Whats the secret to sps

[dunk373]

I've seen Sps do ok in high nitrate but not long term I have seen them die if you Change something on purpose or accidentally like 2.0 p04 then throw too much gfo. Or alk swings but if you keep it stable success will follow and make small changes. And my exp. has been if its not growing it's dying if the coral sits there a couple weeks and isn't basing or getting bigger it most likely isn't happy.

 

[moondoggy4]

Tagging along also. My tank will be 33 gallons.

 

[sirreal63]

IME pay attention to the big three, calcium, alk and mag, keep po4 and no3 low, don't skimp on flow or light. If you think you have too much flow or light, you are probably kidding yourself. I like to feed the tank heavily and export heavily, corals need plenty of food but you have to add and remove, add and remove, etc etc. A great skimmer, GFO and carbon dosing andwalter changes go a long ways towards balancing nutrient levels.

 

[bskiba]

if you aren't seeing growth with SPS,
first likely problem
-ca and alk are off
Second
- phosphates are too high
third
-lighting is too weak
lighting is last IMO because I have seen VHO bulbs grow SPS, compact flo bulbs, t5 bulbs, halide, and LED

 

[psykobowler]

Just looking at the algae growing on your rock I could tell that you have too much nutrients. I used to have a tank like that and I could not grow coralline algae. You need to clean that whole system before you could successfully grow sps. Nutrient export is the key.

 

[eswgato]

tagging along.

plus:
I have about a dozen new frag of sps from trades and except for two, all of them color up and seems like growing. Saw two a bite bleach today, check calcium and found out it was way low 380 ppm. I added brigthwell's calcium, I'm going to wait to check again. I dose kalkwrasser about two times a week. what would be the ideal calcium level to have for sps? (I usually have about 420ppm) how much kalkwasser do you dose?

380 is not bad you can have it as low as 350 which closer to nsw I like to keep my cal at 440 alk 8.0 mag 1450

 

[dunk373]

I couldn't grow coralline for years untill gfo was running.

 

[pimp2daizzo]

most important!!

2nd that....just take it slow...i always make the mistake of rushing to changeing something wen one coral isnt doing good, but ive gotten better i may move it in or out of flow but i wont change anything like ca level or alk level for one coral anymore.