Sps

[fishmaster818]

Have you ever had an sps the you could not find the right placement. I have 3 sps frags and 2 of them are doing fine but the other one is struggling

 

[TJ's Reef]

YES, many Corals especially SPS can be a bit difficult to find 'just the right spot' with. Besides the obvious lighting and flow ideals there is also a very important yet invisible concern being chemical pathways or allelopathy with coral placement. It can take years to fully understand just the particular Coral species each of us hold within our systems. Having utilized a 'Gyre' flow in my systems for many years has taught me a whole lot about which corals do not do well downstream of others. Most Coral have a least some potential for allelopathic warfare by stunting or even killing neighboring colonies. Some of these reactions can be very complex even such as having Euphyllia sp downstream of certain Soft Corals like Nepthea/Sinularia/Briarium which cause them to react producing very elongated 'sweepers' which inadvertently cause harm to corals downstream of them which may have caused no ill effect on their own. The saying "Poop runs downhill' has nothing on what chemical warfare has on the Reef or in our aquariums down-flow. In general I have found that it is best if possible to keep most Soft Corals down flow of Hard Corals or at least not directly up-stream of them.

Cheers, Todd

 

[fishmaster818]

YES, many Corals especially SPS can be a bit difficult to find 'just the right spot' with. Besides the obvious lighting and flow ideals there is also a very important yet invisible concern being chemical pathways or allelopathy with coral placement. It can take years to fully understand just the particular Coral species each of us hold within our systems. Having utilized a 'Gyre' flow in my systems for many years has taught me a whole lot about which corals do not do well downstream of others. Most Coral have a least some potential for allelopathic warfare by stunting or even killing neighboring colonies. Some of these reactions can be very complex even such as having Euphyllia sp downstream of certain Soft Corals like Nepthea/Sinularia/Briarium which cause them to react producing very elongated 'sweepers' which inadvertently cause harm to corals downstream of them which may have caused no ill effect on their own. The saying "Poop runs downhill' has nothing on what chemical warfare has on the Reef or in our aquariums down-flow. In general I have found that it is best if possible to keep most Soft Corals down flow of Hard Corals or at least not directly up-stream of them.

Cheers, Todd

So i shouldnt be concerned

 

[TJ's Reef]

Not overly, but always good to be aware of all the oh so many variables to healthy SPS. What are your overall water perams and have they been consistent for its duration ? My tank has gone through some serious ups-n-downs (my fault) over the past 5-6 months and some Corals have have done much better than others. Good to have plenty of durable time proven corals for sure.

Cheers, Todd

 

[fishmaster818]

Calcium 460 magnesium 1400 alk 12.6 phosphate .12 nitrate 0. My phosphates where the only thing to go up

 

[fishmaster818]

Not overly, but always good to be aware of all the oh so many variables to healthy SPS. What are your overall water perams and have they been consistent for its duration ? My tank has gone through some serious ups-n-downs (my fault) over the past 5-6 months and some Corals have have done much better than others. Good to have plenty of durable time proven corals for sure.

Cheers, Todd

But my other two sps are fine.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Your other SPS could just be very hardy in comparison as in my system during a huge Alk swing some corals started to STN while others seemed not to notice. IME thin skinned Acro's are much more prone to have problems with water chemistry issues than thicker skinned or bushy Acropora species Acropora millipora or A. prostrata etc.... Corals like Birdsnests/Seriatopora, Catspaw/Stylopora or Pocillopora are often referred to as beginner or easy to care for SPS, I like them because they are hardy, colorful, fast growing and because they always have great polyp extension. You can also create very large mixed colonies with greater ease because they are easily identifiable. Couple pics of my mixed Birdsnest's and Pocillopora colonies in my Reeftank.
Roughly the same pic location of 4 different Seriatopora sp. (a 5th out of view under Hyacinth variant) from end of January to beginning of May of this year.

Mixed Pocillopora colony under Bicolor Anthias enabling me to crowd without Allelopathic warfare

Cheers, Todd

 

[fishmaster818]

Your other SPS could just be very hardy in comparison as in my system during a huge Alk swing some corals started to STN while others seemed not to notice. IME thin skinned Acro's are much more prone to have problems with water chemistry issues than thicker skinned or bushy Acropora species Acropora millipora or A. prostrata etc.... Corals like Birdsnests/Seriatopora, Catspaw/Stylopora or Pocillopora are often referred to as beginner or easy to care for SPS, I like them because they are hardy, colorful, fast growing and because they always have great polyp extension. You can also create very large mixed colonies with greater ease because they are easily identifiable. Couple pics of my mixed Birdsnest's and Pocillopora colonies in my Reeftank.
Roughly the same pic location of 4 different Seriatopora sp. (a 5th out of view under Hyacinth variant) from end of January to beginning of May of this year.


Mixed Pocillopora colony under Bicolor Anthias enabling me to crowd without Allelopathic warfare




Cheers, Todd

Are digitata thick skinned

 

[Pete polyp]

Are you having problems with the digitata? That's one that I have issues with. I think I have too much light for them because it actually started looking better before I changed bulbs.

 

[fishmaster818]

Are you having problems with the digitata? That's one that I have issues with. I think I have too much light for them because it actually started looking better before I changed bulbs.

No i just want to get one

 

[TJ's Reef]

Montipora digitata are not particularly thick skinned but IME less affected by excess nutrients than many Acropora sp but equally sensitive to high/low Alk or Alk swings. They do however bounce back very quickly and are one of the faster growing SPS Corals when conditions are good. The other issue with M. digitata worth mentioning is that they are quite fragile and having larger fish in the system will break/frag them regularly which can be alright if wanting to use as barter.


Cheers, Todd

 

[fishmaster818]

Montipora digitata are not particularly thick skinned but IME less affected by excess nutrients than many Acropora sp but equally sensitive to high/low Alk or Alk swings. They do however bounce back very quickly and are one of the faster growing SPS Corals when conditions are good. The other issue with M. digitata worth mentioning is that they are quite fragile and having larger fish in the system will break/frag them regularly which can be alright if wanting to use as barter.


Cheers, Todd

Okay and the other two sps are a red monti cap and this