Moving on up...

Joon16

New member
I want to move up to keeping some SPS. Right now I have a green "antler coral" which has been doing well so far so I think I can try some new stuff. I have an Aquatic Life 4 bulb light and 2 Maxi-Jet 1200 as well as a Mag 12 for the return from my sump so I have a decent amount of flow. I will be making the switch to ATI bulbs (B+,B+,Coral+,P+). What would be some good starters for me with this setup? I have plenty of green in the tank and would like to add some different colors (red/blue/purple/yellow). Sorry if I'm :deadhorse: but want to make sure my lighting and flow can handle the corals before I make any purchases.

90g tank (7 months old)
cal 410
mg 1230
alk 8.3
Nitrates 0
Phos .25
 
I could be wrong, but your phosphate seems like it might be a bit high to me to be able to house thriving sps. Do you feed a lot currently?

Also, what wattage are your bulbs?
 
I'm working on bringing my phosphates down now. I just need to find the root of the problem. I don't think it is feeding because I only feed Mysis/pellets once a day and never more than they can eat in a minute or two. I think it might be my rock. I started with tap water so I'm thinking they may be leaching phosphates. The bulbs are 4x54w so I'm running about 2.4 watts per gallon. (If you base it on total volume and not net volume) I won't add the SPS until phosphates are under control but I want to get an idea of what would be good to start with so I can research the care/needs of them before I commit to anything.
 
I'm working on bringing my phosphates down now. I just need to find the root of the problem. I don't think it is feeding because I only feed Mysis/pellets once a day and never more than they can eat in a minute or two. I think it might be my rock. I started with tap water so I'm thinking they may be leaching phosphates. The bulbs are 4x54w so I'm running about 2.4 watts per gallon. (If you base it on total volume and not net volume) I won't add the SPS until phosphates are under control but I want to get an idea of what would be good to start with so I can research the care/needs of them before I commit to anything.

I would bring down your phosphates a bit further with rowaphos, but everything else looks pretty good. I would start with some forgiving SPS species first, maybe a monti digitata or a monti cap, or a mille, or even a tricolour acro or stag. Get a cheap frag or two of those types of SPS corals, see how they do, and build from there.

Nice chocolate lab btw - mine is almost 6 years old, hard to believe.
 
Are you using an API test kit for phosphates? You should try to use another test kit to test the phosphates if you are as that test kit doesn't measure phosphates low enough.
 
Thanks jroovers! Mine just turned 3 is is finally starting to calm down thanks god! Lol I really like the acros and stags. That's exactly what I was looking for. Ill have to look into rowaphos. I was looking at nopox but it's great to have more
Suggestions.

Dunc- I'm using RedSea for all my tests. I learned the hard way buying API then having to spend more for all the RedSea.
 
Thanks jroovers! Mine just turned 3 is is finally starting to calm down thanks god! Lol I really like the acros and stags. That's exactly what I was looking for. Ill have to look into rowaphos. I was looking at nopox but it's great to have more
Suggestions.

Dunc- I'm using RedSea for all my tests. I learned the hard way buying API then having to spend more for all the RedSea.

OK. That is good to know. I agree with the above posters that you need to get your PO4 down. A good GFO (BRS for instance) or rowaphos should work fine. .03 is a good level to shoot for.

With your PO4 at .25 are you having any algae issues? What about cyanobacteria b/c your nitrates are low and PO4 is pretty high?

As far as nopox, from my personal experience, it brings down the nitrates VERY fast (after 1 week in my case it went from approx 15 - 0.0 or so), but it takes a while to bring the PO4 down (takes a while for the proper bacteria to establish).

Just as a reference because we mentioned nopox, Red Sea recommends a nitrate level of 1-2 ppm nitrate and PO4 at .1 ppm for accelerated growth and 0.25 nitrate ppm and .02 ppm PO4 for enhanced color.
 
OK. That is good to know. I agree with the above posters that you need to get your PO4 down. A good GFO (BRS for instance) or rowaphos should work fine. .03 is a good level to shoot for.

With your PO4 at .25 are you having any algae issues? What about cyanobacteria b/c your nitrates are low and PO4 is pretty high?

As far as nopox, from my personal experience, it brings down the nitrates VERY fast (after 1 week in my case it went from approx 15 - 0.0 or so), but it takes a while to bring the PO4 down (takes a while for the proper bacteria to establish).

Just as a reference because we mentioned nopox, Red Sea recommends a nitrate level of 1-2 ppm nitrate and PO4 at .1 ppm for accelerated growth and 0.25 nitrate ppm and .02 ppm PO4 for enhanced color.

I have been having some brown hair algae problems that I have been working on over the past few weeks. I finally got it contained to just the refugium so the DT is 100% clear. I will look into either the GFO or rowaphos. I tried Chemipure Elite but that clearly doesnt have enough feric oxide or whatever to lower them enough. Thanks for the pointers. I will try one of those and then hopefully I can get some Acro/Stag in there within the next month or two. Thanks all for the help! You guys are honestly the best :beer:
 
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