Best SPS water chemistry

pilotx44 · Oct 24, 2015

So I'm looking for all you sps guys to give me a little hint into how you keep your sps so happy and colorful. What are your cal, alk, mag, and other levels. What else do you dose? How do you dose, (hand, reactor, pump)? What salt mix do you use? What do you run in reactors? What are your phosphate and nitrate levels? Basically, what makes this sticks explode in growth and color!
Also what lighting and par level if known, and basic flow. I have a few stick that I want to be able to grow and color up really well.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 24, 2015

Not asking much, are you.

There are many. many thousands of articles and threads on these many topics you are asking about. You'll never get a perfect answer in a single thread.

That said, I'll start with some general comments and folks should chime in with more info as it suits them.

First, growth and color cannot always be co-optimized.

Growth of many SPS corals will be best at higher alkalinity (so alkalinity is not limiting growth), medium nutrients (nitrate and phosphate) so they do not limit growth, and maybe higher pH. These conditions can result in more zoox, so the corals may be more brown.

Color can often be optimized by lower nutrients where zoox levels are lower (so less brown) but then you must limit the alkalinity to prevent "burnt tips" (which may be from the skeleton growing faster than the tissue can keep up). When keeping nitrate and phosphate very low, you may need to add special foods for the corals to replace what they'd be getting in the ocean, such as amino acids.

So better color may mean slower growth for many hard corals.

As to calcium, it doesn't seem to be limiting for growth in most cases if it is maintained at normal levels (say, 420 ppm). Higher isn't necessarily any better. It seems to have no impact on colors. Same for magnesium at about 1300 ppm.

Potassium can become an issue over time in some tanks as it becomes depleted. Maintain a normal (400 ppm) level if it does.

I do not think strontium is important. Same for iodine. In both cases, however, it is easy enough to experiment for yourself and see if they have any impact.

JOKER · Oct 24, 2015

Lots of the best looking sps tanks keep the big 3 in line or slightly higher levels than the ocean. No need to use the elevated salt mixes. I would recommend posting in the general SPS forum as well.

Mark m · Oct 26, 2015

I want to follow this. I have some in my tank some are doing ok and some are not.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 26, 2015

Mark m said:
I want to follow this. I have some in my tank some are doing ok and some are not.

What is happening to the ones not doing well?

MounteeFrag · Oct 26, 2015

Following.

Ro.an · Oct 27, 2015

Following x 2

jt17 · Oct 27, 2015

One of the most important factors is flow. You can have ideal water parameters and lighting but without good flow your sps won't thrive.
Most of the progression shots we see are still photos which tells us little about the flow. Check out the video of Jason Fox's insane 700 gal. tank. and notice the flow.

Daniel@R2R · Oct 28, 2015

Great stuff in here already! Maybe we could tag some of the guys we know of who keep great-looking sticks to offer some wisdom. Here are a few guys that come to my mind. @Battlecorals @Reef Pets @Acro76 @hybridazn @Brad Syphus @Triton US

Reef13 · Oct 28, 2015

I have thriving sps in my 29g biocube, no skimmer, ai prime as a light source, I don't dose anything, but do water changes every other week.. I keep my fish fed well also.. not ridiculous growth but great colors and poly extension though.. sps stock= red Monti cap, orange digitata, green slimer, purple stylo, birds of paradise, turquoise acro, and orange setosa.

tswanso3 · Oct 28, 2015

Here is my secret to SPS.... Don't get wrapped up in having PERFECT water, I do not and my SPS thrive in color and growth. I keep a very heavily stocked tank with an over rated skimmer (SRO 3000 on my 180) and a refugium. I feed my fish a lot. My nitrates and phosphates are high by most people sps standards but I have not noticed a negative effect. I keep tons of tangs and hermit crabs in my tank and don't have algae outbreaks. My apex controls the pH in my calcium reactor. The only thing I test on a regular basis is alkalinity. I keep mine around 9.8 and everything else seems to stay in place with the reactor running. I add trace elements, iodine every week or every other week. I do maybe 20 gallons in a water change every 2 months. I think a lot of people get wrapped up in having perfect water parameters. I have had the best success when I'm not constantly messing with my tank.

Reef13 · Oct 28, 2015

tswanso3 said:
Here is my secret to SPS.... Don't get wrapped up in having PERFECT water, I do not and my SPS thrive in color and growth. I keep a very heavily stocked tank with an over rated skimmer (SRO 3000 on my 180) and a refugium. I feed my fish a lot. My nitrates and phosphates are high by most people sps standards but I have not noticed a negative effect. I keep tons of tangs and hermit crabs in my tank and don't have algae outbreaks. My apex controls the pH in my calcium reactor. The only thing I test on a regular basis is alkalinity. I keep mine around 9.8 and everything else seems to stay in place with the reactor running. I add trace elements, iodine every week or every other week. I do maybe 20 gallons in a water change every 2 months. I think a lot of people get wrapped up in having perfect water parameters. I have had the best success when I'm not constantly messing with my tank.

I couldn't agree more!! I'm not always consistent with water changes myself. I don't always dose alk and calcium either.. my numbers are always on point too with just water changes..

domination2580 · Oct 28, 2015

I can't say a lot because I don't have a crap ton of sps but doesn't light play a factor? Or maybe I'm wrong.

tswanso3 · Oct 28, 2015

To me, light is a given. Corals require light. I run 3 radion gen 3 pros over my 180, never been happier.

domination2580 · Oct 28, 2015

I don't have a lot of money but my current setup is 4 t12 vho. So far everything seems happy but I couldn't keep like a chalice or favia which I get disappointed in myself because I want to produce the environment for these to prosper but I can't seem to do so. I'm Looking at leds but not the high end brand that costs an arm and a leg

anthonywesty · Oct 28, 2015

Reef13 said:
I couldn't agree more!! I'm not always consistent with water changes myself. I don't always dose alk and calcium either.. my numbers are always on point too with just water changes..

every reef tank is a different world.

swk · Oct 28, 2015

jt17 said:
One of the most important factors is flow. You can have ideal water parameters and lighting but without good flow your sps won't thrive.
Most of the progression shots we see are still photos which tells us little about the flow. Check out the video of Jason Fox's insane 700 gal. tank. and notice the flow.

Where's this video?

tswanso3 · Oct 28, 2015

Here is my 180, over 80 different acros are in the tank.

AllSignsPointToFish · Oct 28, 2015

I looked up the Jason Fox tank on YouTube. That thing is mad sick! Absolutely astounding!!!

Ellery · Oct 28, 2015

I guess you have to list all the possible variables to truly understand the individual contributions to health of corals. But most probably don't care to that level. If we did we would do some type of Design of Experiment to quantify the impacts and the interactions. Ultimately you would have to quantify Success = Growth Rate or Color intensity?

As some people have said Color and Growth don't necessarily go hand in hand.
I have been following the Red Sea Foundation Parameters and they do have 2 set of parameters pending on your goal? Growth vs Color. I've tested both out for the most part and it does make sense logically.

There growth Numbers typically focus on higher Alk, Ca, and Mg.

As with most current documentation it will depend on the following variables:
1. Water Parameters (Temp,.Salinity, pH, Alk, Ca, Mg, PO4 to a minor point some Trace elements & Nitrates)
2. Water Flow (laminar vs turbulent) and intensity
3. Lighting (Spectrum, Intensity, and PAR at that level, Photoperiod)
4. SPS species and types have their own unique requirements (Acropora, Montipora, Pocillopora, Seriatopora etc)
- To some extent even the corals' color of the Zooxanthellae impacts the nutrients it needs and the intensity of lighting.
5. Proper Placement (Affects 2,3,&4)
6. System Maturity to handle bioload (Bacteria levels & diversity) (Filtration method impacts (Carbon dosing, Zeovit, etc)
7. System Stability - The Key is not necessarily a particular number but keeping it stable with minor variances.
8. Supplementation - Whether by water changes or by dosing to replenish what the organisms use up. (Amino Acids, Potassium, Iodide, Boron, Iron, other trace elements that impact certain colors)
9. Elimination of pests and predators.