Am I ready for hard corals?

[James_O]

I have been keeping softies for about 2 weeks now, adding new aditions every so often.

Right now I have a Paly colony, a mushroom, a torch, and a Cinnamon Paly Granis. All of them look great and it looks like the mushroom is about to split.

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I also got a new light, which is super powerful. It's an Evergrow IT2040:

Would you say I'm ready? Are hard corals harder to keep than softies?

 

[James_O]

Bump

 

[Jekyl]

SPS are by far more difficult than the rest of the corals. They require stricter parameters, higher flow and tank maturity.

 

[Loganmao]

SPS is harder to keep than softies and lps, if you’re going to put any SPS I’d recommend trying some montiporas or maybe a forest fire Digitata. Don’t get any expensive SPS yet I’ve found right around the 4-6 month mark a tank is where SPS can start to be grown much better.

 

[James_O]

SPS is harder to keep than softies and lps, if you’re going to put any SPS I’d recommend trying some montiporas or maybe a forest fire Digitata. Don’t get any expensive SPS yet I’ve found right around the 4-6 month mark a tank is where SPS can start to be grown much better.

Ah, ok!

My tank is a little over a month old, so not even close. ;Smug

I'll stick with softies for now.

SPS are by far more difficult than the rest of the corals. They require stricter parameters, higher flow and tank maturity.

So essentially the same stuff a nem needs? Typical...;Hilarious I'll probably be getting SPS around the same time as my nem, because then I'll know I have a mature tank.

 

[2021 reefer]

If your alkalinity is stable at like 8-9 ish and your calcium is also stable I'd say your ready. Unless you have cyano or something like that. Also you should probably measure par if you want to be very careful. But if you going to add something easy like montipora or stylophora you probably can even if your alk is a bit unstable. Ps measuring par is not very necessary

 

[Jekyl]

Once your start adding more LPS and SPS dosing will become necessary. Before then water changes will keep parameters in check for the most part. Letting the tank mature will get you more accustomed to the needs of the tank before having coral that require doing extra.

 

[Acros]

What rock did you start with? Do you have a sand bed?

 

[tehmadreefer]

Hmm are you ready? Put a birds nest frag in and if it live longer than a week I’d say your good to start.

 

[James_O]

What rock did you start with? Do you have a sand bed?

90% dry rock and 10% live rock. Yes, I do have a sand bed. (CaribSea Alive)

Hmm are you ready? Put a birds nest frag in and if it live longer than a week I’d say your good to start.

I will probably just wait, because I don’t want to kill a $30 frag...

Once your start adding more LPS and SPS dosing will become necessary. Before then water changes will keep parameters in check for the most part. Letting the tank mature will get you more accustomed to the needs of the tank before having coral that require doing extra.

Dosing? As in chemicals?

If your alkalinity is stable at like 8-9 ish and your calcium is also stable I'd say your ready. Unless you have cyano or something like that. Also you should probably measure par if you want to be very careful. But if you going to add something easy like montipora or stylophora you probably can even if your alk is a bit unstable. Ps measuring par is not very necessary

I do need to get an alkalinity test... any suggestions?

 

[Bribo12]

My tank may be an exception but I cannot grow birdsnest and my red Monti cap has been off and on growth. I added acros around the 1.5 month mark and I started all dry rock/sand. Everything did great until I went through a phase of dinos.
I’d say stylophora, pocillopora and some acro species are easier than birdsnest. Birdsnest tends to react very adversely to alk swings. I guess that’s why it’s a good indicator coral. Acros like green skimmer, red planet, purple valida, scrips are pretty hardy from my experience. I honestly think red planet is almost unkillable. Like everyone else said though I’d wait a little to see growth from your current corals and then add something easier sps wise. Be aware once you go sps you don’t go back ;p

 

[tehmadreefer]

90% dry rock and 10% live rock. Yes, I do have a sand bed. (CaribSea Alive)



I will probably just wait, because I don’t want to kill a $30 frag...



Dosing? As in chemicals?



I do need to get an alkalinity test... any suggestions?

Well how else are you gonna find out if you can keep sps alive with out adding one?? Also everyone has sps die, it’s gonna happen 100% guarantee at some point.

 

[James_O]

Well how else are you gonna find out if you can keep sps alive with out adding one?? Also everyone has sps die, it’s gonna happen 100% guarantee at some point.

Eh, you make a good point...

I’d say stylophora, pocillopora and some acro species are easier than birdsnest. Birdsnest tends to react very adversely to alk swings.

I will look into these! I honestly don’t know what SPS my LFS has, but I’m pretty sure they had a birds nest!!

I’d wait a little to see growth from your current corals and then add something easier sps wise

I haven’t really noticed any real growth... :/

But, my cinnamon paly is growing a new head, so I assume I’m doing something right?

 

[2021 reefer]

Hanna salifert alk checker is the most accurate fo my knowledge. And if you accurately do everything then your sps isn't going to die. I'm pretty new but none of my sps died. My tank is 4 months old and everything is thriving and growing very fast. All because of stable pH and alkalinity. I personally think fish are harder then corals because corals will do well if your tank is stable but fish might be very picky or just jump out of your tank. I added my softies 1 week after starting from someone else who was retiring from reefing and they were half dead but only 2/5 died and they are doing super well. I added sps 3 months in (when everything was stable and alk was 8.5)

 

[Staghorn]

Don’t Rush, do some research. Theres allot invloved in keeping a thriving sps tank. Make sure you understand how Alk and calcium work in a reef aquarium and decide how you will supplement. Initially you can get away with water changes but eventually the corals will demand more.

 

[James_O]

Don’t Rush, do some research. Theres allot invloved in keeping a thriving sps tank. Make sure you understand how Alk and calcium work in a reef aquarium and decide how you will supplement. Initially you can get away with water changes but eventually the corals will demand more.

Any good threads on here for that? I definitely want to learn as much as I can!

Hanna salifert alk checker is the most accurate fo my knowledge. And if you accurately do everything then your sps isn't going to die. I'm pretty new but none of my sps died. My tank is 4 months old and everything is thriving and growing very fast. All because of stable pH and alkalinity. I personally think fish are harder then corals because corals will do well if your tank is stable but fish might be very picky or just jump out of your tank. I added my softies 1 week after starting from someone else who was retiring from reefing and they were half dead but only 2/5 died and they are doing super well. I added sps 3 months in (when everything was stable and alk was 8.5)

I will look into that, thank you!

I have no idea what my alkalinity is to be honest - I definitely need the test kit.

 

[Nerdist Aquarist]

When you start seeing purple coraline algae growing on the rocks, that's a great indication your tank is capable to grow SPS, at least the easy ones. Just introduce it from a piece of live rock, frag plug or even a covered snail shell.

 

[James_O]

When you start seeing purple coraline algae growing on the rocks, that's a great indication your tank is capable to grow SPS, at least the easy ones. Just introduce it from a piece of live rock, frag plug or even a covered snail shell.

Hehe, so just the stuff I should be looking out for so I can keep a nem? ;Facepalm

So essentially the same stuff a nem needs? Typical...;Hilarious