Being Confident With SPS (SPS SWAGGER)

[Luis Figueroa]

Its probably higher. What's the no3 and po4?
I have my dos set to dose between 5am to 11am every 10 minutes. Because that's my lowest ph area of the day. Spread out like that there are no spikes in ph or kh. When I test I'm at 7.5 at 8pm. 8 is when my lights start to dim. I don't know what everyone else does but I like to test the same time every night. And I never go more then 3 days without testing kh. The other parameters, not often at all.

My n03 is at 50(salifert) and p04 is at .07.

 

[Scott.h]

My n03 is at 50(salifert) and p04 is at .07.

That's pretty high for SPS imo. Not that it can't be done, but I'd look at that first. Your kh is fine. Keep it stable. Are the corals going pale or browning out? If anything I'd try to keep the nutrients lower.

 

[Luis Figueroa]

It's the first time I've seen them this way. I've always thought it was high but everything worked well to the point I have fast growth. I did add cheato a week ago softball size on a reverse cycle.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Speaking of alk, I used to dump my alk solution (soda ash) in one go and it seems like alk consumption is hardly traceable, takes a week or two see 1 alk drop. Coral does growing but slowly by the way. When I start dripping, growth is very evident especially on SPS. I do believe stable alk promotes growth, so adding alk is best to be done slowly in continuous way.

 

[Luis Figueroa]

Speaking of alk, I used to dump my alk solution (soda ash) in one go and it seems like alk consumption is hardly traceable, takes a week or two see 1 alk drop. Coral does growing but slowly by the way. When I start dripping, growth is very evident especially on SPS. I do believe stable alk promotes growth, so adding alk is best to be done slowly in continuous way.

Yes that's true however if you dose 25 ml would you dose 1ml per hour for 24 hours or dose 5ml 5 times throughout the day?

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Yes that's true however if you dose 25 ml would you dose 1ml per hour for 24 hours or dose 5ml 5 times throughout the day?

I would say 1ml per hour is the way to go. No..... wait. 1ml/60 is the answer. I am using poor man IV dripper capable of dosing 1ml solution in 20 drops.

 

[Scott.h]

Yes that's true however if you dose 25 ml would you dose 1ml per hour for 24 hours or dose 5ml 5 times throughout the day?

You are manually dosing? I do my other tank 2x a day manually, no issue but 25 ml is quite a bit to dose twice unless it's a big tank. And doing more is a pain manually. Is a dosing pump not in the cards?

 

[Luis Figueroa]

You are manually dosing? I do my other tank 2x a day manually, no issue but 25 ml is quite a bit to dose twice unless it's a big tank. And doing more is a pain manually. Is a dosing pump not in the cards?

Haha my bad, I don't dose 25 ml I'm at 15 ml for my 30 cube I dose 6 times a day different times different quantity. Tank has been up for up to a year.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Haha my bad, I don't dose 25 ml I'm at 15 ml for my 30 cube I dose 6 times a day different times different quantity. Tank has been up for up to a year.

Seeing alk usage daily even with manually dosing is outstanding. Contrary to me, i don't see measurable drop (API kit) in days.

 

[ycnibrc]

1) SPS swagger don't panic when their corals has problem.
2) They don't chase number
3) They don't jump on band wagon aka trending methods.
4) They don't change equipment every year.
5) They have a lot of patience

 

[CastAway]

If the word "swagger" is derived from "sway" and "stagger", I've got it. LOL

 

[Abhishek]

One thing that really helped me out is "KEEP YOUR HAND OUT OF WATER AND STOP MOVING ACROS AROUND "
They will adjust with time and grow when parameters are stable .Moving them around is the worst thing you can do to them .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[Tautog]

Not


Lol. Call it what you like but I do not feel confident. When you see intense purple in one tank and the same coral is brown in another its just fact at that moment.
Confidence in my head is thinking I am better and nothing can go wrong because I am that good. That is not the way I feel or see things. I know at the moment I left my house an hour ago my tank in my eyes looked pretty amazing. We all know all the water could be on the floor when I return. That fear alone crushes all confidence I maybe could or should have. After so many years of this fear you just start thinking eh, it is what it is.
I have a tri color colony that is what I call a nice purple. I cut about 8 to 10 frags off of it. They were all doing well for maybe 2 months. 2 days ago one rtn'd from the tip. Then stopped and the rest of it looks fine. All the other frags look good visually. Always going to be things you can't explain in a reef tank. I just stopped caring and stressing about the unexplained.

Excellent points, getting over the stress, and thinking of the cure, is time well spent, but I take my boat out of the water, and that's all the confidence I need that it will not sink!

 

[scfurse77]

I don't quite have the SPS swagger yet. But i feel more and more confident every day. Some quick points that i would make is:

- EVERY TANK IS DIFFERENT ( Some things will be the "answer" in one tank and not do anything for the another.)
- Get a Doser or Calcium reactor. This way your dosing small amounts throughout the day. And your parameters are not spiking every time you throw you cup of CAL or Alk in. And gives you more time to enjoy your tank.
- Too low of nutrients is the silent killer. I learned this the hard way. FEED YOUR CORALS
-TEST TEST and then TEST some more.
-Dip your corals I use Bayer on everything. But that's because that's what works for me.
-I've used LED and T5 for lighting. I've found a Combo of the two is best for color and growth. (At least for me)
-And last would be Flow. Do not underestimate how much of a difference this makes for you SPS.

There is a Ton more that i could add but i don't quite have the Swagger yet to write it down

 

[luke33]

I have been keeping SPS since '06 and I would not consider myself over confident. Generally I am confident I can grow any sps I put in my tank after the tank is proven itself sps worthy. At that point I'm more confident but not over confident. I am also confident that if I find a sps that looks dull or is having burnt tips or an issue I can pull the colors back out eventually. But I still will not buy a sps over $150-200 as they can RTN just because : )

 

[ws6kid]

When your frags can recoup your operating costs and you can reef for free. That will be my swagger moment

As far as confidence goes, I think something that helped me build up confidence to believe I could manage an all sps system was after learning the Zeovit system. I don't use this system any longer, but it taught me that a few minutes with the tank every single day goes a long way in keeping things looking great. It is like hand washing your car...spending up close time with it frequently show you all of the imperfections and you learn how to correct for them before they become a real problem. Devices and controllers have come such a long way that I think it is actually a harmful substitution for husbandry.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

1) SPS swagger don't panic when their corals has problem.
2) They don't chase number
3) They don't jump on band wagon aka trending methods.
4) They don't change equipment every year.
5) They have a lot of patience

I like this

 

[Abhishek]

I hope everyone sees this and learn a lot :- The great Json Fox himself talking about his experience in sps keeping .


You will find one of teh most interesting topic we always seem to miss . Its flow which is as important or even more than lighting . Crazy random flow and low nutrients , you can even run low lights but acros will still grow.
After seeing this , I increased flow in my 30 in x 30 in x 18 in tank - 2 gyre 130, 3 Tunze 6055 and a seaswirl for return . Running 2 Reefbrite tech leds for 10 hours and 2x250 watt radiums for 5 hours now. Used to run for 7 hours . Getting wayyyyy better encrust .
Gonna keep lowering my MH hours to 4 and increase reefbrite hours to 12 and see what happens.
As of now , am very happy with stable Alk, crazy flow and high short duration MH hours .

Oh and I took carbon and gfo offline and happily forgot there's things like nitrates and phospahtes .In fact thoughts of selling my costly MRC reactors but decided to mod them as second chamber for calcium reactor which is in plan . No test kits for them too !! Just observe and feed my hungry wrasses and anthias 3 times a day and water change to handle nutrients.

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[bif24701]

I hope everyone sees this and learn a lot :- The great Json Fox himself talking about his experience in sps keeping .


You will find one of teh most interesting topic we always seem to miss . Its flow which is as important or even more than lighting . Crazy random flow and low nutrients , you can even run low lights but acros will still grow.
After seeing this , I increased flow in my 30 in x 30 in x 18 in tank - 2 gyre 130, 3 Tunze 6055 and a seaswirl for return . Running 2 Reefbrite tech leds for 10 hours and 2x250 watt radiums for 5 hours now. Used to run for 7 hours . Getting wayyyyy better encrust .
Gonna keep lowering my MH hours to 4 and increase reefbrite hours to 12 and see what happens.
As of now , am very happy with stable Alk, crazy flow and high short duration MH hours .

Oh and I took carbon and gfo offline and happily forgot there's things like nitrates and phospahtes .In fact thoughts of selling my costly MRC reactors but decided to mod them as second chamber for calcium reactor which is in plan . No test kits for them too !! Just observe and feed my hungry wrasses and anthias 3 times a day and water change to handle nutrients.

Regards,
Abhishek

Jason makes things very clear in this video.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I'm still not there but making strides!