Want to try...

[Daddio]

If you were to give tips that make for a perfect environment for SPS what would it be?

I have tried some small frags before and had success with montipora but my frags petered out and I got nudibranches that wage my montipora in just a few days.

From what I read, these are some rudimentary observations I see:

1. Perfect water quality: But what is perfect in your opinion?

2. Strong water movement: strong enough to make the fish swim sideways?

3. Food: How much and what do you feed? Does this go against rule #1? Is a calcium reactor a "must"?

4. Lose the softies? How about LPS?

5. Light: Seems like this may not be as huge of factor as I thought...

I'd like to try to emulate water parameters and see if I can hold them at peak parameters for a while before trying to introduce SPS. Reading and reading and seem to get mixed messages... Would love to hear success stories from real experiences and not from the super tank owners whose setups probably cost more than my house.

 

[ReefMadScientist]

The perfect SPS system? Very few fish I'd say so the nitrates are at a good 3 ppms

1.) "Perfect" water in my eyes is a nice stable tank. I would say mine is fairly stable but missing a few parts like a Kalk reactor to keep my Calc and dKh stable. Dosing for now.

2.) I think that is TOO strong. A nice turbulent flow is what I go for. Instead of having moving in one direction, I have my fans directed to make a nice turbulent flow. Definitely not to make your fish do flips lol.

3.) If you have fish just do enough for them to eat for 1-2 minutes. I turn off my fans and returns to allow all the food to be eaten and not wasted. I use PE Mysis, Frozen Brine, etc.

I feed my corals nightly when the polyps are extended. I sometimes feed Reef Stew. Mostly I feed is Reef Chili, Phytoplan, Fauna Marin (large LPS), Phyto Feast. Get creative but do not over do the feeding.

4.) I have both LPS and SPS in my tank along with 15 fish lol. Averaging 10 Nitrate, 10.3 dkh, 430 Calc, and going steady. Nice growth too!

5.) Light is a HUGE factor. Too much light and you will bleach your corals. Too little light and they will dull and potentially die away. I have two Hydras and acclimated the corals for a month and a half.

 

[Daddio]

You alk levels are much higher than I currently run... 8.5 to 9... I am trying for a setup that is stable... Thanks for the feedback...

Ill experiment with my alk levels and see if I can keep both that and maintain my Ca levels... I have a nice balance now but I'm sure if I raised dkh I will lose ca

I am also setting up an ato. There are many times I work late and come home to a pump running dry or look in the sump and see my sons have dumped way too much RODI in. Hoping that helps with consistency.

I am a huge believer in feeding fish lightly (but then again I tend to like more small peaceful fish). I have two radions (gen 2) that I have set to one of the presets running at about 75% max. Once I get them over the 150, I'll see if I need to look at the setting.

I really appreciate the feedback. I am really trying learn as much as I can. Have been on auto pilot for so long, it's exciting to start new and actually plan and try to figure out what kind of tank I want... The weird thing is, fish have kind of become ornaments for everyone else, I love the critters and worms and pods and corals - watching them grow.