Reefer 170 sps dominate question!

[Phamousreef]

hello guys im fairly new to the hobby. I have a reefer 170 barebottom want to go sps dominate, I wonder should I dose them later on to refueled all the minerals it need, or just do weekly water change ? Thank you !

 

[Crabs McJones]

hello guys im fairly new to the hobby. I have a reefer 170 barebottom want to go sps dominate, I wonder should I dose them later on to refueled all the minerals it need, or just do weekly water change ? Thank you !

If you're doing SPS dominant, you're going to want to get some sort of doser or use Kalk in your ATO as the sps corals are going to use up stuff quickly. #reefsquad any sps dominant users in the group with more info

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

You'll definitely need a doser or get used to doing it yourself as a part of daily maintenance I do weekly water changes, 5 gallons on a 20 gallon system and do some supplemental dosing every once in a while. It can be tedious work some weeks though, especially if you're sick like I've been haha

 

[Brew12]

hello guys im fairly new to the hobby. I have a reefer 170 barebottom want to go sps dominate, I wonder should I dose them later on to refueled all the minerals it need, or just do weekly water change ? Thank you !

Unless you start stocking a crazy number of colonies you are unlikely to need to be dosing much of anything for a few months. Regular water changes will replace most of the elements that are consumed.

The best thing you can do is get a good Alk and Calc test kit and get in the habit of regular testing. Your test kits will let you know when you need to consider dosing.

 

[Phamousreef]

Unless you start stocking a crazy number of colonies you are unlikely to need to be dosing much of anything for a few months. Regular water changes will replace most of the elements that are consumed.

The best thing you can do is get a good Alk and Calc test kit and get in the habit of regular testing. Your test kits will let you know when you need to consider dosing.

I heard that sps is very sensitive so would regular weekly water change effect it in anyways , right now I'm doing 5 gallon every week with out any coral

 

[Crabs McJones]

I heard that sps is very sensitive so would regular weekly water change effect it in anyways , right now I'm doing 5 gallon every week with out any coral

As long as you're matching the salinity and the parameters don't swing to much and the temp is the same its fine

 

[Brew12]

I heard that sps is very sensitive so would regular weekly water change effect it in anyways , right now I'm doing 5 gallon every week with out any coral

They can be very sensitive. They will be much more sensitive to improper dosing than to a water change. You have what, 35g water volume give or take? Those 5g weekly water changes should get you by quite well for a few months as long as you stock your tank slowly.

You will know you need to consider dosing when you start seeing a drop in alkalinity in between water changes.

 

[GoVols]

I heard that sps is very sensitive so would regular weekly water change effect it in anyways , right now I'm doing 5 gallon every week with out any coral

You don't need to dose the big 3, until those parameters drop on a daily basis.
I'd let the reef go thru a long maturing process with very stable parameters, before going full blown SPS.

 

[Phamousreef]

You don't need to dose the big 3, until those parameters drop on a daily basis.
I'd let the reef go thru a long maturing process with very stable parameters, before going full blown SPS.

My tank is fairly new about almost a month should I wait 3 months before I added any coral in my first one I wanted a Monti cap to start with

 

[GoVols]

My tank is fairly new about almost a month should I wait 3 months before I added any coral in my first one I wanted a Monti cap to start with

I'd try an easy to keep monti after about 3 months if everything is stable, but that's JMO...

 

[JaimeAdams]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-office-sps-reefer-170.336783/

That is my SPS Red Sea 170. I do 5 gallon water changes a week and things have been growing well. I have a few dosing pumps as I was planning on hooking one of them up to it, but haven't had a need yet. The pics are a bit old and some things have been removed and others added.

 

[Scorpius]

If you plan on becoming what we call a "stickhead" which is characterized by sweating palms anytime a new Acropora is released then here's what I would do before even adding any SPS.

1. Learn what type of dosing regiment you want to use. 2-part. Kalkwasser. kalkwasser/2part combo. Calcium reator.
2. Do you have strong flow and good lighting. Vortech's Gyre's etc. Kessil, Radion's, ATI-T5's Hybrid lighting. Metal Halide.
3. Is the tank mature? 1+ yrs old. Are their sponges growing, coraline algae every where? Can you grow lps/softies with ease?
4. Do you have any nuisance algae problems? What kind of nutrient export do you currently use? Oversized skimmer? GFO/Carbon? Algae Scrubber? etc

Not trying to scare you. I had terrible luck with sps at first and I wish I had someone help me as I would have saved a lot of heartache. Your tank is very new. I would wait a good solid year before trying sps. It's all about keeping these animals happy in the long run. If you must try your hands at sps I would look at a Montipora like GoVols said or a Birdsnest coral. Either way, take your time as nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

 

[Phamousreef]

If you plan on becoming what we call a "stickhead" which is characterized by sweating palms anytime a new Acropora is released then here's what I would do before even adding any SPS.

1. Learn what type of dosing regiment you want to use. 2-part. Kalkwasser. kalkwasser/2part combo. Calcium reator.
2. Do you have strong flow and good lighting. Vortech's Gyre's etc. Kessil, Radion's, ATI-T5's Hybrid lighting. Metal Halide.
3. Is the tank mature? 1+ yrs old. Are their sponges growing, coraline algae every where? Can you grow lps/softies with ease?
4. Do you have any nuisance algae problems? What kind of nutrient export do you currently use? Oversized skimmer? GFO/Carbon? Algae Scrubber? etc

Not trying to scare you. I had terrible luck with sps at first and I wish I had someone help me as I would have saved a lot of heartache. Your tank is very new. I would wait a good solid year before trying sps. It's all about keeping these animals happy in the long run. If you must try your hands at sps I would look at a Montipora like GoVols said or a Birdsnest coral. Either way, take your time as nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

This is what I have for my tank currently , I think since it's only a 34 gallon tank with the equipment I have is okay ?!

 

[Phamousreef]

This is what I have for my tank currently , I think since it's only a 34 gallon tank with the equipment I have is okay ?!

If you plan on becoming what we call a "stickhead" which is characterized by sweating palms anytime a new Acropora is released then here's what I would do before even adding any SPS.

1. Learn what type of dosing regiment you want to use. 2-part. Kalkwasser. kalkwasser/2part combo. Calcium reator.
2. Do you have strong flow and good lighting. Vortech's Gyre's etc. Kessil, Radion's, ATI-T5's Hybrid lighting. Metal Halide.
3. Is the tank mature? 1+ yrs old. Are their sponges growing, coraline algae every where? Can you grow lps/softies with ease?
4. Do you have any nuisance algae problems? What kind of nutrient export do you currently use? Oversized skimmer? GFO/Carbon? Algae Scrubber? etc

Not trying to scare you. I had terrible luck with sps at first and I wish I had someone help me as I would have saved a lot of heartache. Your tank is very new. I would wait a good solid year before trying sps. It's all about keeping these animals happy in the long run. If you must try your hands at sps I would look at a Montipora like GoVols said or a Birdsnest coral. Either way, take your time as nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

I also forgot to mention that I'll be getting a santa Monica drop 1.2x as well and also Rowa gfo and carbon .8 from bed and currently running a seaside skimmer it was free so no complain

 

[JaimeAdams]

This is what I have for my tank currently , I think since it's only a 34 gallon tank with the equipment I have is okay ?!

Switch out the XR15 for XR30. If you checked out my sps RS170 that I linked above I found out that a single XR15 was not cutting it and had to double the light.

I am not saying that people are giving bad advice when they say to wait a year before adding SPS, I know Paletta wrote an article 6 months ago about how he couldn't keep acros in his new tank without adding real live rock first. If you look at my build thread (not updated in awhile, I know), I had SPS in there the day I added water to the tank and had Acropora in there during the first 3 or 4 days while using bleached dead rock. The tank is now 5 months old, still too new to grow Acros according the many folks, but I have a RS170 filled with colorful thriving Acropora coral.

I think that your biggest hurdle is being a "new hobbyist". While I pulled it off I have much more experience in testing and reading my tank than you do starting out. You can certainly do it and be successful with diligence, but there are certainly lots of learning experiences along the road.

 

[Brew12]

Switch out the XR15 for XR30. If you checked out my sps RS170 that I linked above I found out that a single XR15 was not cutting it and had to double the light.

I am not saying that people are giving bad advice when they say to wait a year before adding SPS, I know Paletta wrote an article 6 months ago about how he couldn't keep acros in his new tank without adding real live rock first. If you look at my build thread (not updated in awhile, I know), I had SPS in there the day I added water to the tank and had Acropora in there during the first 3 or 4 days while using bleached dead rock. The tank is now 5 months old, still too new to grow Acros according the many folks, but I have a RS170 filled with colorful thriving Acropora coral.

I think that your biggest hurdle is being a "new hobbyist". While I pulled it off I have much more experience in testing and reading my tank than you do starting out. You can certainly do it and be successful with diligence, but there are certainly lots of learning experiences along the road.

Agreed, my tank was ready for coral well before I was. The coral didn't suffer until I started doing things that I thought "reefers" should do. Such as running GFO and using Kalk. I caused myself so many problems by doing what I thought I should be doing instead of what my tank was telling me I should be doing.

 

[Bob Weigant]

I do not dose daily with my sps. I test 1-2 times a week for alk and mag. I’m more hands on and look at my tank daily

 

[Phamousreef]

Switch out the XR15 for XR30. If you checked out my sps RS170 that I linked above I found out that a single XR15 was not cutting it and had to double the light.

I am not saying that people are giving bad advice when they say to wait a year before adding SPS, I know Paletta wrote an article 6 months ago about how he couldn't keep acros in his new tank without adding real live rock first. If you look at my build thread (not updated in awhile, I know), I had SPS in there the day I added water to the tank and had Acropora in there during the first 3 or 4 days while using bleached dead rock. The tank is now 5 months old, still too new to grow Acros according the many folks, but I have a RS170 filled with colorful thriving Acropora coral.

I think that your biggest hurdle is being a "new hobbyist". While I pulled it off I have much more experience in testing and reading my tank than you do starting out. You can certainly do it and be successful with diligence, but there are certainly lots of learning experiences along the road.

I'll probably switch light later on when I add coral and when they'll start growing, thanks for the advice

 

[Phamousreef]

Agreed, my tank was ready for coral well before I was. The coral didn't suffer until I started doing things that I thought "reefers" should do. Such as running GFO and using Kalk. I caused myself so many problems by doing what I thought I should be doing instead of what my tank was telling me I should be doing.

What wrong with running gfo isn't it supposed to hell you reduce phosphate?!

 

[pugcrush]

This is what I have for my tank currently , I think since it's only a 34 gallon tank with the equipment I have is okay ?!

Nice equipment list. I using xr15 pro & 2 mp10's on mine.

What skimmer are you going with? Do you have a fish stock list?

I agree with the comments on just doing water changes etc. Once the tank matures a bit, I'd look into dosing. Barebottom is awesome too when the corals encrust.