SPS really more difficult than LPS?

[Reef_at_Sea]

Maybe a stupid question written by a noob like me but here goes nothing.

is SPS actually more difficult than LPS?
If so, what (in your opinion) makes it more difficult than LPS?

I would love to hear about this from experienced reef keepers.

 

[VintageReefer]

SPS have higher light and flow requirements which means you need equipment capable of providing for them.

As the branches grow, they can create shading issues for coral around and below them. You may need multiple light fixtures or supplemental led bars or t5

As for difficulty….I wouldn’t say it’s harder but I would say they are more sensitive and less forgiving. If you have methods to keep your parameters stable and in normal range, you should be ok. However an alkalinity drop or other parameter going out of range can cause entire colonies to bleach or rtn and you can lose the entire thing overnight

Also, frags often do not look like the parent colonies until they are healed and have a solid base encrusted. They can be very dull due to stress. This is more true for the advanced / colorful species and is not true for all sps. Regardless, you need long term stability and patience

 

[VintageReefer]

This grew from a frag to this in 12-15 months. Imagine the shading issues this created. You can always prune and frag of course but I could never bring myself to do it

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

This grew from a frag to this in 12-15 months. Imagine the shading issues this created. You can always prune and frag of course but I could never bring myself to do it

Beautifull!

I would be lying if i said i'm pretty good at keeping my reef stable, my salinity was a little on the low side last time i tested & since then i have been increasing it slowly & is now fixed again.
I readjusted my skimmer to skim & little bit more dry in the hope my salinity becomes more stable as well.

But when it comes to lighting, flow & maintenance/water changes i'm doing very well if i say so myself!
Although my reef isn't that old yet, i'm almost tempted on trying my first LPS/SPS, but i'm leaning more towards easy LPS.

 

[VintageReefer]

There is a recent thread on beginners lps, it has some ideas for you to look at.

I would definitly suggest a LPS to start with and if that goes well then try a beginner SPS. Then wait. See if your system can keep them healthy for a few months before you go spending money on more.

The more you add the more your alk and ca consumption will increase, requiring more water changes, or more 2 part, or more additives…whatever method you choose to use. So by that point you should be familiar with keeping the tank stable and know what to do if for example if ALK drops from 9 to 8.2, you need to intervene before it drops more…what do you do / add to get it back to 9? Over how much time? What do you adjust to keep it stable at 9 again. Etc. you should know your products/methods and how much of what to add to make corrections when needed

LPS is more forgiving. They get grumpy and you’ll see signs they aren’t happy and something is off. SPS can start to peel and once that starts you could lose entire colonies in 24 - 48 hours

Soft corals like zoanthids are a great beginner coral to learn with. Very adaptable and forgiving

Sounds like you are off to a good start and it’s good your asking before you buy. Many peoples issues and losses could have been avoided if they took a moment to ask ahead instead of impulse buying

 

[VintageReefer]

Favorite LPS Corals for Beginners?

New LPS lovers are being born into the reefing community every day! Let's help them with some good beginner LPS coral suggestions! What are some of your favorites that are easy to care for and still look great? Duncan coral image via @Radicalrob1982

www.reef2reef.com

 

[MrStoffel]

Depends on the species imho.
Some sps are very hardy, however they can still get ticked off by a parameter that goes out of bounds unnoticed. (had this happen with raised salinity)
For example, pocci, stylo, seriatopora, monti, acropora valida, acropora formosa are hardier SPS, this goes for aquacultured frags, not for maricultured stuff.
Things SPS find more important then LPS: flow and light, stable temperature, Kh (and Ca, K, Sr), a good source of protein (read feed a lot, export a lot).
Things SPS hate: shading, low flow, kh swings, temp swings, lack of nutrients
Invest in good lighting, flow and a decent skimmer. Optionally combined with a refugium, or another secondary nutrient export method.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

I struggle to keep most lps. They live. They never thrive. But that's mostly (I think) because I tend to end up with mixed reefs and push the light a bit to get into the SPS growth range. Regardless, I think SPS is, for the most part easier.

 

[bryanfuel1]

Really just different requirements. You can have a tank setup that would grow SPS very well but struggle to grow LPS.

 

[VintageReefer]

I agree the most difficult is a mixed reef to accommodate both

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

Ok, thank you all!
My game plan right now is testing my values before buying to make sure i have that correct, than getting a fairly easy & cheap piece of LPS & see how it likes my reef.

Should i test my values every week to check the usage of the coral or??

 

[Doctorgori]

some species are more finicky than others, some LPS can be just as touchy
also some perception is skewed by status/popularity…
it’s sorta “you have arrived” thing if you “master” SPS which in my opinion really is proper setup and not screwing with your tank constantly (AKA the overused “stability” idiom)

 

[steveschuerger]

Mixed reef here. Ironically started to have some success higher end sps when I moved into this 90 I’ve got running. I think my last was just too shallow, at least for me to grow Acros, though easier sps like stylos and Digis grew fine. So it’s kind of a mixed bag in my opinion. There’s some lps, that for me have always been problematic and there’s been sps that have been a similar difficulty. So my answer is it’s a bit of both.

 

[twentyleagues]

Ok, thank you all!

Should i test my values every week to check the usage of the coral or??

With just a single coral your parameters are not going to change much once a week should be fine. But understand that with more corals your consumption is going to increase. Currently with a mostly lps tank I test alk every other day calc once a week and mag every 2 weeks. I went to testing mag every 2 weeks from a thread I read here. Once you see and understand the correlation between alk and the other 2 you can dose off of that info. With sps you will need to test more often they tend to use a larger amount of these things once they start growing. I test nitrate and phosphate once a week and salinity 2 times a week.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

With just a single coral your parameters are not going to change much once a week should be fine. But understand that with more corals your consumption is going to increase. Currently with a mostly lps tank I test alk every other day calc once a week and mag every 2 weeks. I went to testing mag every 2 weeks from a thread I read here. Once you see and understand the correlation between alk and the other 2 you can dose off of that info. With sps you will need to test more often they tend to use a larger amount of these things once they start growing. I test nitrate and phosphate once a week and salinity 2 times a week.

Do you use a digital tester for nitrate & phosphate?
The test kit from Salifert that i have is a pain in the butt for a half colour blind person like me lol

 

[MrStoffel]

some species are more finicky than others, some LPS can be just as touchy
also some perception is skewed by status/popularity…
it’s sorta “you have arrived” thing if you “master” SPS which in my opinion really is proper setup and not screwing with your tank constantly (AKA the overused “stability” idiom)

The stability recommendation mostly stems from the past, when people did not have all the modern equipment running their tanks. When i started in 2000 i did not have a dosing pump, digital thermostat or programmable lights. Let alone a refractometer or ICP testing. I was dosing by hand, had a simple thermostatic bimetal heater and lights was on a mechanical on/off timer, salt was checked with a plastic instant ocean floater at the start, later i got a hydrometer, which was not cheap back then.
We were just emerging from the time of T8 lighting and going towards T5, HQI was mostly not for beginners, but they were great at growing SPS.

Getting stability wrong nowadays is indeed becoming more unlikely, IF you can be patient and not screw with all your settings constantly. While at the same time keeping up with your standard maintenance on a regular basis.
I think the "idiom" is just as valid today as it always has been, its just how you interpret it i guess

I recently got a very nice example of how quickly a small change can make stuff go sideways.
When going on a 1 week trip abroad, my AC somehow produced an error and turned itself off.
Off course just in that week we had two very sunny 25+°C days, heating up the room to 27°C through the south facing window, which caused the tank to reach 27.5°C. Usually i run my tank at 24° in winter, and 25° in summer.
But i had not yet hooked up my cooling fan yet, since we had crap weather in belgium up until then.
Although there was only a 3.5°C rise in temperature for 2-3 days, i did see the results when i got home.
PC Rainbow, red and green dragon echinata, a pink mille and my SSC were all "bleached" or badly off colour.
FFWD 4 weeks and things are starting to get better again, seeing the colours get darker again day by day, but it will take at least 2 more months before i get back to where i was.
The few LPS i have, being a bernardpora, a alveopora, goniopora, and a hammer coral where all fine during this event. Had it lasted longer, i am sure they could have suffered as well for sure.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

The stability recommendation mostly stems from the past, when people did not have all the modern equipment running their tanks. When i started in 2000 i did not have a dosing pump, digital thermostat or programmable lights. Let alone a refractometer or ICP testing. I was dosing by hand, had a simple thermostatic bimetal heater and lights was on a mechanical on/off timer, salt was checked with a plastic instant ocean floater at the start, later i got a hydrometer, which was not cheap back then.
We were just emerging from the time of T8 lighting and going towards T5, HQI was mostly not for beginners, but they were great at growing SPS.

Getting stability wrong nowadays is indeed becoming more unlikely, IF you can be patient and not screw with all your settings constantly. While at the same time keeping up with your standard maintenance on a regular basis.
I think the "idiom" is just as valid today as it always has been, its just how you interpret it i guess

I recently got a very nice example of how quickly a small change can make stuff go sideways.
When going on a 1 week trip abroad, my AC somehow produced an error and turned itself off.
Off course just in that week we had two very sunny 25+°C days, heating up the room to 27°C through the south facing window, which caused the tank to reach 27.5°C. Usually i run my tank at 24° in winter, and 25° in summer.
But i had not yet hooked up my cooling fan yet, since we had crap weather in belgium up until then.
Although there was only a 3.5°C rise in temperature for 2-3 days, i did see the results when i got home.
PC Rainbow, red and green dragon echinata, a pink mille and my SSC were all "bleached" or badly off colour.
FFWD 4 weeks and things are starting to get better again, seeing the colours get darker again day by day, but it will take at least 2 more months before i get back to where i was.
The few LPS i have, being a bernardpora, a alveopora, goniopora, and a hammer coral where all fine during this event. Had it lasted longer, i am sure they could have suffered as well for sure.

Hello, fellow belgian (i'm from belgium living in the netherlands for 5 years now haha)

I completely understand your point, my tank is pretty small so i hope to get away with weekly water changes and no need for dosing, but time will tell.

Long story short regarding your story is that the LPS was a little more sturdy/resistent than the SPS?

 

[MrStoffel]

Hello, fellow belgian (i'm from belgium living in the netherlands for 5 years now haha)

I completely understand your point, my tank is pretty small so i hope to get away with weekly water changes and no need for dosing, but time will tell.

Long story short regarding your story is that the LPS was a little more sturdy/resistent than the SPS?

Oh hi there!
In regards to the temp swing, yes.

IF you decide to buy LPS/SPS consuming Kh and Ca, i would definitely consider investing in a doser and some all in one product like Tropic Marin All for Reef or similar. You can start with a cheap 1 channel doser.
The cost of this, will be around 100€, and your corals will thank you for it.
Water changes can be done, but rather monthly than weekly. Winning you the cost of the salt.
In the beginning you will probably consume less than 0.5dkh a day, but this can quickly increase once corals start to take off.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

Oh hi there!
In regards to the temp swing, yes.

IF you decide to buy LPS/SPS consuming Kh and Ca, i would definitely consider investing in a doser and some all in one product like Tropic Marin All for Reef or similar. You can start with a cheap 1 channel doser.
The cost of this, will be around 100€, and your corals will thank you for it.
Water changes can be done, but rather monthly than weekly. Winning you the cost of the salt.
In the beginning you will probably consume less than 0.5dkh a day, but this can quickly increase once corals start to take off.

I was looking into that all for reef stuff indeed! Do you have experience with it & did you like it?
Some people tell me it's smarter to 3-way dose, but it's a little scary for a beginner like me haha.

Monthly water changes? Really? All because of the dosing?

 

[MrStoffel]

I have helped several starters, and recommended the all for reef to some.
They all liked it, and were using it for years.
Most of the time, people stop using it when they have too much consumers like large sps colonies, and switch to a 2,3 or 4 part dosing regimen to cut the cost, as they are generally cheaper per unit of Dkh.

In regards to water changes, you have to gauge that for yourself a bit.
Water changes for chemical balancing, one a month a 10-20% change should be ok when using All for reef.
Water changes as a means of keeping the tank clean can be necessary more frequently if your export systems are not good enough or you have a large fish load for the size tank.