Always dip corals! Stability? uhhh, well, no huge fluctuations... stability does help the grow faster, but if you don't have all the money or time, you can get away with imperfect stability. Just don't let things fluctuate too often within a day or two. Good flow is good, some acros will require much higher flow than others, so know what kind of sps you're getting. I have one that only has polyp extension while in front of an mp40. Good lights are essential!!!! Some SPS with deep colors do not like bright light or they will lose the deep color, so take that into account. Adding phytoplankton does help!! It's one of the few ways to feed them "solid" foods. Some SPS do not like others, so be sure to watch them as they get close and do some smart trimming to keep them from killing each other. Placing some SPS on rocks where the growth would cause it to "table" can be a bad idea. Some will not get a good footing (by encrusting) before the colony gets too large to hold itself onto the rock. It can eventually fall off. Be sure to glue frags onto rocks well so they do not fall off and you either lose them in the rock, have them die in the sand, or have them fall into an LPS colony for it to be murdered. I really believe in refugiums and skimmers if you want to keep fish so your phos and nitrates don't get too high. Don't get them too low either!!! About a <0.5ppm on phospha
te and <5ppm for nitrate is best... 0 could be bad. If i think of anything else, i'll repost!