Over the years I've received many messages regarding how I keep my tanks or other various tips and tricks regarding sps keeping. My general approach is to keep things simple. All of my tanks always compromise these 3 aspects.
1. Robust Biological Filtration
- Probably the most important aspect, yet often overlooked.
This point emphasizes the cycling process of the aquarium. I was left scratching my head a while back in regards to why one of my tanks had issues.
My tank had algae problems and could not grow sps and achieve the colors I wanted. I was frustrated and had the idea to re-seed my tank's micro-community. It worked! over the course of the month my algae issues diminished and I noticed visible improvement in coral health and growth.
2. Calcium Reactor
- My opinion: Hands down the best way
All my tanks have one, they have greatly reduced my overall maintenance and allow for complete replenishment of the building blocks for coral growth, since we're essentially reusing coral for coral growth
3. Efficient Flow
-Flow before light! Worry about lighting after!
In my experience proper flow should be priority #1 in all SPS tanks in regards to proper coral growth.
(Coloration is another issue)
As I have told many over the years, Lighting and everything else is second priority, since if you can't grow it in the first place, how are you going to make it look pretty, right?
Strong flow allows proper delivery of nutrients to the coral and reduces the chance of rtn
Minimizing dead spots and ensuring that your aquascape and tank has little to no detritus build up is key in maintaining beautiful SPS. By not letting detritus accumulate we are actively proactively denying the growth of unwanted nuisance algae.
These 3 aspects are the fundamentals of my philosophy.
So here are the bite sized take-aways of my philosophy
1. Establish strong Biological community
- lots of liverock, or other substitutes
- refugium if possible
- Strong Filtration( skimmer,zeovit,etc)
2. Calcium Reactor
- become familiar with one
- It will help keep stable parameters and will be key for lower overall maintenance
3. Efficient Flow
- minimize dead spots
- don't let detritus build up
- proper delivery
I hope this helps anyone who decides to read this thread!
As Always Happy Reefing,
Allan
