LPS Info needed

[reefnewbie54321]

Ive always kept SPS and Im setting up a new 120 and after seeing my friends extremly cool LPS/Softie tank I think I'm converted. The only thing is I cant find any info on how to keep LPS???

In the SPS section there are links to many helpful threads along with articles ect. but after browing not only reefcentral but googling stuff aswell I still cant seem to find any good info on how to keep LPS.

Does anyone have links to helpful articles, threads ect. becuase I cant find any.

And from what I know theres a big diffrence between keeping LPS and SPS

 

[MiddletonMark]

Personally, the only differences I see are:
different light preferences - though not very different [just not super duper high light, generally]
flow differences - some would be damaged by too high of flow or not open completely
feeding preferences - some IME do far better when target-fed ... none of my SPS noticeably change for target feeding.

But - water quality and the like - no changes at all. Scientifically, they're all stony corals so all would thrive in the same water conditions.

Check this article for some good insights, IMO:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-03/cj/index.php

 

[reefnewbie54321]

what about aquasquaping? my friend said you have to be careful were you place certian corals becuase they will "fight"

 

[ucsb_irishman]

Many LPS corals such as frogspawn and galaxia have sweeping tentacles that can easily stretch 12". So I would recommend keeping them far from your other corals.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

Far from other types of corals (ex. Soft Corals, Zoo's and SPS) or just any other coral in general? (including other LPS Corals)

Thats gunna make aquasquaping pretty tricky

 

[IslandCrow]

There are many types of LPS that are in the same family and can be kept close together without problems, like frogspawn, torch and hammer corals. They also don't all have stinging tentacles. It's really a case by case basis, so it can get a little tricky. It's not that bad, though. Right now, I have a hammer whose never shown the swinging tentacles they're reputed for, a candy cane whose tentacles are only about 1/4 inch, an open brain whose tentacles are also very short (though the sting seems to be significant enough to keep my cleaner shrimp at bay), and a cup pagoda who's completely benign. I just keep the ones that have potential for not playing well together separated, and everyone gets along just great. If you have a smaller tank, you'll probably want to be more selective with what types of LPS you put together.

 

[David Grigor]

I have been a serious SPS/Acropora guy for many years.

Middlemark hit the mark pretty well.

Only a few things I will add/reinforce:

Amount of flow isn't quite as important as with acropora, it's still important to have some alternating flow but can get by with much less and more gently sweeping type flow.

I still prefer to overskim with LPS tank so that doesn't change. Especially handy when tend to overfeed LPS corals.

The only additives I use (outside of ALK/CA ), is iodine ( only with xenia present ) and strontium to help keep coraline growing like mad under flourescents.

With Ca reactors and sorts on SPS dominate tanks, people generally run pretty high ALK levels. With LPS dominate tanks, keeping ALK closer to normal SW levels of 7DKH or slightly above. Main thing is to try to keep ALK and CA levels consistant and not near as important to be pushing the values.

I personally find great success with just keeping it simple. I really like the use of Kalkwasser on my LPS/Softy tanks ( as long as you have good redundancy to keep from overdosing ) and just do semi regular ( once or twice a week ) adjustments to the CA / ALK with addives vs. CA reactor.

My personal favorite Lighting for LPS is still VHOs. Never been fond of PCs and for the LPS is have I found that results with T5s ( used them for a year on Icecap ballasts ) were not as favorable from a coloration ( they tended to be lighter in color with T5s ) and coral extension some LPS more than others but talking in just general terms. 150W DE MH and 175W do well too but no real advantage that I found over using VHOs and nice to keep a tank with little worries of heat like SPS dominate tanks. Some soft corals and euphyillia LPS, zoanthids types do very well with 250W and above but certainly not required to be successful, I honestly think it's electricity wasted for a LPS dominate tank but everyone is different.

With using VHOs, It's much easier to keep lower temps. I shoot for 78 which was darn near impossible with SPS dominate tanks because of the lighting.

Again, lots of ways to do it. Just gave my personal preferences as a reference not that it is the only way to do it.

 

[reefnewbie54321]

Thanks for the input