Is my aquarium ready for SPS?

[tmb22]

Hey,

I've been running my aquarium for about a year now, and I've really had no significant problems that I haven't been able to quickly resolve. I've been upgrading my system periodically and I think it might almost be time to try my hand at my first piece of SPS coral.

My system is as follows:

55 gallon display
30 gallon sump fed through 100 micron filter socks
Refugium with Chaeto, live rock, and deep live sand bed
Reef Octopus 160 Extreme skimmer
265 watts of power compact light (4.8 watts per gallon)
25 watt Smart UV Lite sterilizer from Emperor Aquatics driven through empty fluval 405 canister
GFO reactor
ATO unit from Reef Fanatic
I use reef crystals for bi-monthly water changes
150 lbs live rock, with live sand bed
4 Koralia 750's powered through wavemaker
1/10 hp chiller
2 one hundred watt heaters

I think that's about it.

The tank looks really good and the fish are super healthy. I also have a green star polyp that has grown to twice its size. But I'm wondering if there is anything else I should have before I think about introducing any SPS coral. Is a calcium reactor a good idea? Or is the system about ready without it?

My water parameters are as follows:

pH 8.4
Ammonia < 0
Nitrities < 0
Nitrates < 0
Calcium 420 ppm
Carbonate hardness 160 ppm
phosphate < 0
temp always between 78 and 81 degrees

[chrismck97]

Looks good but i would upgrade the lighting if you want to get serious about keeping hard corals. You should look at metal halides, LEDS, and T5HO lights. UV sterilizer aren't needed. If you want a reef, you want diversity, and it will absolutely reduce the diversity of microorganisms in your tank which some corals like to feed on.

[mike_cmu04]

You are ready for sps but with the lighting it may not do very good. you will likely have poor growth and color.

[reefjunkie42]

go LEDS

[Remn]

Tank setup looks good. You'll be able to keep SPS corals high on your rocks with your PC lighting.

[karsseboom]

Yes i agree upgrade the lighting. The par from PC is not very good.

[tmb22]

Thanks a lot for the input guys.

Looks like I'll just have to update my lighting a bit.. Which is a good thing because I wanted more of a blue tint than what I currently have. I don't have a canopy on my tank, but I'll probably just end up hanging a few metal halides from the ceiling. I've heard LED's don't have quite the par rating that most SPS aquarists prefer. Is this true? I don't want to start a huge debate, or resurrect a topic that has already been beaten to death.. But I can definitely see the appeal that they use much less energy than a metal halide lamp, and generate less heat. But also, the cost of the initial purchase could be so great that it outweighs the purchase, maintenance, and energy costs of a couple metal halide lamps for at least 2 or 3 years. But hey, if there are a couple good deals out there for a high rated par LED lighting system that would help my SPS growth more than my current power compact system, I'd love to hear about it :)

[divewsharks]

Thanks a lot for the input guys.

Looks like I'll just have to update my lighting a bit.. Which is a good thing because I wanted more of a blue tint than what I currently have. I don't have a canopy on my tank, but I'll probably just end up hanging a few metal halides from the ceiling. I've heard LED's don't have quite the par rating that most SPS aquarists prefer. Is this true? I don't want to start a huge debate, or resurrect a topic that has already been beaten to death.. But I can definitely see the appeal that they use much less energy than a metal halide lamp, and generate less heat. But also, the cost of the initial purchase could be so great that it outweighs the purchase, maintenance, and energy costs of a couple metal halide lamps for at least 2 or 3 years. But hey, if there are a couple good deals out there for a high rated par LED lighting system that would help my SPS growth more than my current power compact system, I'd love to hear about it :)

Like any fixture (MH/T5/LED) you will need a quality one to get the results you are looking for. A quality LED fixture can put out every bit the PAR you will need for SPS (AI's are arguably top dog right now, or you could diy it).
Depending on your energy costs, what make of LED's and how many you need to light your tank, will determine your ROI.

[Lamball1]

Looking great, you will definitly be ready if you just + the lighting a bit. Im not totally sure about the UV sterilizer, if i were you i'd remove it, there are many micro organisms that are quite beneficial to your aquarium that you could be killing this way...
Apart from that, well done!

[Ostentum]

Problem with LEDS are most premade systems dont have the spectrum that Metal Halides do, until they start putting red and cyan bulbs in the mix with White and Blue they will never match the coloration of a Metal Halide/Vho combo. Metal Halide and vho has 10s of years of proven performance. LED has some nice features but I personally am not sold on them. Take a look at some of the tanks of the month and make a decision based on what your trying to accomplish.

[Lamball1]

i've seen people have great results with leds, you can grow sps with all kinds of stuff, leds, t5s, Mhs whatever. Don't necesarily have to be Metalhalide/Vho.

I've got t5s and my sps are doing great

[Ostentum]

Never said that they didnt grow sps, the coloration imo just isnt the same as the other systems out there. They put out just as much par as MH, I just think you can get better coloration with other systems including t5.

[purge43]

ammonia and nitrites, you can pretty much forget about and dont need to test for any more, but your missing a magnesium test. You didnt list ro/do(tds). And what are you using to test po4, if i recall those titration test kits are not reliable and dont read to the scale you want, somebody help out on this one , since i got the hanna checker i dont remember what the deal is on the po4 test kits. Start a log book and keep track of everything. You might consider adding gac to that canister filter but change it every two or three weeks. Since your already probably going to be putting out a big piece of change on a lighting upgrade maybe forget about a cal reactor for now and consider two part(dosing pumps and timers), If you dont know already learn about group buys, theres usually a couple each month from rc members for brs and others. Id change that 100 micron sock to a 200 so more of the coral foods can pass thru. A few good starters might be; ora gecko green acro, green slimer, birdsnest, pocciliporas...yellow corals tend to be a bit more difficult. GL

[purge43]

WHAT fish do you have? I dont remember this either, but some fish cant be in with sps'

[tmb22]

Good info, thanks a lot.

ammonia and nitrites, you can pretty much forget about and dont need to test for any more, but your missing a magnesium test. You didnt list ro/do(tds). And what are you using to test po4, if i recall those titration test kits are not reliable and dont read to the scale you want, somebody help out on this one , since i got the hanna checker i dont remember what the deal is on the po4 test kits. Start a log book and keep track of everything. You might consider adding gac to that canister filter but change it every two or three weeks. Since your already probably going to be putting out a big piece of change on a lighting upgrade maybe forget about a cal reactor for now and consider two part(dosing pumps and timers), If you dont know already learn about group buys, theres usually a couple each month from rc members for brs and others. Id change that 100 micron sock to a 200 so more of the coral foods can pass thru. A few good starters might be; ora gecko green acro, green slimer, birdsnest, pocciliporas...yellow corals tend to be a bit more difficult. GL

Yeah, one thing I forgot to list was my RO/DI kit from Bulk Reef Supply. I'm also using a couple API test kits to read all my water parameters, including Phosphate. I haven't tested my magnesium... probably something I should do. I had no idea about the group buys, that is a good suggestion, thanks. As for the 200 micron socks, I re-checked what I had, and it turns out that my socks are indeed 200 microns instead of 100, so no problems there. Thanks for the list of easy to keep SPS too, I'll definitely be checking those out.

WHAT fish do you have? I dont remember this either, but some fish cant be in with sps'

I've got a blue tang, 2 clowns, a fire angel, a blue damsel, a diamond goby, a bunch of turbo snails (they just had a mass of offspring), and a skunk cleaner shrimp. My cleaner shrimp actually pestered a green bubble tipped anemone to death. Hopefully he won't be bothering any SPS in my tank. If he does, I'd rather take out a $25 pesky shrimp than a $70 piece of coral.