said...
 
I agree with MondoBongo. My roommate is big into and has alot of sps. MondoBongo touched on everything my roommate does.
 
Some SPS like montipora, are often no harder to keep them many LPS corals.

Acros are different. Harder to keep for many people. What you describe on your acros sounds like STN/syndrome (slow tissue necrosis). A common bane of SPS keepers. Plenty of info on the SPS forum on Reef Central.

+1
Acros can be very difficult in some tanks. A friend of mine had a lot of them in his tank (like 50% or more I think). He went away on a short vacation and came home to find all the acros dead and all the other corals still OK?

Shop a few of the other reefers in your area and buy a few inexpensive sps and see how you do. If they all do well, start to upgrade your coral purchases. And as the less expensive corals grow, frag them and sell them to others or to your local LFS.
 
Almost right: STN (slow tissue necrosis) RTN (rapid tissue necrosis)

Ha...right ! I forgot the acronym but remember getting STN!

Buying good healthy acros has been difficult for me. One otherwise outstanding LFS rarely stocks them. When they do they are tiny brown nubs of unknown origin of pedigree.

Another store stocks some interesting acros from time to time, but they seem to loose vigor and decline in their stock tanks after a while. Often their tank parameters are different from mine. Except for an occasional stocking purchase from ORA, I can never get a straight answer if an acro I want to buy is tank raised or wild caught, which I want to avoid.
 
Back
Top