SPS spacing?

[StrategicReef]

I have a 24 gallon, so space is at a premium.
I was wondering how close can SPS frags in placed together? I have seen some people's tank the colonies a quite close together. But I am new at this.

 

[CaptainPicard]

Stick to LPS until you get a bigger tank...

 

[dukes707]

gosh bro, dont be so quick to shoot him down. --sps's can be close together just as long as they are not touching one another. although you might want to be careful with certain species such as A. Yongei/green slimer because as they stress they release a toxic slime as defense that might irritate surrounding corals. as well you might wanna take into account growth. you say your tank is a 24g, you might not wanna cram a whole bunch of frags in there as they do grow, some quite quickly i might add. hope this helps.

 

[fuzzyt]

dukes, thanks for the info. I just set up a 29 and had the same question. Us newbs appreciate the helpful answers.

 

[dots]

Well, I would say by the time they actually start touching and really start to interact, you will have caught the SPS bug so bad that they will have been put into another tank. Or that you will start out with cheaper more common ones and upgrade to rarer or rarer ones, and while doing this will thin the herd.

But refering to the first post, you will probably have other problems bigger than interaction, such as how to keep up with the alk/ca demand on a densly populated nano.

I say don't worry about it, stick with "friendlier" genus and save for that upgrade.

 

[reefdood]

I assume you have the correct light and water parameters for SPS, so picture in your mind how big you'd LIKE them to grow before you have to frag branches, then go from there. Salifert tests, water changes, and Randy's home made two part are the are the best way to keep up with Ca./ Alk on a smaller tank IME. Temp, pH, and salinity stability are the real pains of a smaller tank.

 

[Frankysreef]

u are gonna have problems when they start touching each other, which they will. SPS will kill parts of other colonies easily especially milleporas.

Keeping the stability in such a small tank is going to be difficult also... And keep in mind the expense of sps frags.... They die quick.

Either get a bigger tank, or stick with zoos and softies.

 

[Lobster]

Wow you guys are harsh!

I have a 30G display, so its a little larger than yours, but there's also a 30G sump behind it on the floor, so I've got about 50G total. If 24G is your total water volume, then yes, it will be tough keeping stable parameters. What I did was buy a cheap cabinet at Office Depot, reinforced it with a frame made of cheap lumber from Home Depot. I put my my tank on top, and the sump in the bottom part. Works fine!

I run bare-bottom with Deltec APF600, almost 2000GPH of flow, and 150W 10K MH. I use B-Ionic for calcium/alk, but have a Deltect Ca reactor lying around if the time comes.

Its been running for about six months, and I have around 35 SPS frags in the tank right now. About eight are milles. They're growing nicely, but I'm not very colorful yet -- working on that.

WHY? I live in an apartment and I dont have room for a large tank. We're buying a house within a year, and by then I should have some small colonies ready for it instead of starting fresh with a bunch of silly little sticks.

So, dont let people get you too down. If 24G is the most system volume you can get, there are definitely SPS you can keep provided you give them the right conditions. People do it all the time.

 

[saltycreefer]

had a friend with a 26 bow full of thriving sps . he also had a 175watt pendant, a 10 gal. sump, and a skimmer rated to 75 gals.

 

[StrategicReef]

My salinity is OK. I check couple times a day it is always 1.026, I have a dual float switch ATO that I built. Please don't assume because I have a small tank I do not have the equipment to keep things stable. I try to anyway. I have a chiller, protein skimmer, heater all controlled by a controller, and 150W MH. Temperature is kept to +/- 1F through out the day. I put alot of money so incase I need to upgrade to a bigger tank, I can, but right now I do not have the space and the weight of a 55G concerns me. The only thing that I don't have is a big volume of water.

I have test kits for most things beside strontium and magnesium and I test few times a week for now.. Ca and Alk are always checked and balanced as needed. Still learning..

 

[Norwood IND]

How long has your tank been up? As everyone is stating, stability is the key with sps. Hard to do so in such a small tank but not impossible.

If you really want to start trying to keep sps start with some less demanding ones first like montepora digitatas, birdnest, green slimer.

 

[jay24k]

I recommend giving each colony a 5 inch diameter minimum. How big do you want the colony to be? You can pack em now but as they grow, you will have to thin them out.

In all reality, you need to not look for a rule of thumb but what species.

Capricornis - They grow very large and can grow vertical. I have 2 that are abou 6 to 7 inches of vertical plates and about 12 inches wide. Yes I can trim it but I like that size.

Milles - Grow mainly very wide. Not Hight.

THose are just two examples of the many types. You need to find out what you really want, look at how their growth is and go from there. If you want a rule of thumb, I'd say 5 inches though.

 

[Cody Ray]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8160116#post8160116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Frankysreef
u are gonna have problems when they start touching each other, which they will. SPS will kill parts of other colonies easily especially milleporas.

Keeping the stability in such a small tank is going to be difficult also... And keep in mind the expense of sps frags.... They die quick.

Either get a bigger tank, or stick with zoos and softies.

Always soo fast to shoot an sps nano down!

I would agree that spacing depends on how large u want the colony to grow. I personally put one coral on each rock so that if I have to move something in the future it won't be such an issue (such as reaquascaping or a tank upgrade).

 

[clkwrk]

If you pick and choose you can get sps to live in harmony in close range . If avail I recomend 6" Although half of mine are closer than that but I can also remove or move every single colony in my tank with ease.

 

[Sk8r]

To be basically safe, keep them so if they tip they won't touch [I have 2 fighting conches, and some of mine are stuck in the sand.] and so that if the glue doesn't hold they won't fall on each other. Six inches is a good rule, but I have a frag area mid-sand and directly under the light where the little ones sit at about 3" apart, until their growth gets started. I'm at the must-sell-some stage, because I've had a little damage by growing corals getting too close to each other.

 

[Cody Ray]

Must sell or must upgrade

 

[dukes707]

strategicreef & fuzzyt

most important is water quality. good parameters and stability. i cant emphasize that enough so i will say it again -good parameters and stability. they are a must if you wanna keep sps's healthy. you might want to see randy's reef chemistry section to learrn more. read, read, and re-read his articles until your brain swells and your eyes fall out, or until you get it right i guess. randy's a freakin genius when it comes to reef chemitry. chances are someone else has had the same prob you have and he has addressed it already. so read them and take notes. dont trip guys i am not at all a pro nor do i claim to be, just a fellow reefer tryin to help. if you got a question then ask on here, there are a multitude of helpful folks on here that can help, and a few a$$e$ who will shoot you down, but dont let if phaze you. ask-learn and move on. someones quote on their subtext is "the only dumb question, is the one not asked" how true it is.

sk8tr

dude if you gotta frag soon i got some space . holla !!!

 

[Frankysreef]

This hobby is expensive... just trying to save the guy some money. I have a 225 gal tank started with mostly frags, it has been up 1yr 3 mos... and it grows soo fast that most all corals are touching each other or will soon.

I have corals that grow through each other on top of each other, and generally all over the place...

And since they are all attached to big rocks it is even harder to frag without a landslide....

Happy corals grow quick and you will be out of room within 3-4 mos. Then you'll be out of room, and since you'll need a bigger tank, then you'll need a bigger pumps bigger skimmers.... and soo on... then you'll have to sell the small stuff....

Fraggin a lot just doesnt work... You frag too much and sometimes the prize coral will start to STN on you...

I have a beautiful turaki that everyone wanted of course and I fragged it too much and almost lost the colony... so

I am not being an a$$ just trying to save you time and money.

 

[cwegescheide]

One of the most impressive tanks I've ever seen anywhere was at Premium Aquatics and it was a 46 bowfront. Incredible colored corals, live rock looked like it had a THICK purple, pink green glaze and he probably had about 25 or 30 different nice sized sps. If you do it right you could probably have about 20 or 25 sps in there but it will be packed in no time. I've had my 90 gallon up a little over a year and I have about 45 or 50 in there and I wish I didn't have that many. I think what's really impressive is nice large colorful colonies. So choose selectively and be patient while they grow. To me its much more impressive when people grow corals from frags to nice sized colonies anyway.