How to tell if you are ready to grow SPS

[Jackg962]

65 G tank has been growing good for about a year now. CA an KH have been stable with dosing. one LED strip and a pair of T5 with actinic. Phosphate around .2 CA around 400 and KH is about 9.5 to 10. growing LPS and soft coral and mushrooms not. Is there anyway to tell if I am ready to start SPS?

 

[LawmanRob]

Can you be a bit more specific about your lighting, mostly wattage of the leds.

 

[watchguy123]

Sure sounds like you are ready, you're testing parameters, you have been keeping your tank for while.

You need to do all the obvious things for sps , test the whole list of parameters ( nitrate, phosphate, alk, ca, mag, salinity and temp) and you need to keep them stable. You need good flow, and your lights need to be adequate for sps. Lawman is correct, I don't know if your lighting is adequate or not based on limited info provided, so you need to confirm if your current set up is adequate lighting Year old tanks are great for oh so many reasons, stuff in the tank matures and settles in, and you have proven the test of time as well with your routine.

Start with not too expensive sps frags. Happy frags tend to have wonderful polyp extension and good idea to start with nicely colored up frags. Don't buy too many frags until you are sure your tank is supportive of productive growth (that means you have happy corals). Pests are endemic, I am a fan of Bayer dip so,read about preventing pests, lots of threads on it. Careful, sps are addictive

 

[rogerwilco357]

I knew after I went thru the softies phase and lps then finally sps ..but stuff happens and you must be ready to roll with it..good luck and welcome to your new addiction (sps).

 

[Jackg962]

I have a 4 bulb 36" fixture with 2 T5's an 2 actinic bulbs. My tank really started doing good a year ago when I added a 36" ecoxitic strip of LED's, made up of 2 white LEDs an 1 blue LED all the way down strip. I am not sure of wattage. Going to MACNAthis week so I plan on learning all about LEDs an SPS .

 

[biggles]

It sounds like you're all set to go a bit wacky and start keeping SPS Is your phos really as high as 0.2 or did you mean 0.02, if it's at .2 you'll need to put measures in place to drop it drastically. With a year under your belt there's no reason you can't have success keeping SPS as long as you ensure your water, feeding and lighting are appropriate.
I'd suggest ditching the actinics and replacing them with at least 2 x ATI blue plus bulbs - 3 is better and use a purple or whiter bulb for the fourth. The B+ bulbs will drastically increase your PAR levels which i think you need. I'd suggest you do it one tube at a time to acclimate the corals you currently keep prior to trying an SPS coral with a big light upgrade and burning everything else you already had.
Just a few ideas to think about mate and there are plenty more things to consider but if you have good husbandry practices now you won't find the transition to SPS much of a leap, more of a tightening of those practices to keep things in the right place for long lengths of time. :thumbsup:

Think of SPS as the spoiled brats of the hobby, they get spoiled rotten with the best of everything, cost you a fortune trying to keep them happy and despite all this if you forget to pamper them for just one day they can have a tissue sloughing tantrum that will shatter you.........
Look forward to seeing you take the plunge :thumbsup:

 

[Jackg962]

Thx Biggles, With my Hanna digital phosphate checker the last reading was .23. I had phosphate as low as .13 to .17. I am running GFO and Dr Tims bio balls to help with phosphates and nitrates. Lowest i have got nitrates is 2 PPM. I have a refugium with chaeto and mangroves in the sump.

 

[animalkingdom]

It would probably be a good idea to find the source of your phosphates and get them lower if possible if you want to keep more demanding sps
common possible sources:
Over Feeding
Top off and makeup water

 

[Jackg962]

I know my water is good, I am probably guilty of overfeeding. Usually my 65G tank gets 2 frozen cubes of mysis, or copepods, or reef one once a day.

 

[Biocubehqi]

I know my water is good, I am probably guilty of overfeeding. Usually my 65G tank gets 2 frozen cubes of mysis, or copepods, or reef one once a day.

yeah that's way to much, your fish must be huge lol