What makes an "older" tank better for SPS?

[Northern Flicker]

My local shops always talk about SPS being all about flow, light and water parameters. These all make sense, and would be expected. However, I also hear them saying things like "don't even look at SPS until your tank is 2 years old", or similar lines of thought.

Why is that? I am not sure I understand why a 2 year old tank would be significantly better than a tank that is well maintained but in the 2-8 month stage in it's life.

 

[Rmckoy]

My local shops always talk about SPS being all about flow, light and water parameters. These all make sense, and would be expected. However, I also hear them saying things like "don't even look at SPS until your tank is 2 years old", or similar lines of thought.

Why is that? I am not sure I understand why a 2 year old tank would be significantly better than a tank that is well maintained but in the 2-8 month stage in it's life.

Stability …..

You will notice as the matures

 

[Icryhard]

It's mostly because the longer your tank goes, the more it becomes stable (up until a certain point ofc). Even an experienced reefer who starts out, can do a lot to obtain a massive headstart, but even they have to respect nature to some extent and let the natural process go through its ups and downs. The fresher a tank, the more values bounce around. Some corals are really unforgiving in regards to these swings.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Stability …..

You will notice as the matures

What stabilizes after years that won't be stable after months?

I am thinking back to my last reef, and after about 2 months, I saw very little in terms of nitrate and phosphate swings. Mainly the swings happened due to events unrelated to age like bioload, overfeeding, lack of WC.

 

[Hooz]

There are a lot of things in a reef tank that require balance. Some things you can balance manually, other things seem to find their own balance eventually. There are things you can do to shortcut the process (use rock or media from an established tank, etc), so I think the arbitrary "1 year" or "2 years" is outdated, but stability will never be outdated.

 

[Icryhard]

What stabalizes after years that won't be stable after months?

Bacterial colonies and how much they increase/decrease, your NO3 and PO4 values, overall elements and and trace elements and many other things. For example dry rock, releases a lot of PO4 often times. Cycling this means also a lot of PO4 release, which means your PO4 is going up and down like a madman. Your corals also need PO4 and NO3 and depending on how many and whatnot, these also factor in to your swings.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

The main problem is a lot of people start a reef tank now that is mostly sterile. Then they add bottled bacteria believing it is the same as adding natural rock and sand. Time is required for bacterial colonies, parameters, and the new reefer to establish consistency and knowledge. During that time, the reefer is constantly learning how to maintain a reef tank, and what specific quirks their tank has. Two years is excessive. I suggest around eight months to start with montipora and birdsnest at minimum.

 

[ReefBo]

What stabilizes after years that won't be stable after months?

I am thinking back to my last reef, and after about 2 months, I saw very little in terms of nitrate and phosphate swings. Mainly the swings happened due to events unrelated to age like bioload, overfeeding, lack of WC.

SPS don't like swings in parameters, temperature, nutrients.

If you have a stable tank for 2 months, that is nothing compared to 2 years.

The amount of time is really a blanket figure. Soft corals will forgive swings, but SPS will generally deteriorate rapidly.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

My local shops always talk about SPS being all about flow, light and water parameters. These all make sense, and would be expected. However, I also hear them saying things like "don't even look at SPS until your tank is 2 years old", or similar lines of thought.

Why is that? I am not sure I understand why a 2 year old tank would be significantly better than a tank that is well maintained but in the 2-8 month stage in it's life.

I like this thread and question. Thanks for posing it!

 

[Northern Flicker]

I made a sister thread with a poll in the SPS area. Lots of good info for fellow beginners trying to wade through the many opinions out there.

 

[mrpontiac80]

I’m only starting my 3rd year in the hobby but have tried constantly with sps. It wasn’t until about 1.5 years that they would last. Finally at 2 yrs old some really started to explode in growth. At least from my perspective. A couple months ago I upgraded tank size significantly and started again with new dry rock and sand. And also I moved over the 2 yr old rock. But I have seen no issues with my old or new sps. Having said that, I feel like it took the first two years for me to really understand stability.
Once everything went into the new tank with 3x the amount of new rock, I had some diatomes and a little algae on the new rocks. But this time everything is stable as far as I can tell and things are looking great.. knock on wood!
So I don’t know that I buy into the whole time frame issue but I do think age has a part but more than that is knowing or at least trying to give the corals what they need in a consistent way that does not fluctuate.

 

[jmichaelh7]

The deciding factor shall be : 1) Are you starting a new tank with established LIVE ROCK 2) Starting tank with rock that needs to be cycled

I believe if you have a lot of Live rock established and transfer into new tank your OK

If you are starting a tank with rock that still needs to be cycled, and go through the "ugly phases" you will not stand a chance because of fluctuations in nitrite , nitrate , bacteria , the entire cycle which leads to instability. Instability, something such as a 1 dkh swing can cause a nice expensive frag that you just purchased for $45 at your LFS to turn white. They just dont do well.

 

[blecki]

Often overlooked feature of older tanks is the sheer amount of filth in them. The rock will be absolutely full of life... and death. If you run a fuge, an old fuge is going to have clumps of decaying algae, coraline growing on itself, all sorts of things crawling around. That death and decay is what feeds the microfauna that a brand new sterile tank lacks and that microfauna is food for the corals. A little bit of death releasing nutrients back into the water is good and keeps things from bottoming out.