How Long Can SPS Go??

blcktitanium

New member
I will be getting my first order of SPS corals on Tuesday. I just found out today that I will need to go out of town for 5 days the day after I receive my corals. The timing could not come at a worse time.

My question is how long can the corals go without food before they start to show signs of starvation or harm? The SPS along with my snail CUC will be the only livestock in the tank.
 
You're not going to starve any SPS coral in that time. No worries there. In fact many never purposely feed their corals and they do just fine.

The biggest concern would be getting the lighting right since it sounds like you will have no chance to move them if it appears that they're bleaching from a high light level. It depends, but low in the tank with muted light is probably going to be your best bet.

Other things to consider:

Make sure they are stable, perhaps in a frag rack. You don't want them falling & laying in the sand for 5 days. A Medium flow location, variable if possible, is probably the best choice.

If your tank has a high daily consumption of Ca & Alkalinity, you'll want those levels to be as stable as possible, especially if you've purchased some acros. If these are the first stony corals in in a medium sized tank using a reef grade salt, this won't likely be an issue for a while.

Hopefully you have someone at home who can do freshwater top offs if needed and could report on corals' welfare or send you some photos, giving you a chance to make an adjustment if needed. Stable salinity is a must.

What species of corals did you order? How old a tank, what type of lighting, do you dose 2 part or kalk, do you use an ATO? Do you have a competent tank sitter? The right answers could affect the outcome. I assume it's too late to reschedule your order? That would probably be best, but your chances are pretty good if everything is set up right before you leave. Good luck.
 
You're not going to starve any SPS coral in that time. No worries there. In fact many never purposely feed their corals and they do just fine.

The biggest concern would be getting the lighting right since it sounds like you will have no chance to move them if it appears that they're bleaching from a high light level. It depends, but low in the tank with muted light is probably going to be your best bet.

Other things to consider:

Make sure they are stable, perhaps in a frag rack. You don't want them falling & laying in the sand for 5 days. A Medium flow location, variable if possible, is probably the best choice.

If your tank has a high daily consumption of Ca & Alkalinity, you'll want those levels to be as stable as possible, especially if you've purchased some acros. If these are the first stony corals in in a medium sized tank using a reef grade salt, this won't likely be an issue for a while.

Hopefully you have someone at home who can do freshwater top offs if needed and could report on corals' welfare or send you some photos, giving you a chance to make an adjustment if needed. Stable salinity is a must.

What species of corals did you order? How old a tank, what type of lighting, do you dose 2 part or kalk, do you use an ATO? Do you have a competent tank sitter? The right answers could affect the outcome. I assume it's too late to reschedule your order? That would probably be best, but your chances are pretty good if everything is set up right before you leave. Good luck.

Thanks for the response Reef Frog....

Well the tank is new it is 3 and half months old the only livestock in the tank is my CUC not much to any nuisance algae at this point hope it stays that way (knock on wood).

--I ordered the 20 sps frag pack from fishnreef so it will be a mix.
--Tank is 120g and 30g sump
--No I'm not dosing
--I do have an ATO
--I do not have anyone at home/but can have someone come over and fill my ---ATO Reservoir for me and send me pictures of the tank
--I have an APEX
--I have 3 hydra 26's LED lights and I have them programed for coral acclimation for a period of 6 hour of light per day whenever I get my corals.
--I have a lot of water movement within the tank and it is extremely random I have maxspect 150 and 2-tunze 6105 within the tank I getting approximately 100x turnover between the 3 pumps and the return pump.
--You are right I can't stop the shipment at this point.
 
I see your in California, which part ? I live in San Diego or Anaheim and I can take them off your hands if your worried
 
3 months is pretty early for sps, and that worries me more that you being out of town for a week. I don't feed sps, they eat fish poop.
 
I will try calling them Monday and see they can hold off on the shipping. I sure hope they can.

Thanks everyone for all your help.....
 
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