Do we all wait for 12 months before having success with SPS?

[Joe462]

When i set up my display tank, i used dry rock for my aquascape and put i think 3 small pieces of live rock from one of my other tanks. let it run with no lights for 30 days then i dumped fish and coral in it, including acropora within 2 months of setting it up and they were all fine. There is definitely no real rule deciding how long it takes for a tank to be ready. Its way more about the experience of the person and their knowledge in the hobby. I'm no hardcore expert but i was keeping acropora and other easier SPS prior to setting up my display. I'm not sure why you are struggling with SPS at the moment but i doubt it is because of the age of your tank. There is no magic that happens after a certain amount of time. Experience is the best teacher and unfortunately most of us will kill a lot of coral while we are learning, unless you are lucky or have a really good teacher/mentor.

keep working at it and you will eventually figure out what is going on.

 

[Cell]

Well there’s a lot, I mean a lot of variables. The biggest…… No instant tanks are started with dry rock. Also most stuff you see on YouTube are the prime cuts. Most do not and will not show the mistakes, downfalls and behind the scenes.

Ever see @Roberto Denadai's tank(s)?

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

Ever see @Roberto Denadai's tank(s)?

No, I haven’t. I’m guessing they’re pretty nice and started with dry rock. It can be done for sure. Mainly by experienced reefers or those that researched quite a bit. My comment was aimed more towards beginners starting their first tank with only dry rock and expecting an overnight success…..as the internet feeds this. It’s not just as simple as rock, water, sand, coral, go. A lot of us old timers often forget that and oversimplify things when providing guidance for newbies. What, after many years of trials and errors is second nature and requires no thought for one, can be quantum physics for another.

 

[Crustaceon]

Hi all,

A bit frustrated recently with my 11 months old tank and loss of sps coral, and I am not talking about those difficult sps, I am talking about birdsnest, stylophora and montipora digitata.

My tank:
About 250L
Dosing ALK and Cal
Par level is about 200 on sand bed and 300 on top of the rock.
Dry rock

Water Parameters:
ALK: 8.0 to 7.7
CAL: 430
MAG: 1380
NO3: 5
PO4: 0.02-0.04

I admit I made some mistakes along the way, like letting NO3 bottom out for couple of months but already keep it at 5 for last few weeks, MAG drop to 1230 recently but already brought it up now, a wavemaker gave up on me. But things are getting quite stable now. I put some SPS frags in around 2 months ago (when my tank is about 8 or 9 months old), like Acropora Millepora, Montipora Digitata, Pink/Green Birdsnest and Purple Stylophora.
Millepora started encrusted on the rock and suddenly started peeling and it's dead now.
Montipora Digitata was half dead but coming back at the moment.
Pink Birdsnest dead, but I think this one is wild caught so may be difficult.
Green Birdsnest frag also dead.
Purple Stylophora started peeling now.

I know it is recommended to wait 12 months before keeping SPS. But it seems some people (from YouTube channel) are able to keep SPS even when the tank is new, like 1-3 months new, and doesn't look like they use live rock, how do they do that?

I think the 12 months wait is for the bacterial being matured. So how some people are able to keep sps when their tank is new? Do all you guys wait for 12 months before keeping sps?

Sorry for the whining, just wondering about everything of reef keeping.

Good questions. I think the “Wait _____ beyond basic cycling for your tank to mature” notion is nonsense. Bacteria is going to be literally everywhere in your system after it cycles. It’s not going to be even more-er everywhere 6 months after the fact. There’s also a secret to keeping sps (shhh don’t tell anyone). It’s not making major and sudden changes to water chemistry/temperature/lighting. Not kidding. You can have 7dkh or 9 dkh alk. It’s fine. You can have 2ppm or 10ppm nitrates. That’s fine. What’s going to cause you problems is doing a ten percent water change with newly mixed salt water that’s ten degrees colder than the tank and 2 dkh above what’s currently in your system. That’s going to shock your sps and cause the tissue necrosis you described. Low nutrients will also cause that, but that’s a slower process that you should be able to pick up on if you test nitrates and phosphates at least weekly. Realistically, you want to test often and do as small adjustments to the tank as possible. Do this and you’ll have success.

 

[Duncan62]

KPaquatics

Ever see @Roberto Denadai's tank(s)?

I've seen them. Very pretty. Most don't look real. To sterile for my taste. Definitely beautiful and expensive pieces that most can't afford. To each his own.

 

[RubyU235]

A broken heater killed mine. You learn.

 

[dbsehorn24]

I’m about to hit the 2 month mark and have a purple Stylo going strong…for now at least! Guess we will see. I didn’t spend much on it just in case. I’m trying to keep the parameters as stable as possible but that’s part of the journey. Excited to see how it all goes!

 

[HB AL]

Do you have coraline growing in the tank like on the back glass? If you have coraline growing on rocks etc... and they are the size of a quarter atleast on the back glass the easy sps should be surviving without problems. I know that's a pretty simple and odd question but any idea could be the one to help you conquer your dilemma. Assuming your test results are accurate things shouldn't go downhill so quickly. Sending in an icp test might give ya some answers to water quality parameters that we can't test for. When I hear an example like yours with multiple different types of corals dying especially when it happens pretty quickly 99% of the time it's got something to do with water quality especially since the dt has been running for a good amount of time. Good luck hope ya find the problem soon.

 

[GarrettT]

But are these younger tanks able to actually grow sps at a decent rate? Sure they can survive, but thrive? Thats the key difference imo.

 

[PeterErc]

But are these younger tanks able to actually grow sps at a decent rate? Sure they can survive, but thrive? Thats the key difference imo.

Look at post 40 that was my overgrown mess of a tank in the end. Here’s somewhere in between.

 

[HB AL]

Also have you tested for stray voltage? To start I have a mixed reef with all types of corals. Years ago I noticed all my different types of corals were looking good except the acropora's which were losing polyp extension or some had none at all but all the other corals seemed fine at the time, so something was upsetting the acropora probably since they are notoriously more sensitive. Some of them had already started to stn about 2 weeks after I noticed the acropora were not doing good. I tested everything I could and everything was spot on. At that point I sent in a Trton test. While waiting for the results someone suggested to check for stray voltage, so I grabbed my voltmeter and I was amazed how high it was which made me thrilled, I found the issue! I grabbed my wife and had her unplug one thing at a time and we found the problem child which was a powerhead. Within literally a few hours I noticed a little polyp extension coming from some of the acropora and within less of a week they were all back to normal. All the other corals looked fine, the fish were fine the inverts (snails, hermits) were also fine.

 

[amoore311]

My 220 had digi and Anacropora the third day it had water in it.

3 weeks later started with the first acros.
If you can manage the nutrients and the mineral demand, have at it there is no reason to wait.

 

[Gatorpa]

I’ll do a 3 dkh increase on this in less than an hour and you won’t see a change.

I’ll do a 3 dkh increase on this in less than an hour and you won’t see a change.

There are two groups of people those who have accidentally OD on kalk and those who will OD on kalk

 

[JulesH]

My tank was 111 days old before I tried two SPS sticks, a Bali slimmer and a Forest fire. I have noticed over the months they have become very colourful and have over grown their respective frag plugs. I don't see much vertical growth but I am happy they are still there. I added them when I started to see Coraline algae growth.

 

[Dorado]

I believe that adding as much diversity in bacteria and micro fauna as soon as possible really helps boost success when starting out an SPS tank with dry rock. When I started my tank last year, I added multiple bottled bacteria along with IPSF live sand activator and wondermud.

April 2021

June 2021

July 2022

 

[akau]

I added acros and other sps after just 3 weeks, but my tank was full of live rock and sand taken straight off the reef with lots of natural seawater changes early on.

Haven't lost a coral yet and they are encrusting onto the live rock fast with great polyp extension. 4 months on now.

 

[Acroguy]

Coral and fish are in 1 week after setup.
Live rock mixed with dry rock.
3 weeks after setup coralline is growing.New growth already on my colonies.
600 gallon system.
Alk stable at 7.3- 7.5 dkh
There is no reason for SPS not to grow in new pristine water.
Also live rock makes a big difference imo.

 

[anthonymckay]

One thing I didn't see in this thread is your tanks pH. And while your snapshot of parameters looks more or less ok, that gives no indication of the stability of your tank day to day. I'd start heavily logging test parameters, daily (maybe even 2x a day) for alk, and every 2-3 days for NO3, PO4, etc. I also agree with others here that .3 dkH swing in a day isn't really that bad. I've seen way more up and down swings using Red Sea Coral Pro salt for water changes with 0 visible effects on sps corals.

 

[92Miata]

Hi all,

A bit frustrated recently with my 11 months old tank and loss of sps coral, and I am not talking about those difficult sps, I am talking about birdsnest, stylophora and montipora digitata.

Just a comment here - I've always found the various "birdsnest" corals to be significantly harder to keep than most acropora - and if my tank starts getting phosphate deficient, my montis show signs way quicker than the acros do.


So when people say those are easy SPS, I really don't know what they're talking about. My suspicion is that what "easy" means here is that those corals like conditions closer to those of softies/etc than most acros, and do better in mixed reef type situations. In the progression from Softies->mixed->LPS->mixed->SPS that some people do, they seem easier - but if you're trying to run a straight up acro tank, they're not at all.

I suspect that the .02-.04 phosphate is the problem. That low works well if you're feeding a ton and running heavy export - but if you're not - it's often not enough. Remember both the hanna ULR meters have an error range of about .02. In my tank, when I see .02, problems soon follow.

 

[scottbapilot]

Day 1 (95% dry rock)

Week 1 SPS went in (only blue XHO on tank)

Between weeks 2-3 halides go up

Weeks 4-6

About a month ago (need to get a new FTS)

My alkalinity has been around 6.5 to 7dkh the whole time. It's spiked as high as 9dkh at least once. Not a single issue from that spike. If water, flow, and light are good then SPS will do fine from very early on (assuming no pests or fish bothering them.)

Beautiful System, What roller mat are you running?