Best SPS water chemistry

[Reef13]

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.

You're spot on!! There are a lot of different variables but keeping things stable and the eight placement in my opinion are the two best practices..

 

[Reef13]

every reef tank is a different world.

You are correct, what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another.. my salinity got as high as .028 the other day, but all my corals polyps were out esp my sps.. I lowered it back to .026 though, but I'm curious as to how things would've been if I were to keep it that high.. I know in their natural environment there is flucuation..

 

[kid976]

following

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

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.

You must change a lot of water, or else you let alkalinity get quite low and so are limiting coral growth. Water changes generally cannot keep up with the alkalinity demands of a tank with rapidly growing hard corals. Are you monitoring alkalinity?

Here's a plot of what happens in a tank with a pretty low demand (0.56 dKH per day):

Figure 22. Alkalinity as a function of time when performing daily water changes equivalent to 0% (no changes), 15% and 30% of the total volume each month (in other words, 0%, 0.5% and 1% per day). In this example, alkalinity is present at 4 meq/L (11 dKH) at the start and is depleted at a low rate of 0.2 meq/L per day.

If you up the changes to large daily changes (10-30% per day), you can maintain alkalinity by water changes alone, however:

Figure 23. Alkalinity as a function of time when performing very large daily water changes of 0% (no changes), 5%, 10%, 15% and 30% of the total volume EACH DAY. In this example, alkalinity is present at 4 meq/L (11 dKH) at the start and is depleted at a low rate of 0.2 meq/L per day.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You are correct, what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another.. my salinity got as high as .028 the other day, but all my corals polyps were out esp my sps.. I lowered it back to .026 though, but I'm curious as to how things would've been if I were to keep it that high.. I know in their natural environment there is flucuation..

The specific gravity in the Red Sea where many species thrive is well above the 1.028, so I expect many corals will do well long term at a sg of 1.028.

 

[Big E]

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.
Alk- 8.6 Calc- 420 Mg-1300
Temp-77-78
What else do you dose?
Nothing
How do you dose, (hand, reactor, pump)?
Randy's two part using Baking Soda and Peladow............Magus doser.
What salt mix do you use?
Instant Ocean
What do you run in reactors?
Occasionally GFO at half recommended amount.
What are your phosphate and nitrate levels?
Po4- .02-.12 NO3- .2-1.0
Basically, what makes this sticks explode in growth and color!
Good flow and correct spectrum of lighting............Pest free-- most people don't know they have pests until they are at plague proportions.
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.
T5 lighting have the best colors I have ever seen in person in multiple tanks. 200-450par. Smooth skins(Hawkins, Echinatas, Turakis, ect.do well at lower 200's. Milli like higher levels. Sweet spot for most acros 300-350.
Correct spectrum is more important than par.

More pics here---
http://reef2reef.com/threads/big-e-rimless-80g-sps.206607/

 

[dragonfish]

Following.

 

[Weiloon tan]

Following

 

[SouL_Shaker]

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.

I have vortech mp60 and mp40 in my 210x60x55cm sps tank. Corals are not that happy with flow. People suggested me providing them more flow than they need. But coral shop always says me putting the acropora's on the area of lower flow. I always think why did I buy mp60 and MP40 at the same time... 2x MP40 was better.


I also have giesemann matrix II 8x80watt lightning fixture. But I put 4 white t5 and 4 aqua blue. But colors are always awful. I have been thinking of this set up this time for coloration : 4 blue 1 17000klv 1 15000klv 1 pure actinic 1 aqua pink

 

[Marquiseo]

Bumping this thread for more discussion.

 

[scardall]

@Big E You mentioned that spectrum to be more important than PAR. I too Agree,but when I mention that PUR is more important I get ignored or receive negativity to some degree. Now I am Not a supporter of Chinese Leds for this reason. For the most part Cree leds are the best to use. I do have issues with planara and have treated several times. I have to spread treatments out because I loose or have severe damage to my mushrooms as a result. I put fresh carbon in my reactors with GFO. No water change. these 2 guys suffer badly. these pics are before treatment. they loose color and after 1.5 months are still in recovery.