help me start on the right foot

[fanning]

im just about done with my 120g upgrade..tank is 48"x24"x24...the lights ill be running are aquaticlife t5 3x10k and 3xsuper blue actinic. im planning on it being atleast 9 months or so before i start adding sps corals just so that i know i keeping good habitts...will u guys give me some pointers as to what exactly those good habbits are and what to whatch for when starting.


oh duh!! im also running gfo and carbon...and flow is coming from a mag18



thanks
mitch

 

[dzhuo]

Hi Mitch,
Welcome to the SPS game. I have a few general suggestions and hopefully you will find them useful:

1. If you don't have a RO/DI unit, I would strongly suggest that you get one.
2. Get yourself a good reliable skimmer (if you don't already have one).
3. Eventually, you will need to thinking about alk, cal and mg. Start thinking how you are going to supplement / automate the addition. The popular choices here are 2-part, calcium reactor or a combination with dripping kalk.
4. Flow is the second most important factor besides clean stable water quality, a single mag18 won't be sufficient so starting thinking how you can supplement more flow.
5. You will soon realize there are lots of ways people use to keep N & P in check including Zeovit, carbon dosing and solid carbon dosing (aka bio-pellets). I would stay away from those until you have a specific need. Don't just run them because everyone else is running them. A simple system will be easier to maintain and you will enjoy it when you aren't constantly under pressure to do something.
6. Start thinking how you could prevent pest from entering your system. For example, would it be feasible to set up a QT so you can drip newly acquired SPS? If you don't have a way to prevent SPS pest, it's a matter of time before you would have to deal with them in your DT which is a huge pain.
7. Take photos of your tank and corals every 2 weeks. This will allows you to see changes that you might not notice. It's a great way to document and be aware of changes that are too slow to be noticed.
8. If you stay in this hobby long enough, you will make mistakes (no matter how careful you are) and bad things will happen to your tank (inevitable), don't over react. Frequently, it's not the initial mistake that causes SPS to decline but the subsequent fix-it action that further stress the corals to STN or RTN.
9. Set your expectation low and reasonable. TOTM tanks don't happen overnight. Enjoy the process of keeping the tank; not necessary the end product. Good things will come to those who wait; have patient.
10. There are lots of LE or designed type of SPS in this community. Avoid buying into the hyde and start with easy, colorful SPS to begin with. A healthy fast growing no-name purple SPS beats a LE PM growing .5 every 2 years any time of the day.
11. Start thinking about how to automate your tank. Look at it as a 3 to 5 years projects. Anything that requires you to do daily or weekly will be hard to keep up with (and you will quickly loose interest). Feeding and water change is inevitable but the majority of everything else can be easily done with a little planning and controller.

Good luck!

 

[Guy340]

+1 to what dzhuo said, but would like to stress what gcarroll has for his motto:

SPS = Stability Promotes Success

and last thing:

Be very patient, there's no need to rush out and get 100 frags/colonies in just a few months.

 

[fanning]

dzhuo...thats probably the most helpful response to a question ive ever got.. thank you so much for taking the time to share...i do have an ro/di and a skimmer that my other reefing friends keep trying to talk me into selling them...lol..im running an ato as well. as far as patience you can call me jedi master yoda im in this for fun of watching everything grow.

when it comes to dosing 2 part what would be the best to do that...can i just mix and dump so to speak? i was thinking about trying to stick to doing water changes every 2 weeks or so..is that good?

 

[fanning]

oh and i dont really have the means for a QT tank what would be the best way to introduce a new coral

 

[jmccoya]

I'm gonna follow this one. I have all the same questions!
Subscribbed

 

[dzhuo]

when it comes to dosing 2 part what would be the best to do that...can i just mix and dump so to speak? i was thinking about trying to stick to doing water changes every 2 weeks or so..is that good?

If demand is low, you might be able to get away with water change & kalk alone. A simple system always wins in the long run. 2-part is basically mix and dump (very slowly over many hours daily). Regardless how you add them, you would need to make sure adding the solution matches the up take rate.

oh and i dont really have the means for a QT tank what would be the best way to introduce a new coral

At the minimum, you would want to drip the corals. However, no dripping would be a 100% safe as certain pest laid eggs which is unaffected by the solution. Trying to acquire frags from reputable local sources and have a chance to talk to them and make sure their tank is free of pest is a good preventive measure as well.

A few more things I can think of:

1. Try to keep a set of back up equipment such as (used) return pump, extra heater, cooling fans, extra bulbs, power head etc is a good idea. I am even going to secure an old skimmer just in case. Equipment will fail and often at the most inappropriate time (2am in the morning). Having back up around ensures your tank can continue to function and most used equipment can be obtained fairly inexpensive. It's a good insurance.
2. Try to have a few gallons of RO/DI around all the time. You will need it more than you think.
3. Observation is important. Try to spend at least 30 minutes each day looking at the tank and make notes of anything unusual. Is coralline algae losing color? Is the sand turning more brown? Has the skimmer collect less and less skimmate recently? Is this frag no longer showing polyp extension like it used to? Are there extra noise from equipment you don't normally heard? All these little things could be indication of bigger problems to come. Pay attention to them and address them early.

 

[fanning]

thank you dzhuo.. what about bullbs and photo period like i staited above i have a 48"
t5 3x10k and 3xactinic blue...what do u think...i ask because you have given the best information..very detailed.. and i cant thank you enough

 

[dzhuo]

Unfortunately I don't have first hand experience with T5 but from what I understand, the efficiency of T5 has a lot to do with active cooling and whether the bulbs are wrap in its individual reflector or not. And in general, lighting also depends a lot of water clarify and displacement of your corals. I did a quick Google search of your light and it looks fairly decent and 6 bulbs should be enough for your tank. I would start with your current lighting set up and won't worry about it until there is clear indication that your lighting is insufficient. Generally speaking, when it comes to SPS, lighting is normally not an issue (a lot of people just make it appear to).