SPS rookie help! lol

[champs215]

I have a 90 reef right now with only a couple of fish. (Black clown, mandarin, lawnmower blenny, small blue tang) I have a carpet anemone, some coral, and a clam. Right now I have 6 48" T-5's, a protein skimmer, wavemaker, and a uv sterilizer. I want to venture into the SPS world, lol. Any recommendations for easier SPS and any tips for keeping them?

 

[phenom5]

Tips for keeping them...

Focus on 3 things.

1. Water quality
2. Water quality
3. Lighting
4. Flow

(And yes, I listed water quality twice on purpose.)

NO3 & PO4 need to be low. NO3 less than 10ppm, PO4 less than 0.03ppm.
Ca of 400-450ppm.
Alk of 8-11DKh
Mg of 1200-1350 (3x Ca)
Salinity of 35ppt

There's a bit of debate regarding temp. Some say keep it stable, some say some swing is okay. I get a 3-4 degree swing depending on the time of year, 78/79-81/82 for me. I also prefer to keep my alk towards the lower end of things between 8-9 DKh. PO4 should be checked with a Hanna meter, our hobby grade kits don't really have the accuracy we need. The new-ish Hanna Phosphate Checker is pretty accurate, and reasonably priced. Salinity should be checked with a calibrated refractomer, and an ATO is a must IMO...for the stability of the salinity, and the individual maintaining the tank.

Can you give more details about your lighting?

Can you give a little more detail about your flow?


As far as good SPS to start out with...

Montipora are generally pretty hardy. Green Slimer (a. yongei) is pretty tough as far as acropora go. I've found milliepora to be pretty forgiving as well.

 

[champs215]

thanks for the quick reply! I have 3 maxijet 900's connected to the wavemaker and I have the 2 coming from the sump. My water parameters are all in the right ranges. My alk is a little low at about 8. As for the lights I have 3 actinics and 3 12,000 k. Temp is between 78 and 81 everyday.

 

[phenom5]

I would consider bumping up the flow. You want a lot of random, turbulent flow. 30x turnover would be the minimum I would shoot for with SPS. The MJ's have pretty a pretty narrow stream of flow. Koralia's would be a big improvement IMO. Vortechs would be ideal if they're in the budget.

What type of light fixture are you using? Bulbs?

8 for alk is perfect, but you want to make sure you can keep it there. IME my SPS tolerate an alk swing within the 8-11 range, but a smaller swing say from 8 to 7 can be problematic.

 

[champs215]

I have a koralia 4 laying around that i can put in there or you think its too much? I can buy a smaller 1, maybe a koralia 2 or 3? As for the lights, I have 2 geisemann super actinic, the rest are cheaper bulbs tho. 3 12k wavepoint and 1 actinic wavepoint. The light fixture is a retrofit kit thats on the canopy.

 

[champs215]

This is what it looks like right now.

 

[phenom5]

Nice looking tank. :thumbsup:

I think you'll be fine with your lighting, although you'll probably want to replace the wavepoint bulbs with something else when you're due for new bulbs. I'm not familiar with the wave points, but I know the cheaper bulbs tend to have lower PAR values than the better quality bulbs like the Giesemann/ ATI/ UVL/ KZ bulbs. Is it a wavepoint retro? Sorry for all the lighting questions.

I'd definitely add the K4. If it were me I'd probably add the K4 you have and another Koralia. Maybe a K3 or another K4, or one of the new Koralia evolutions. The Koralia's have a pretty broad flow, so the softies & LPS will be fine with the increased flow. But adding the K4 would at least get you going.

 

[champs215]

Thanks!! Its still a work in progress, it's a recent hand me down and I had to redo it since it was so unkept. Im not sure the brand of the retro. Awesome! Ill probably pop that koralia in there and see how it goes! Thanks again phenom!

edit: Sunlight Supply Tek Retro. I saw a pic online and thats the same 1 I have.