How many yrs in the hobby before SPS success?.....
- Thread starter dvanacker
- Start date
dvanacker
DID I SOUNDS SMRT??
8 years. More lost corals than I care to admit, and hundreds if not thousands of hours reading through the experiences of fellow RCers . . .
....that is the type of honesty I was looking for and wow just look at that picture...a beautiful reef you got there.
I too have killed more corals than I care to admit....but since we are being honest I guess it would be around 10 or so maricultured and wild corals...and Im sure almost as many frags as well over the years. I have many corals that I almost killed and than have to grow back to decent size again....
sweet ride
New member
I'll jump in, am going to say for me it's about 5 years in the hobby and about 1 1/2 year with SPS almost an SPS dominated tank. The way I look/measure success is it's all in the eyes on who's looking at your system. In my case I it feels like I have a long way to go, but to some people that have seen the system there comments says that the system is successful.
I started having success (growing frags into large colonies) after I started regular water changes, keeping my hands out of the tank and keeping the corals in one spot without constantly moving them to reaquascape. I find that they grow best if you just leave them. I guess it was around my 4th active year in the hobby, prior to that it was always "mixed" reefs and not sps dominant.
CUNAReefer
New member
8 years. More lost corals than I care to admit, and hundreds if not thousands of hours reading through the experiences of fellow RCers . . .
I want to take this pic, print it in some sort of high def format, and hang it on the wall! Simply Awesome Picture!!!
williamjhitchcock
New member
glad to hear honest responses. I have been in and out of the hobby for like 12 years now. My new tank has been up for a year now and almost all of my sps have survived and have nice colors. getting them all to grow quickly is another story.
sslak
New member
Can we see a picture of your tank? Growth shots would be ideal.
How many years has it been running?
What filtration methods do you use?
Logzor
New member
This is really up to interpretation so everyone is right in one way or another.
Here is my take on the subject: Someone who is truly successful with SPS probably should have a handful of large, colorful, healthy sps corals that are at least a few years old.
This means they have sustained their system without introducing pests, have kept the corals alive long enough to grow into colonies, not overcrowded their tank, and maintained good parameters.
This reminds me of a similar discussion brought to one of our meetings by Anthony Calfo. He basically stated that he can't consider himself successful keeping certain fish, even though he has had them for 8+ years, because in the wild they live for 20+. I'm not sure that this applies here because corals can live for a REALLY long time in the wild....so success relative to what?
I've been keeping SPS for around 3 years now. I have a few very large, colorful, healthy colonies that I have had since then. I think I am finally getting to the point where I can avoid all the stupid mistakes (because I've made them all already). Having said that, from here out I would consider myself keeping sps successfully.
Here is my take on the subject: Someone who is truly successful with SPS probably should have a handful of large, colorful, healthy sps corals that are at least a few years old.
This means they have sustained their system without introducing pests, have kept the corals alive long enough to grow into colonies, not overcrowded their tank, and maintained good parameters.
This reminds me of a similar discussion brought to one of our meetings by Anthony Calfo. He basically stated that he can't consider himself successful keeping certain fish, even though he has had them for 8+ years, because in the wild they live for 20+. I'm not sure that this applies here because corals can live for a REALLY long time in the wild....so success relative to what?
I've been keeping SPS for around 3 years now. I have a few very large, colorful, healthy colonies that I have had since then. I think I am finally getting to the point where I can avoid all the stupid mistakes (because I've made them all already). Having said that, from here out I would consider myself keeping sps successfully.
ChicagoReefOne
New member
I'm coming up on my 2 year in SPS in a few months (well 4 months) and I'm also coming up on a MAJOR re-aquascape I'm going to do in 2 days. I don't think the SPS started picking up growth until the tank was pretty mature at least 8 months old or something.
I feel successful in the frags/colonies I've kept for a long time and grown out, less successful with the rockwork obviously.
I think success is a lot like what other people would say: Not ever putting your hands in the tank because
a) The rockwork is permanent and satisfying
b) The corals are optimally sited for color and long term growth--if there was one thing I learned it is that SPS don't grow much if you are moving them around a lot.
And of course you can't be successful if things are dying or not looking good.
In my own terms I've been success with keeping stuff alive, more successful when I get settled on the rockwork.
I feel successful in the frags/colonies I've kept for a long time and grown out, less successful with the rockwork obviously.
I think success is a lot like what other people would say: Not ever putting your hands in the tank because
a) The rockwork is permanent and satisfying
b) The corals are optimally sited for color and long term growth--if there was one thing I learned it is that SPS don't grow much if you are moving them around a lot.
And of course you can't be successful if things are dying or not looking good.
In my own terms I've been success with keeping stuff alive, more successful when I get settled on the rockwork.
REEF SMAC
New member
I'll definately say that luck is a huge factor. (for me it was anyway)
I had only owned a coral tank with "easy" soft corals for about a year. Everything I read at the time made it sound to me that keeping SPS alive was going to be extemely difficult. One day a good friend gave me some SPS frags "to take home and try it out". I can't believe I waited so long. I was too scared to make the leap and it turned out to be easier than I thought. Those same SPS frags turned out to be by far, the fastest and easiest to grow I have ever owned. (no doubt why my friend was giving them away in the first place)
That said-
I have had many frags since that have done really well for me that I have been trimming for more than 5 years. -Success!
I have had frags that I just could not keep alive no matter what I tried. -Failure!
