should i do sps in this tank ?

[jeeperreefer]

happy thanks giving fellow reefers. i was going to do zoas for this tank but i met a guy last night who has an awesome sps tank. he offered to give me some of his frags for free. i am not sure what kind he has and he has not seen my tank. i was thinking if he has some easier to keep ones i might try some. i would like some input on my rock structure and tank size. not sure if this would work for sps. thanks for any input.

 

[Mical]

Your tank will need to be established, stable, have lots of flow & good lighting to support SPS. By the looks of your tank it's fairly new. Personally I'ld wait until it's up for a year plus before considering SPS. It's a nice rock structure!

 

[jeeperreefer]

Your tank will need to be established, stable, have lots of flow & good lighting to support SPS. By the looks of your tank it's fairly new. Personally I'ld wait until it's up for a year plus before considering SPS. It's a nice rock structure!

you are correct, it has been up and running for 4 months. thanks.

 

[Mical]

I'd start w/easier LPS or softies until you get use to your tank maturing. (And start saving $$$) SPS corals will also need dosing, testing and monitoring of parameters a little closer for stability. Research and ask lots of questions from fellow reefers here, it'll save you a ton of $$$ and disappointment in the long run.

 

[ryshark]

What lights and flow do you have? If he offers a free frag, you may as well see what happens. Most likely it will RTN within a month though.

 

[Hemmdog]

What lights and flow do you have? If he offers a free frag, you may as well see what happens. Most likely it will RTN within a month though.

If you replace the word frag with dog and RTN with die, it doesn’t sound quite as enticing, lol.

 

[ryshark]

If you replace the word frag with dog and RTN with die, it doesn’t sound quite as enticing, lol.

Ha, I actually changed the word die to rtn, because of that. If you change the word frag to leaf or branch then even with the word die it doesn’t sound too bad. I think at 4-month with proper conditions and a hardy SPS frag, it’s not impossible to keep alive.

 

[jeeperreefer]

What lights and flow do you have? If he offers a free frag, you may as well see what happens. Most likely it will RTN within a month though.

i have a single kessil a160 tuna blue and a cheap jebao 0w-10 wave maker.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

If they are free then he obviously has good growth and won’t miss them. Lots of people just throw them away because they don’t have time to give them to new homes. So there is no reason not to try it out. Although the tank picture looks like a tank that’s not been cycled at all but if it is then I don’t see why trying would hurt anything.
Keeping sps is not as hard or complicated as some people will tell you. If you know the basics and keep just a few sps it’s not too difficult.

 

[Flippers4pups]

There's been some good info given.

More info about your tank is needed.

Stability is key with SPS. Lighting with the proper spectrum and intensity.

Water parameters rock solid.

ATO is a must.

Plenty of flow.

And this...... Mature bacterial colonies, thus people will say a "mature tank". The only time I've seen a new set up become successful with SPS added right away was with the use of live rock or dry with live rock. Why, bacterial colonies associated with live rock. Rock from the ocean.

You can try them with dry rock only, but it most likely will be a struggle. This was my experience as well.

 

[dadnjesse]

If you replace the word frag with dog and RTN with die, it doesn’t sound quite as enticing, lol.

A little drastic

 

[SeaDweller]

A little drastic

But true.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I'd say not in the first year of the tank, its dry sand and rock to start with, that seems to take longer to stabilise and mature, also even if a frag was free and you tried it, then it died, it's not a good place for you to start in my opinion. I'd say start your tank, cycle it and get things going the right way, do your research, take it slow and get to know your tank first.
Out of the 3 tanks I have, 1 I started with dry rock and sand and the other 2 have live rock that I have had in my old tank for 14 years, the dry rock tank still looks sterile and very new looking even though its 1.5 Years old. Yes it can be done but it's a marathon not a sprint.