Really that Hard to keep SPS?

[bfazio1030]

Is it truly that hard to keep SPS corals? I'd like to keep a few small Acroporas. I have mostly Zoas. I change my water religiously every Week. Would that be enough CALC ALK and Mag to keep SPS? 30 gallon nano tank. Radion Xr15 Salinity at 35PPM constantly.

 

[KrisReef]

Yes initially. Once the coral gets big it will grow faster and eventually it could out use what you replace with your religious furvor! Go for it!

 

[Fishingandreefing]

If your tank is mature enough and there are coraline algae, that means you’re ready for them. If you’re just keeping the easy type like purple stylo or montipora, you should be good. However, I would still check at least alk once every two weeks or so

 

[muffinmanXL]

waiting for those more experienced to chime in but I'm personally finding it more challenging to grow SPS in a mixed SPS-LPS reef tank

 

[mermaid_life]

Yes initially. Once the coral gets big it will grow faster and eventually it could out use what you replace with your religious furvor! Go for it!

I agree with this with the caveat of it depends how much water you are changing.

The salt is usually already an ideal balance. For the sake of math, let's say 10. By the end of the week, the tank that started at 10 is now 8. You do a 50% water change with new salt at 10, your tank is now at 9. Next week it's even lower.

You'll be able to be ok for a little bit with easier sps but the easier sps also grows the fastest! Perhaps daily small water changes could work. Haven't tried that before.

 

[MaxTremors]

Acroporas can be difficult or are more advanced, but montis, birdsnests, stylos, pavona, anacropora, and hydnophora are all easy SPS. If you want to do acros specifically, you need good lighting, flow, and stable, fairly low nutrient water. As others said, at first with just some frags water changes will likely be adequate, but once they start growing, you’ll need to dose something to keep up with their demands.

 

[The_Skrimp]

I think it totally depends on your habits. If you are already testing your water every couple of days, keeping low nutrients, and making efforts to maintain stability then trying acros and montis shouldn’t be too hard. Just make sure you’re getting a ton of flow and enough light. An Xr15 should be more than enough light for a 30 gal to grow some acros. I’m running the same light with XHOs.

The biggest challenge for me was their alk/calcium demands but that just means figuring out what and how you want to dose to keep up with it. Weekly water changes have not been enough for me and mine are still small colonies / frags. I just alternate between kalk and soda ash in my auto top off to maintain both.

 

[dk2nt9]

You can keep more resilient kinds of sps even in la ow tech tank, as long as you keep up with alkalinity and Ca consumption, they grow fast. Birdsnest, pocillopora, porites, montiporas.

Acroporas depends on species, some are more resilient, some less, and on situation in your tank, they can get go down overnight or start declining if something went wrong. They have much better chances in mature stable tank.

 

[X-37B]

Is it truly that hard to keep SPS corals? I'd like to keep a few small Acroporas. I have mostly Zoas. I change my water religiously every Week. Would that be enough CALC ALK and Mag to keep SPS? 30 gallon nano tank. Radion Xr15 Salinity at 35PPM constantly.

Yes and no. Depneding on your level of experience.
You have a quality light so your good their.
Do you have and ATO?
Acros require stability.
Water changes will only work for so long so you should get a good 2 part and test kits to determine levels.
If you have a plan and your system is setup right then acros are no more difficult than any other corals, imo.
Your plan must include these tested levels.
Temp
SG
Alk
Ca
Mag
No3
Po4
You then need a plan to keep these levels in your desired range.
The only way to know your levels is to test on a regular basis.

 

[rusgum]

Hello. It is not difficult at all if you are observant, disciplined and will give an account of your every action. In the future, in addition to water changes, you still have to choose some method of replenishing the main elements

 

[Conchman]

As most have said, I would add you need to document you’re testing, go high end with a spreadsheet, or draw a bunch of squares on a piece of paper. Either way you will begin to see how stable you are, trends, dips, spikes are a lot easier to see, good luck and my the reef be with you…

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Lost my second pink Cadillac and even the easy bonsai is not doing well. So is it hard? Maybe. My other easy sps are growing.

 

[shakacuz]

what is truly difficult about SPS is stability. not many beginner reefers are good with this when factoring if you have test kits and good husbandry.

i’ve had more success with SPS that i’ve had with LPS and softies… oddly enough