Why are SPS so hard??

[Daleo]

I've tried keeping SPS through the years, in several tanks. I cannot keep SPS coral. It seems that they'll live for about 2-3 weeks then the RTN and peel off. Most of the time, it can be one frag, then another, then another, then all gone. The longest I've kept an SPS is 1 yr (green digitata).

I want to do SPS focused mixed reef in a couple months, but I don't want to spend all that money to fail in the end...

Any tips??

[rogersb]

Do you keep up on bulb changes? What lighting on what tank? And what are your alk/ca/mg? Those things there are the basics.

[Mock]

They are not hard they just require diligent husbandry... You have to have stability... You have to take it slow.. You have to have low nutrients... you have to have high light and high flow... There are just so many thing they tank to live people think they are hard. Once you understand every aspect of keeping a tank pristine, you can have SPS... One has to get out of the old softy tank mentality and understand these tanks take a little more work.

[ClownNut]

let's tell us how your tank is setup. light, filteration and RO/DI water?

[Reef264]

Just by chance, we're you keeping Soft Corals, or leathers in the same system?The 2 really have chemical warfare with each other.

But Mock Pretty Much hit the Nail on the head...not just understanding how these creatures grow, but how they function, is also important.They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

Cheers.

[blakers82]

let's tell us how your tank is setup. light, filteration and RO/DI water?

This. Start here.

Then please tell us if you test, what you test your water with and of course the test results.

[Mock]

Just by chance, we're you keeping Soft Corals, or leathers in the same system?The 2 really have chemical warfare with each other.

But Mock Pretty Much hit the Nail on the head...not just understanding how these creatures grow, but how they function, is also important.They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

Cheers.

I have found my new sig!!!...LOL

[Daleo]

Sorry don't have any specific specs at the moment. I took a break from SPS and I've been keeping LPS and softies for the past 6 months. I know calcium is typically 425 and alk is typically 9-11. Never test for magnesium. Nitrates are usually ~5ppm.

For SPS, is it best to have a skimmer or can a refugium be equally effective?

[Flippers4pups]

I keep all, LPS, SPS and leathers. no problem in a 56 gallon.

[deeznutz1]

Took me at least a year to get anywhere with an sps tank. Now that I've gotten there, things have been pretty easy. I'm not really that diligent, but I know what to look for nowadays.

-dan

[deeznutz1]

Took me at least a year to get anywhere with an sps tank. Now that I've gotten there, things have been pretty easy. I'm not really that diligent, but I know what to look for nowadays.

-dan

[blakers82]

By my general lurking sense, yes - the vast majority of posters here run a skimmer. Many also have refugiums tied to sumps to help with A) macroalgae sucking up phosphates and B) providing refuge for little critters to thrive and supply the tank.


Let us know atleast what kind of lighting you are/were running.

[Daleo]

I've done:

70w MH on a 10g
2 boostled par30 on a 10g
250w MH on a RSM 34g

and my latest project:

4x T5 ATI 48" on a 75g rimless.

I haven't tried SPS with the LEDs yet, but I may try them soon.

[RynosReef]

They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

Cheers.

LOL that is great... new favorite

Another of my favorite Reef Central quotes sbout SPS being tough:

"An SPS coral can RTN on you because it didn't like the score of a game, that it didn't see, on another planet, at night, Wednesday night." SeanT

Mock said it. Stability. Get all of your parameters in check, like temp, s.g. nitrate, phosphate, calcium, alk, and mag and then keep them there. This may involve higher grade test kits, a skimmer, refugium, gfo, carbon dosing, auto top off systems, dosing chemicals, more water changes, less fish, less fish food, ect. Every system requires something different. But if you can get your parameters in check AND keep them there you can keep sps. Provided you have strong lighting and strong flow.

If you haven't already, check out some of Randy Holmes-Farley's articles in Reefkeeping magazine. When I first started out these helped me immensely!

[sponger0]

Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.


Haha....thats friggin classic. Love it.

But yes what other corals are you keeping? SPS and LPS/Softies grow in different environments in nature so needs are different.

And its not difficult, its more caring for their needs. Maybe its me but Ive had more luck with SPS than others. Ive lost softies and havent lost and SPS in the 6 months Ive had them. Be consistant on dosing and water changes, keeping nutrients low, and testing and understanding your systems needs as each tank will be different.

[westreef]

I have converted my softie and LPS tank to mixed reef closed to 1.5 years. No issues so far. Like everyone mentioned here -- STABILITY IS GOLDEN.
You can see my tank video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMfsmU8hvEw

[gypsyboy38]

Because their skeleton is primarily made of calcium carbonate, which is essentially marble!

[ezerasurfr]

Because their skeleton is primarily made of calcium carbonate, which is essentially marble!


lol, awesome.

[allsps40]

They are not hard they just require diligent husbandry... You have to have stability... You have to take it slow.. You have to have low nutrients... you have to have high light and high flow... There are just so many thing they tank to live people think they are hard. Once you understand every aspect of keeping a tank pristine, you can have SPS... One has to get out of the old softy tank mentality and understand these tanks take a little more work.

Plus 1. IME SPS are not hard. I just keep the tank stable and leave it be.

[Daleo]

Thanks everyone for your input :)

[patekphilippe]

awesome youtube

[myzislow]

They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

Cheers.

This is awesome, maybe the best thing I've read in this forum to date haha. Sums it up perfectly

[stevejrnc]

The most interesting man in the world would have just a little trouble
With starting with sps in a ten gallon tank
You should have better luck with your new 75

Yes a Skimmer is very important
Stick with simple aquacultured frags at first

And once your able to keep sps you can come back
Even more confused and ask why it's hard to color them up
Sps are a pain like said of women so true but it's worth it cause there so dam nice to look at

[smsreefer]

Originally Posted by Reef264 View Post
They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

..and should always inspect both closely for crabs and/or bugs....

[austin93]

It sounds like you have made a lot of changes. I also think that 4 t5's will not be enough on a sps tank. 6 quality bulbs and consistent parameters will go a long way. Don't start changing things again. Keep one plan and stick with it. Good luck.

[chrishayes]

Find a totm thread that is close to your size tank and copy it. When issues come up post a help thread then beat your head against a wall while changing ONE thing at a time. Eventually youll be successful just take it slow and steady and take decisive actions while maintaining stable conditions. Cant be said enough. THats how totm tanks are born and raised I promise.

[choboreef]

Your water quality is definitely the key. Poor water quality can lead to the corals demise.
The SPS corals can go without lighting for quite a few days, but poor water quality, they'll respond immediately.

How long as your tank been cycled for exactly? The longer the better the bacteria in the system becomes. In order to help your corals thrive.

[BillyC]

Appropriate lighting, flow, and water quality are half the battle but once you have the right equipment you can forget that part completely (except for routine maintenance of course.)

The other half of the battle is the one which people struggle with IMO. STABILITY. Some people don't realize how important cal and ALK stability are because they are stuck in the "softy and leather" tank mentality where husbandry consists of water changes (maybe) and cleaning their glass.

Stability is not difficult it just takes work. I personally dose 2part every single day. When I first set up my tank I literally tested every single day for a month. By doing so i became very in tune with my tank's alk and cal demands so only test every week now.

I don't think sps really are difficult to keep if you're willing to put the work into it.

In a final note... "They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you."

^^^ this is GENIUS!

[jzdad]

Not hard just Stability, Husbandtry, Lighting, Flow ,Skimming,

and oh yeah


Originally Posted by Reef264
They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

Cheers.

BEST LINE EVER ...................L O L

[MammothReefer]

eh, I disagree. Even with all those things stuff can still go wrong. Nobody seems to mention pest control in this thread, and beyond that there are just random things that happen. How many Long term "expert ran" SPS tanks crash. Things happen that we still don't 100% know why. Perfect example, my tank right now all my parameters have been rock solid growth has been really good the past couple months, I've been having to keep adjusting my alk/calc to keep up with what seems like an ever growing demand..yet last nite I come home and find 3 random 1/4" dead spots on an acro of mine run tests.. nothing comes up wrong.. had it been a frag that would have been the end of it. The rest of the coral, and everything else in the tank is doing great.. I'm guessing it will heal in a couple days, no clue what happened.

[Reef264]

Originally Posted by Reef264 View Post
They are kind of like Women...Hard To Understand, Not easy to keep, Hard to find a good one, and they sometimes go crazy and leave you.

..and should always inspect both closely for crabs and/or bugs....

True Story.

[defchild84]

Haha, that line sums it up. Really though, have you ever been asked " do you have saltwater, or freshwater tank" and respond, that you have a saltwater to those asking,and how many respond with a shock, and " those are hard to keep" reply? To THEM, it's difficult. To you and I , we do it because of our passion, hobby, and therefore the work is both rewarding, and the learning experience is both exciting and fun. To the first type, keeping sps would be nearly impossible. To you, making the efforts, and truly desiring how to keeping sps, will eventually get you there- just gotta stay intrigued, and the answers will slowly but surely come, to get you to the level of understanding how these colored sticks can thrive. You, my friend, are on the right track, and at the right place- all here will help you get there. Read, read, and read some more, and remember- don't stop reading. The advices given on this page and the previous sums up the basics, so I won't add to it. Remember, WE all at one point started off asking the same questions as you..... and keep reading!! lol

[acroholicreefer]

Great thread and some even better replies.

The bottom line key to keeping SPS (especially acros) alive and healthy is stability. Temperature and Salinity Stability are the two most important parameters. I would almost say that every sps system should have some type of temperature controller, even if it is a Ranco. After that, alkalinity and calcium stability are important in order to maintain growth. I have been running a kalk reactor for 5 years now and it is the backbone to my system.

You don't have to run the best lighting or fancy pumps. Cheap pumps work fine if you have enough of them and they have turbulent flow. Obliviously expensive pumps (leaving brands out) offer benefits but if you cannot keep SPS alive, that is not your problem. Skimming well has always been the key for me.

[Daleo]

It's very discouraging when I've had probably 10 or so SPS frags die. I think the two things I'll try different next time around is an ATO and skimmer. I'm excited to have my ATI.

Earlier there was a post about my option for a 4 bulb fixture. I know 6 bulbs would be better, but I got an awesome deal on it. It will easily keep SPS mid to high in the tank. Maybe even on the sandbed. Besides, on the 4 bulb would fit before I would be lighting up my overflow lol!

[RynosReef]

I can't comment on the lighting as I'm not very familiar with t5's. I use halides. But as far as adding a ATO and a skimmer, I would highly recommend both. In my opinion a skimmer is an absolute must to reduce waste from the water. Softy's like the dirty water a skimmerless system provides but not sps.

And an ATO is great too. Speaking of stability being important. Me and the girl went to NYC Christmas weekend, left friday night back monday night. During that time my refugium got clogged, overfilled, and ATO pumped in fresh water to make up for the displaced water and dropped my s.g. My salinity had been rock solid 1.025 and fortunately only dropped to 1.023. All my corals are fine, fortunately.. luckily really. But a few have lost the bright color they had. I've since added some reinforcements to my refugium filter so it shouldn't be a problem again. Point is that if you have an ATO (and don't mess up like me) it would keep you s.g. rock solid. Without it, you'd likely have a daily swing in s.g. (like I did on one day), and be wondering why you can't keep sps. Stability.

[Reef264]

I can't comment on the lighting as I'm not very familiar with t5's. I use halides. But as far as adding a ATO and a skimmer, I would highly recommend both. In my opinion a skimmer is an absolute must to reduce waste from the water. Softy's like the dirty water a skimmerless system provides but not sps.

And an ATO is great too. Speaking of stability being important. Me and the girl went to NYC Christmas weekend, left friday night back monday night. During that time my refugium got clogged, overfilled, and ATO pumped in fresh water to make up for the displaced water and dropped my s.g. My salinity had been rock solid 1.025 and fortunately only dropped to 1.023. All my corals are fine, fortunately.. luckily really. But a few have lost the bright color they had. I've since added some reinforcements to my refugium filter so it shouldn't be a problem again. Point is that if you have an ATO (and don't mess up like me) it would keep you s.g. rock solid. Without it, you'd likely have a daily swing in s.g. (like I did on one day), and be wondering why you can't keep sps. Stability.

Man That's a bummer!Just Wondering For Future Reference, what exactly Clogged it?

[Alex T.]

Going hand in hand with stability is a factor many times ignored. Some of us keep parameters that are slightly off than our tank's parameters. I think it's wise to find a balanced salt with parameters you can keep stable with a large volume water change if the need arises. This, in turn will not swing alkalinity, calcium and magnesium out of whack while you strive for the pristine water conditions that SPS tanks require, while keeping things stable.

[RynosReef]

Man That's a bummer!Just Wondering For Future Reference, what exactly Clogged it?

Yea.. I was freaking out when we got home.. Getting home from a 8hr drive at 1am to a soaked floor... eh

I think the flooding happened from the refugium but not sure as I wasn't there. My refugium is plumbed into my sump. My phosban reactor output feeds water to the refugium from the sump. The refugium fills with water until it reaches the pvc connecting it back to the sump and the water then gravity feeds back into the sump. I think some chaeto floated into the pipe and slowed the flow of water flowing back into the sump. Meanwhile the phosban reactor kept pumping water, flooding the refugium (and floor), lowering the water level in the sump, causing the tunze sensor to turn on the ATO pump and thus lowering the salinity level. Eventually the chaeto must have dislodged itself, saving my tank.

Usually I have a piece of screening rolled and lodged in the pvc pipe leading back to the sump, to keep chaeto from clogging the pipe while allowing water to flow. But it had dropped down.

I think this is what happened.

But I'm not knocking having the ATO. If I hadn't had it, I wouldn't have been able to leave the house for 4 days. Without it, the evaporation rate would have raised the salinity and dropped my sump level past the return, burned up my return pump ect.. Stability AND disaster prevention are important for SPS. Including quarantining to keep pests out as mentioned.

[Reef264]

That's an interesting way to do a sump!Sucks about what happened, But your right, ATO is sure a nice thing to have!

Consistency, is the key to Consistently Keeping SPS thriving, there is a difference between living, and thriving.

[Reef264]

That's an interesting way to do a sump!Sucks about what happened, But your right, ATO is sure a nice thing to have!

Consistency, is the key to Consistently Keeping SPS thriving, there is a difference between living, and thriving.