tmcgaughey
New member
I was looking at going from LPS to SPS... I know the sps are harder.. but how?
Why are SPS harder than LPS?
- Thread starter tmcgaughey
- Start date
93292_FishGuy
New member
I will take a stab at it. There a many reasons but to name a few:
-Water quality standards
-calcium\ alkalinity demands
-lighting requirements
Thats a few. I used to barely ever test my softie tank for anything and when i moved over to an sps dominant tank i found myself testing atleast once a week soemtimes 3 or 4 times a wek depending on what was going on or if i added a few colonys or what not!
-Water quality standards
-calcium\ alkalinity demands
-lighting requirements
Thats a few. I used to barely ever test my softie tank for anything and when i moved over to an sps dominant tank i found myself testing atleast once a week soemtimes 3 or 4 times a wek depending on what was going on or if i added a few colonys or what not!
I know LPS need flow too but SPSers go to greater lenghts for random flow.
xJake
Active member
I've never had a problem with keeping SPS, but many people have. It really depends on the species. I'd say a lot of LPS are more difficult to keep than many SPS. Generally, hobbyists find it more difficult to keep SPS because of the reasons others have listed above. Also, SPS tend to be fairly fast growing compared to LPS. This means they use calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, strontium, etc. more quickly than other stony corals. Many times this requires the use of several different supplements including a calcium reactor, kalkwasser, and/or 2-part /w Mg. Nutrients are also a big issue. DOCs (Dissolved Organic Compounds) can fairly easily cause SPS corals to brown-out, bleach, RTN, etc. Many times this occurs almost out of nowhere and it is hard to successfully recover from these types of events. This is the main reason for why you see many SPS hobbyists using iron oxide to lower phosphate, and dosing carbon to increase nutrient removal via foam fractionation (protein skimming). You also see many SPS keepers buying the highest quality equipment available. Personally, I don't think it's necessary to spend so much money on skimmers and reactors as long as you know what you're doing, but many hobbyists find it reassuring to know that they have "top equipment" working on their tanks, "TOP equipment."
crvz
Team RC
You got a chuckle from me, but I consider LPS stony (hard) corals as well.
I think SPS can be more challenging mostly because they are less tolerant of error. LPS can put up with less lighting, higher nutrient levels in the water, less flow, etc., so there's more room for mistakes. That said, if you design a system well then SPS can be pretty easy too.
Aquarist007
New member
they also have greater flow requirements
lps and softies 20-40 times the tank vol in gph and some of them can even tolerate 10 times
Sps corals like at least 40 times and sps keepers quite often have flows exceeding 60 times the tank vol in gph.
lps and softies 20-40 times the tank vol in gph and some of them can even tolerate 10 times
Sps corals like at least 40 times and sps keepers quite often have flows exceeding 60 times the tank vol in gph.
Aquarist007
New member
with good coral husbandry you can have mixed tanks very easily. The sps corals would be placed high on the reef close to the lighting.
That area should be the highest flow area in the tank.
From there you start placing the lps and softies middle to low range on the reef according to their light and flow needs.
CnLHolman01
New member
large polyp stony - LPS and small poyp stony - SPS
thecoralreefer
New member
How funny !!! LPS large polyp stony
SPS small polyp stony
SPS small polyp stony
thecoralreefer
New member
I find the hard coral funny
iamwrasseman
New member
silly rabbit !
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