First SPS Corals Am I on the right track?

[aquamann]

So after a year and a half I finally decided to try some sps corals. I picked up Forest Fire Digitata, Green Birdsnest, and a Grafted Monticap. They have been in the tank for about 10 days and was just wondering if they look healthy or not. At the moment I am still slowly raising alk to 8.5 and at that point I will try to dial in alk dosing to daily consumption to stay around the 8.5 range. So my main question would be at the moment based off the pictures do the corals seem happy and healthy or do they look like they are struggling. The thing I'm most confused by is flow. Not sure if they are showing signs if they are receiving too little, too much, or just right.

All testing is done with hanna checker and I am using red sea blue bucket if that matters.

Parameters:
5/14: alk 6.7 calc 480 mag 1340 nitrate 11.6 phosphate 0.04
5/17: alk 7.2
5/20: alk 7.2 calc 450 mag 1380
5/21: alk 7
5/24: alk 7.3
5/27: alk 8 calc 440 mag1410
5/28: nitrate: 11.3 phosphate 0.06
5/29 alk 8.2

 

[Lavey29]

Good starter SPS corals, numbers are decent. Have you confirmed par? You have visible coralline so should be able to sustain SPS now.

 

[KC2020]

They look just fine. Polyp extension is about the only thing you can go by at this point.

Keep moving your Alk up slowly. You didn't mention pH

 

[aquamann]

They look just fine. Polyp extension is about the only thing you can go by at this point.

Keep moving your Alk up slowly. You didn't mention pH

Honestly I have never measured PH so I'm not sure what it's at. Do you know of any affordable way to measure ph? Ideally would want a monitor but it is out of my budget.

 

[Lavey29]

Honestly I have never measured PH so I'm not sure what it's at. Do you know of any affordable way to measure ph? Ideally would want a monitor but it is out of my budget.

If you have a properly air circulation in the room I wouldn't worry about it

 

[ryanjohn1]

They look good for 10 days in tank. What do you have for flow?

 

[aquamann]

Good starter SPS corals, numbers are decent. Have you confirmed par? You have visible coralline so should be able to sustain SPS now.

I don't have a par meter to measure par sadly and LFS by me don't seem to rent it out. Assuming par is low they will slowly wither and die? and if par is high what happens?

 

[ryanjohn1]

I don't have a par meter to measure par sadly and LFS by me don't seem to rent it out. Assuming par is low they will slowly wither and die? and if par is high what happens?

What kinda light do you have you should be able to look up par values on probably YouTube. If too low usually just slow growth. And I’m guessing you don’t have metal hailide so I wouldn’t worry about too much.

 

[aquamann]

They look good for 10 days in tank. What do you have for flow?

2 nero 5s pointing offset at each other running random flow from 30% to 50%. I think the digitata could use some more flow so i may move it to a different spot. i have hammers that are already getting strong flow so I can't really turn up the flow. what are some signs if flow is too low for digitata?

 

[ryanjohn1]

2 nero 5s pointing offset at each other running random flow from 30% to 50%. I think the digitata could use some more flow so i may move it to a different spot. i have hammers that are already getting strong flow so I can't really turn up the flow. what are some signs if flow is too low for digitata?

I blast everything in my tank. 2 Nero 5’s at max. I think you’re fine for flow. Can you see the polyps waving?

 

[aquamann]

What kinda light do you have you should be able to look up par values on probably YouTube. If too low usually just slow growth. And I’m guessing you don’t have metal hailide so I wouldn’t worry about too much.

2 xr30 gen 5 blues on a 4ft tank. The lights are capable of handling sps frags just not sure the exact par i have at the moment. I am running all colors at 45% intensity besides white being at 11% intensity 8 inches off the water.

 

[landlubber]

looks like a good start to me and some great choices with forgiving corals.
I'd also like to echo that you should not overly concern yourself with pH. While its nice to have things hanging in the 8.25-8.35 range at peak the extent of your efforts to boost it should be no more than opening a nearby window.

 

[aquamann]

I blast everything in my tank. 2 Nero 5’s at max. I think you’re fine for flow. Can you see the polyps waving?

Birdsnest polyps are moving with the flow. Digitata not so much only from time to time depending on the flow the random mode generates it moves but there are moments it doesn't move.

 

[aquamann]

looks like a good start to me and some great choices with forgiving corals.
I'd also like to echo that you should not overly concern yourself with pH. While its nice to have things hanging in the 8.25-8.35 range at peak the extent of your efforts to boost it should be no more than opening a nearby window.

Yeah my only real concern about ph is if its so low its killing corals, but I still have corals from when i started the tank so it seems like that isn't the case thankfully.

 

[Reefer Matt]

They look good to me! Keep your alk stable and give them random, indirect flow. You should see the polyps dance around.

 

[Reefering1]

Off topic.., but you should probably handle those aiptaisia before it gets out of hand..

 

[aquamann]

Off topic.., but you should probably handle those aiptaisia before it gets out of hand..

Oh 100%. I got 10 bergia nudis 2 months ago and they did a great job. I still have some decent sizes one (like the one in the pic) left around. I've been meaning to cover them up with some F aiptasia but just been a little lazy since they are growing on the side of the rock. Hopefully the bergia get to it at some point but if not I plan on covering them up when i do a wc this weekend.

 

[Lavey29]

I don't have a par meter to measure par sadly and LFS by me don't seem to rent it out. Assuming par is low they will slowly wither and die? and if par is high what happens?

You will be fine with XR30s. Pretty hard to have to much par with SPS but if light is low or nutrients are very high you will get browning. Main thing is stability. Any big parameters swings cause problems.

 

[aquamann]

You will be fine with XR30s. Pretty hard to have to much par with SPS but if light is low or nutrients are very high you will get browning. Main thing is stability. Any big parameters swings cause problems.

Sounds good, nitrate and phosphate have been pretty stable for me. Gonna dial in dosing alk, calc, and mag on my doser.

 

[Lavey29]

Sounds good, nitrate and phosphate have been pretty stable for me. Gonna dial in dosing alk, calc, and mag on my doser.

It's primarily alk but any of the big 3 can mess stuff up