Tank ready for sps?

[Gpettit86]

My 90 gallon tank has been set up now for five months and I've been chomping at the bits to finally start adding sps to my tank.

Tank Specs

Lighting- 2 250w metal halides 20k giesemann fixture
Sump- 29 gallon with refugium
Skimmer- deltec (cant remember the model number but is for at least a 180)
Live rock- 100 pound premium fiji
Power heads- mp 40 and soon another mp 10

tested today

ammonia- 0
nitrite -0
ph 8.0
nitrate 0
mag 1520
dkh 8
calcium 450
1.024

tank mates
orange back fairy wrasse
scopas tang (very small)
hippo tang (even smaller)
green mandarin ( add 200-1000 copepods weekly from my copepod tank)
spotted blenny ( girlfriend picked out without talking to me)
two clowns
clean up crew (emerald crab gonna be killed soon if i can't catch it because he eats my australian zoas)
Seabae nem which gets bigger by the week

i know that i need a bigger tank for the tangs when they get bigger and i am already building a bigger tank but do to weight issues we can't set it up until the new house is done so it will be another year

I found a few frags today that i love from ora and was wondering if i have the right equipment / tank parameters to start sps

 

[Gpettit86]

one thing i forgot to say is that i understand the 20k wont give me great growth but from what i understand it will give me good color and for me i would rather have good color and slower growth just because i'm in it for the long run and i'm in no rush to fill my tank with coral.

 

[REEF SMAC]

Looks like you pretty much have all the makings of sucess to me.

Your salinity is a little lower than I would prefer it. IME 1.025-1.027 makes my SPS a lot happier. I try to shoot for the middle at 1.026.

Your life will be easier if you know what your phosphate level is.
A meter is the only way to go IMO.

20k lights are gonna work just fine for you.

Always a good idea to try one or two easier SPS first and see how they do before you spend a bunch of money on something pricey.
Not sure what ORA specimen your looking at but ORA does have some good hardy SPS "test pilots" in their line up.
Lot better than trying out some wild and/or maricultured one IMO.

 

[Gpettit86]

Oops I forgot to put phosate in there... Just rechecked it and it was at 0... I'm trying to raise the salinity slowly cause I agree it should be higher.. I picked up a ponape frag and another one... Fingers crossed

 

[Yedgy]

Stylophora, Pocillopora, Seriatopora, and Montipora are great starter SPS corals. They're not easy, but they tend to be slightly less demanding than Acropora. Good luck and post updates!

 

[r-balljunkie]

one year is a good break point for a tank to start stocking sps, IMHO. start slow, and dont splurge on high$$ stuff until you get a good handle on params and growth.

GL
C

 

[blackthunda77]

One good rule of thumb that i like to go by and that i have experienced first hand is that if your coraline algae has started to take off then you are most likely ready for SPS. I had a hard time keeping SPS and thier proper color with my new tank. Almost overnight when i observed an explosion of coraline algae i also noticed alot of my sps frags starting to encrust the plugs and the color getting more vibrant.

 

[BrianN]

I would try some hardy SPS frags first (birdnest, poccipora...) to see how they react in your tank. If they color up and start see some growth, you're good to go