Toughest starter SPS for my tank?

[khaosinc]

I know there was at least 1 thread recently about this, but I'll be danged if I can find it.

So, What would you guys say would be the toughest (as in closest to bulletproof) SPS as far as putting up with erratic maintence in a fairly heavily stocked mixed reef. Light and flow are not an issue in my tank, but I know my reliance on huge water volumes over proper maintence most likely can be.

I have monti caps and a couple unknown SPS doing well (recovering still from their previous home) in my tank, but I've decided its time to branch out a little more. I can barely use the top 1/3d of my tank due to having to much light as it is..

What would you say are the best options for SPS to add to this tank knowing my maintence will never be much better than it is now..

750 gallon display, 2700 watts of T5 lighting, whole mess of flow, 300 gallon cryptic zone, 250 gallon fuge, and a 300 gallon softy/Angel reef in progress all tied in to the same system

 

[mak3mydae]

If you dont have it yet, birdsnest is pretty hardy. You could try some monti digi's too. They branch out to give a bit more height to your tank. I hear stylophora and pocillopora are supposed to be pretty tough too

 

[Larston]

I'd say I agree with stylophora as a hardy sps, motipora digitata seems pretty bullet proof too.

Birdsnest hardy to survive but not get to a nice pink colour so perhaps not.

 

[Reef Bass]

M. digitata is super tough and grows like a weed. M. capricornus is also very tolerant of varied conditions.

For me, seriatopora (birdsnests) are the first to go when water quality becomes less than ideal.

 

[flamron]

I'm with Reef Bass - birdsnest are my indicators that something isn't right.

Digitata would be a good choice, as would pocillipora (but it has and can go sexual and infest an entire tank).

 

[nano427]

green slimers are pretty hardy

 

[outy]

im in the same shoes, I threw 3 montis frags in the upper part of my tank

testing water is the key and try to keep changes to a minimum

 

[noobtothereef]

i tried birdsnest for my first sps, didnt take long for it to look like crap with high nitrate levels, also added a green slimer the same day, the slimer grew like nobodys business while the birdsnest withered away, i would say a green slimer, monti cap's and digitata are the easiest sps i have by a long shot, my garf bonsai is pretty darn hardy to. Beware of digitatas though, be sure to dip them as most monti eating nudi's come in on wild caught digi's, thats what happened to me, my third coral in the tank and had monti nudi's...what a pain in the butt.....but you should be dipping and qt'ing everything anyway

 

[khaosinc]

im in the same shoes, I threw 3 montis frags in the upper part of my tank

testing water is the key and try to keep changes to a minimum

Nothing changes very fast w/ 1700 gallons of water no matter how hard you try, but me and testing don't go together very well. My idea of water changes is replacing what I spilled or adding more tanks.... LOL. Granted, my spills are often the volume of some very nice tanks on this sight. Alot of my maintence goes in waves depending on how I'm feeling. Some days I do pretty good, but it might be 2 weeks before I can do it again. I use high calc/ other reef goodies salt, so I don't think I will need to dose much anytime soon as theres very little use of it in the rest of the system other than the (#*#( coraline.

With my new skimmer, my nitrates/ites are pretty good, but not zero. I like feeding the fish to much, and the pooping of 8 tangs is hard for any system to keep up with.

 

[outy]

i wish you luck, i never tested much and LPS thrived, i didnt even change water for years with GFO and a fuge and the corals thrived.

my new 215g use's atleast 2dkh in alk a day and im testing daily now to keep levels perfect. I can say honestly before i thought my parameters were fine.

im getting a calcium reactor this time around cause im tired of daily dosing and sometimes twice in a day to keep the swings down.

for me SPS is testing and testing some more lol atleast now i have something to do

 

[khaosinc]

I'm not looking to pack this tank to the gills with SPS, mostly I want some in the center/top area of the tank. I'm hoping large water volume can cover the rest. Whats sad is that SPS is cheaper than Xenia and Kenya trees around here.

 

[prospectclmt]

I would agree on montis as well. One of my first and it did well in not so good sps conditions.