SPS and LPS Coral

[bangbangkhan]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process making my tank reef ready. I like both SPS and LPS corals. A fellow local reefer was saying that it's very hard to keep both together because of their temperament.

So i wanted to know can a wide variety of both be kept in the same tank or only some are compatible with the other?

Thanks!

 

[elegance coral]

How big is the tank? The bigger the tank, the easier this is. If you can provide a high flow/light area for SPS and a low flow/light area for LPS you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[bangbangkhan]

How big is the tank? The bigger the tank, the easier this is. If you can provide a high flow/light area for SPS and a low flow/light area for LPS you shouldn't have any problems.

I have a 90 gallon dt.

I currently don't have any kind of reactors right now...which one should I consider first?

 

[bangbangkhan]

After doing some research i found out that i would need to keep the nutrients level in my tank very low to be able to keep some of the sps and lps corals i want.

the most popular options i saw people use is either using a phosbane/bio-pallet reactor or the zeovit system.

can anyone please share their experience with either of the system over a period of 1+ years? pictures will be an added bonus.

 

[Dexters Reef]

I keep SPS and LPS in my 75G reef, and only run a sump/skimmer/refugium. The problem I had at first was the SPS demanded high flow, so I had to reposition my frogspawn and duncans, but after that everythings been fine together without any extra equipment

Heres a video, I need to upload a new one becuase my sps grown since this was made has been great!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21050916&postcount=15

 

[bangbangkhan]

I keep SPS and LPS in my 75G reef, and only run a sump/skimmer/refugium. The problem I had at first was the SPS demanded high flow, so I had to reposition my frogspawn and duncans, but after that everythings been fine together without any extra equipment

Heres a video, I need to upload a new one becuase my sps grown since this was made has been great!

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=21050916&postcount=15

awesome tank man! thanks for sharing your experience with me! what parameters do you keep in your tank? kh, CA, mg, temp?

 

[epicurus84]

Unless you are trying to starve the corals with ultra low nutrients (no nitrates/phosphates) it doesn't matter keep the Nitrates around 3. And both LPS and SPS will do fine.

Also you can keep LPS way lower in the tank they mostly do not require much light. So building up the reef with LPS on the bottom and SPS on the top will also save you some money because you don't have to buy lighting that supports sps on the bottom.

I even think most reef tanks are build up like that.

 

[nkd5024]

I also keep sps and lps in a 75 gallon tank. I have pretty high flow from an mp40 and an mp10 and pretty high light from a diy led fixture which obviously limits where I can position the LPS. I usually have to keep them in the lower 3rd of the tank.

I couldn't imagine having a strictly lps or sps tank.

 

[bangbangkhan]

Unless you are trying to starve the corals with ultra low nutrients (no nitrates/phosphates) it doesn't matter keep the Nitrates around 3. And both LPS and SPS will do fine.

Also you can keep LPS way lower in the tank they mostly do not require much light. So building up the reef with LPS on the bottom and SPS on the top will also save you some money because you don't have to buy lighting that supports sps on the bottom.

I even think most reef tanks are build up like that.

That's a very good idea...maybe I can get away with just a calc reactor and bio-pallet reactor. I already have Vega Led so lighting won't be an issue any where in the tank...I really think it would look awesome with lps on the bottom, plates in the middle and sps on the top and sides.

 

[Epicreefer]

Adequate sps lighting on top is good for lps on the bottom most of the time. Beyond lighting powerhead placement is going to make the biggest effect, you want as high of flow as possible up top, pushing 75-100x tank volume for the sps, but positioned so the tissue of the lps doesn't tear or look like a palm tree in a hurricane. I have knowticed that more lower power power heads seems to make this work easier than fewer high flow power heads. Nutrient wise lps does better with higher nuts, and some sps with lower, there is a sensitive middle zone. A phosban reactor works on a parabolic curve, it start a by removing a lot then over time is removes less and less. Biopellets are more even but can strip the water of nutrients so begin with half the recommended dose and view results. A good skimmer rated at 2x water volume and high flow are the two main things to work on. Keeping nutrients under control and alk,ca and mg stable is next. Some carbon is a necessity to remove toxins. Ive run a number of mixed reefs like you described trial and error are the only way to perfect it.

 

[bangbangkhan]

Adequate sps lighting on top is good for lps on the bottom most of the time. Beyond lighting powerhead placement is going to make the biggest effect, you want as high of flow as possible up top, pushing 75-100x tank volume for the sps, but positioned so the tissue of the lps doesn't tear or look like a palm tree in a hurricane. I have knowticed that more lower power power heads seems to make this work easier than fewer high flow power heads. Nutrient wise lps does better with higher nuts, and some sps with lower, there is a sensitive middle zone. A phosban reactor works on a parabolic curve, it start a by removing a lot then over time is removes less and less. Biopellets are more even but can strip the water of nutrients so begin with half the recommended dose and view results. A good skimmer rated at 2x water volume and high flow are the two main things to work on. Keeping nutrients under control and alk,ca and mg stable is next. Some carbon is a necessity to remove toxins. Ive run a number of mixed reefs like you described trial and error are the only way to perfect it.

Thanks!

 

[Dexters Reef]

awesome tank man! thanks for sharing your experience with me! what parameters do you keep in your tank? kh, CA, mg, temp?

Thank you!

Alk - 8.9-9 via dosing pumps 3x a day
CA -430 via dosing pumps 4x a day
mg - dont test too often but I believe its around 1300 not sure what it currently is but last time I checked a few weeks ago it was 1330

temp - varies between 77 and 78
nitrates/nitrites/ammonia - undetectable with salifert kits
sg - 1.024
phosphates - between 0 and .03