Any local SPS keepers?

[Ryan15236]

Hey guys, I am wondering if any of you guys are into keeping SPS or planning to keep SPS. I have kept reef tanks on and off over the past few years but this is my first attempt with SPS. If you would please post some information about your system (parameters, equipment, livestock, etc.) as well as pictures, experiences, trial and errors, or anything else you can add. It would be awesome to have a local SPS support group of sorts and a some people to swap frags and but off of. Especially for me since I am starting out and can't seem to find much local.

 

[Ryan15236]

Quick rundown of my system for you guys
125 gallon DT
55 gallon sump
Reefbreeders photon
Aquamaxx EM200
Alk 7.7 dKH
Calcium 420ppm
Mag 1400
Salinity 1.025
pH 8.1
Nitrate 0ppm
Temp 76F
Levels maintained by BRS kalkwasser in Tunze 3155 ATO container.
I will post more pics if my frags tomorrow when I get home. I have about 20 frags right now of various LPS, mushrooms, zoas, and SPS

 

[Rob.D]

I had a full blown sps reef until earlier this year, I experienced a complete crash and lost ll my acropora.....

I've gotten the best coloration and growth once the main 3 levels stabilized ( Alk, Cal, Mag), by following Red Sea Coral Colors program, and dosing TLF's AcroPower. I also believe that an over-sized skimmer, heavy feedings and lots of fish (not over crowded) contributed to a lot of my systems health. Let me not forget to mention consistent lighting schedule, for a while I would just turn the lights on "around the same time", but once I set up timers I dod notice positive results from the fish and corals.

Peramiters usaly fell as follows:
Nitrate 1-5 ppm
Phosphates 0.01-5
Alk 7-9 anywhere in this range but stable, no swings over .2-.5 per day
Cal 420-500 ppm
Mag 1200-1500 (unless you have briopsis, then the sky is the limit hahaha)

 

[cee]

OK, I'll attempt this:
SPS
Strawberry shortcake X2
Pink lemonade
Purple monster barely hanging on
Oregon tort
red hyacinthus with blue tips
blue aussie formosa
purple/mint deepwater
acropora cerealis purple
aussie toxic green
unknown deepwater
unknown deepwater
unknown deepwater
acropora samoensis
acropora loripes (?)
aussie yellow a. tenuis
Aussie acropora aculeus
aussie acropora unknown
blue tenuis
red planet
acropora horrida
unknown fiji acropora
icefire echinata
unknown blue/creme deepwater
NO montis

 

[Ryan15236]

Shew, for a bit I thought I wasn't going to get any replies on this. Thank you for all the info and personal experience.

What caused the tank crash? Sometimes I feel like a tank crash in inevitable which really worries me.

I have my lighting on a schedule but I only have 3 fish in my 125 and a skimmer rated for 240 gallons with the bioload I have so I have zero nitrates which I would like to change I believe. What do you think about putting the skimmer on a timer and only running it a certain amount of hours a day? My tri color granulosa, purple acro, and rainbow Mille frags are getting good color. My slimer however experienced RTN when added to the tank but is recovering but also kinda browning a bit. Idk why I am having so many problems with the slimer whenever it supposed to be an easier acro

 

[Ryan15236]

Wow Cee quite a collection! Need to let me know when you get some frags ready

I would love to see some pics of your tank and also rob I would to see some of yours before the crash. I'll get some cell phone pics of mine sorry for the quality

 

[Ryan15236]

Again bad quality. Still have some diatoms. Tank is 3 months old.
SPS corals
ORA green BN
Sour apple BN
Purple stylo
Rainbow stylo
Green stylo
Rainbow pocillopora
Rainbow Mille
Purple acro
Tri color granulosa
Green slimer
Orange cap
Neon green hydnophora
I'll try to get some better ones in a bit.

 

[cee]

LPS:
Green gonio
Pink gonio
Purple gonio
purple w/ red polyp encrusting gonio
blue gonio
rainbow wellso
acan bower red
5-6 aussie lobos
aussie scoly green apple
torch
anchor
various chalice frags
3-4 micromussas
3-4 rainbow lords
2-3 ultra lords
pipe organ
couple of favias
couple of zoas but not much

I'll post parameters later...

 

[Ryan15236]

More pics but once again with my phone. Best I can do lol,
Purple Acro

tri color granulosa

Was an awesome frag of green slimer that experienced pretty heavy RTN. I just decided to let it be and see if would pull through because fragging it during the RTN probably would have left me with no frag at all. Thankfully it stopped and is on the path to recovery hopefully.

orange cap and sour apple BN. Once again all sps have only been in tank for a week so they are really colored up well at the moment but hopefully will

rainbow mille

rainbow stylo

open brain just because I love it

green stylo and I think the other is supposed to be a purple stylo.

better green stylo pic

Left side

rainbow poccilopora

Torch for the heck of it


Others not pictured:
bicolor hammer
jason fox lepto
whammin watermelons
neon green hydnphora
ORA green birdsnest
mushrooms
candycanes
duncans
fire and ice zoas

 

[Rob.D]

What caused the tank crash? Sometimes I feel like a tank crash in inevitable which really worries me.

I have my lighting on a schedule but I only have 3 fish in my 125 and a skimmer rated for 240 gallons with the bioload I have so I have zero nitrates which I would like to change I believe. What do you think about putting the skimmer on a timer and only running it a certain amount of hours a day? My tri color granulosa, purple acro, and rainbow Mille frags are getting good color. My slimer however experienced RTN when added to the tank but is recovering but also kinda browning a bit. Idk why I am having so many problems with the slimer whenever it supposed to be an easier acro

My tank crashed from a mass die off of planera flatworms and a blue velvet nudibranch....

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a-few-pics-to-show-off.173246/

You can definitely put the skimmer on a timer, I'd advise to set it to turn on at night time to help with CO2 exchange.

 

[cee]

As promised...

Alk: 7.8
Ca: 390
Mg: 1320
NO3: 0.1
PO4: 0.08
Salinity: 1.026 (35 ppt)

Tank's not looking great ATM, though.

 

[Ryan15236]

As promised...

Alk: 7.8
Ca: 390
Mg: 1320
NO3: 0.1
PO4: 0.08
Salinity: 1.026 (35 ppt)

Tank's not looking great ATM, though.

Sounds like you run your parameters very close to NSW. Mine are very similar expect calcium 420ppm, mag a little higher, and salinity 1.025. What nitrate test do you use. I just have the API nitrate test and I can get anywhere close to that kind of range. I need to get a more reliable nitrate test probably. Maybe something along the lines of a titrant kit.

Also do you find it beneficial to run activated carbon on your system of GFO? I am currently not running anything on my system. However, I am still having some pretty serious diatoms that I seem to not be able to get rid of. Also, How do you maintain your calcium and alkalinity levels?

 

[cee]

I use the Red Sea test kits but I think your best bet is likely the Hanna photometers. I had one of those for phosphate and loved it but probably more than I really needed. I'm not aware of a titrant kit for nitrate.

I do run carbon and GFO, about 3/8 cup each in a common reactor for a 90 gallon or so system. I still have to scrape the glass about 2X per week for diatoms but expect that will go down with the new skimmer.

I dose baked baking soda and CaCl using a Jebao dosing pump. I find that dosing solutions at well less than saturated levels allows me to add more solution when I dose, making it less susceptible to calibration and therefore more reliable.

 

[Rob.D]

I find that dosing solutions at well less than saturated levels allows me to add more solution when I dose, making it less susceptible to calibration and therefore more reliable.

Dave, would you mind explaining this for a dumb dumb (ME).

 

[cee]

Often, people make really strong solutions of sodium carbonate or calcium chloride, sometimes to the point where you can't dissolve any more salt into the water. This is called a saturated solution. When a solution is this strong, you don't need to add much of the solution when dosing. With these cheaper dosing pumps, they can be difficult to calibrate and innacurate when dosing small volumes and therefore a bit inconsistent. That becomes less of an issue when you dose a larger volume and that is why I make my solutions a bit weaker. This is my theory why some people dislike the cheaper dosing pumps.

In my previous setup I would dose continuously and the only things I could adjust were the dosing rate and the solution strength. With the jebao, I can also control the number of dosing per day. For example, I mix 1/2 cup of CaCl into a gallon (saturated is over 2 cups per gallon, I believe) and dose 40 mL 4X per day. I can also calculate the amount in ppm my CA will increase daily and balance that with consumption (won't bore you with the chemistry lesson).

 

[cee]

Oh and an interesting side note...
Pickling lime or calcium hydroxide is not very soluable in water and that's why it is not very effective in raising calcium levels compared to calcium chloride.

 

[Rob.D]

Thanks Dave, and thanks for not putting me to sleep with a chemistry lesson......

 

[Ryan15236]

I am currently using calcium hydroxide in ATO due to low needs and ease of it.

It is not as efficient as calcium chloride in adding calcium to the system. It would definitely raise alkalinity out of acceptable levels or too sudden and cause problems before any calcium issues appear. However it seems that calcium hydroxide adds alkalinity and calcium at levels similar to that of coral consumption which makes it effective. Not to mention the pH boost it can give which calcifying corals can benefit from. I will probably always add calcium hydroxide to ATO but never depend fully on it. I have calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate on hand and use anytime my parameters may need a little tweaking. When my needs exceed what limewater can give I will add dosing pumps to the system. I will probably add 2 part when consumption exceeds a 2 tsp per gallon potency of the limewater. These are the intentions I have anyways for my system. With my limited experience I am sure issues may arrive so this is all tentative.

 

[cee]

Ryan, all correct but you will find you'll have to dose more Ca in due time. The parameters help guide you but the real thing to watch is what the corals are telling you. Easy to tell if something's not right but harder to decipher what the corals are trying to tell you.

 

[Ryan15236]

Exactly. In my previous tanks I have only keep LPS and softies and honestly did not monitor parameters at all and just put my faith in weekly water changes. I feel like I can do all the research I can but the real lessons are going to come from personal experience and learning what works and what doesn't for myself and my tank. This is the reason I went with easier SPS to start with plus a few acros.

I also believe that I am going to start feeding reef chili or reef roids to compensate for the lack of nutrients in my system. I do target feed hammers, torch, duncans, trumpets, and open brain now with some small pieces of krill but need to get something for the SPS.

I am honestly kind of disappointed in the turn out on this thread. I was really hoping to have a lot of the members of ETRC chime in on this but like you said cee there must not be many people in the sticks locally. However, you have gave me some great information and your personal experiences with SPS and I thank you for your words and time.