What do you believe makes a successful LPS tank?! Help us

[RiptideAquaculture]

Good afternoon Reef2Reef, I've been ask this question a lot and I wanna know what everyone here thinks.
we are setting up a new tank for our office and our goal is to max it out with LPS.( Build thread coming soon) I want to hear everything you think your doing right and what mistakes you've learned from so we can help others have have success as well!

I also wanna see your tanks as well if you think your doing something right!
(For Science of course )


Question: What do you do to make your LPS a fluffy and colorful.


If you feel like you have a good idea of what you think your doing right in your tank id love to hear about it.

Do you think any of these matter

Do you use a particular food/foods?
How often are you feeding?
What kind of lights do you run?
How intense are your lights?
Do you have a refugium ?
Skimmer choice ?

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

ill start with my thoughts.

Keys to LPS*
- Established Reef tank. don't rush it
-fair population of tangs and other fish
-Mid to lower placement or par leveles around 75-100
-weekly feedings
-clean water

do you think i missed any?
Pics for attention

#RiptideAquaculture #reef4k #LPSexperts #lpscoral #questions

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

 

[cancun]

ill start with my thoughts.

Keys to LPS*
- Established Reef tank. don't rush it
-fair population of tangs and other fish
-Mid to lower placement or par leveles around 75-100
-weekly feedings
-clean water

do you think i missed any?
Pics for attention

#RiptideAquaculture #reef4k #LPSexperts #lpscoral #questions

Hi! I agree with most of what you said, except the really clean water. I keep nitrates at 10 ppm, and phosphates 0.05 or less. I also keep some SPS as well. Check out my build thread for more info on my tank if you want!!!

 

[reefscrub_]

I think lps is really forgiving

For me at least, on my lps tank I just make sure salinity doesn’t swing, they’re getting the right amount of light (they’ll tell you when they’re not), and feed them twice a week.

I do weekly tests and keep nitrate at 5ish, phos under .10. Alkalinity, cal, and mag is super easy they don’t suck tons of it so I don’t even dose the tank, just weekly water changes.

I didn’t have ato on that tank and was doing manual top off for like 3 months. 2 months ago I got an ato and my hammers started growing much faster and some heads are splitting. So stability wins again.

 

[Glenner’sreef]

If you want a predominately lps tank, they’ll look better and healthier if they’re not busy stinging their neighbors.

Reefroids once a week. (Broadcast)
Bubble Magus Curve 7.
No refugium.
180 gallon.

 

[Timrpn]

If you want a predominately lps tank, they’ll look better and healthier if they’re not busy stinging their neighbors.

Reefroids once a week. (Broadcast)
Bubble Magus Curve 7.
No refugium.
180 gallon.

Is there a reason why you don't use a refugium?

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Hi! I agree with most of what you said, except the really clean water. I keep nitrates at 10 ppm, and phosphates 0.05 or less. I also keep some SPS as well. Check out my build thread for more info on my tank if you want!!!

How long has your reef been running for

 

[itselenababe]

I’m only just getting back to corals and definitely still consider myself of the beginner side of things, but I’ve noticed with at least the euphyllia corals in our tank that where you place them in the flow is important

If the currents a bit too strong they bend onto themselves and retract their arms a bit, but if it’s not strong enough they just kind of sit there and also retract their arms. Find the right medium and they’re super fluffy and flowy


My fav coral in our tank

 

[PeterC99]

Great thread! Love torches! Refugium with chaeto is key!

 

[Gedxin]

My personally beginner opinion is LPS, in general, like a dirtier tank. That means always having detectable nitrate and phosphate.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

I’m only just getting back to corals and definitely still consider myself of the beginner side of things, but I’ve noticed with at least the euphyllia corals in our tank that where you place them in the flow is important

If the currents a bit too strong they bend onto themselves and retract their arms a bit, but if it’s not strong enough they just kind of sit there and also retract their arms. Find the right medium and they’re super fluffy and flowy


My fav coral in our tank

Very good point. Flow is very important

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Great thread! Love torches! Refugium with chaeto is key!

Wow those are amazing torch’s! How many do you have!?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Is there a reason why you don't use a refugium?

Hi Tim, So my reason for no refugium is simply a season in my life. My last tank, A 137g custom peninsula had a refugium. I grew cheato, not well. I grew Sea Lettuce (cool macro) also not well. Used a Kessil H80 specifically made for fuges. And yes pods grew and hid out there safely. So regarding the macros, I didn’t see such fantastic growth that I believed it was really keeping nuisance algaes from growing in the dt. The cost of my new Kessil light didn’t translate into armfuls or even handfuls of cheato being harvested every month. And finally my pods, I had a spawning pair of Mandarins (which I still have today) are estimated of eating a couple of hundred pods a day. I had to conclude that the majority of pods stayed in the fuge. Finally, I personally like a clean sump.
So there are 2 camps : yes refugium. No refugium. Jake Adams of Reef Builders happens to be No refugium. Other respected aquarists swear by them. I’m a common sense guy. They both work. But to answer your question. I’d rather clean an empty fuge section in my sump than clean and maintain a refugium. Thanks for the question. Good luck.

 

[Timrpn]

Hi Tim, So my reason for no refugium is simply a season in my life. My last tank, A 137g custom peninsula had a refugium. I grew cheato, not well. I grew Sea Lettuce (cool macro) also not well. Used a Kessil H80 specifically made for fuges. And yes pods grew and hid out there safely. So regarding the macros, I didn’t see such fantastic growth that I believed it was really keeping nuisance algaes from growing in the dt. The cost of my new Kessil light didn’t translate into armfuls or even handfuls of cheato being harvested every month. And finally my pods, I had a spawning pair of Mandarins (which I still have today) are estimated of eating a couple of hundred pods a day. I had to conclude that the majority of pods stayed in the fuge. Finally, I personally like a clean sump.
So there are 2 camps : yes refugium. No refugium. Jake Adams of Reef Builders happens to be No refugium. Other respected aquarists swear by them. I’m a common sense guy. They both work. But to answer your question. I’d rather clean an empty fuge section in my sump than clean and maintain a refugium. Thanks for the question. Good luck.

Thanks so much

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Hi Tim, So my reason for no refugium is simply a season in my life. My last tank, A 137g custom peninsula had a refugium. I grew cheato, not well. I grew Sea Lettuce (cool macro) also not well. Used a Kessil H80 specifically made for fuges. And yes pods grew and hid out there safely. So regarding the macros, I didn’t see such fantastic growth that I believed it was really keeping nuisance algaes from growing in the dt. The cost of my new Kessil light didn’t translate into armfuls or even handfuls of cheato being harvested every month. And finally my pods, I had a spawning pair of Mandarins (which I still have today) are estimated of eating a couple of hundred pods a day. I had to conclude that the majority of pods stayed in the fuge. Finally, I personally like a clean sump.
So there are 2 camps : yes refugium. No refugium. Jake Adams of Reef Builders happens to be No refugium. Other respected aquarists swear by them. I’m a common sense guy. They both work. But to answer your question. I’d rather clean an empty fuge section in my sump than clean and maintain a refugium. Thanks for the question. Good luck.

Very interesting see I’ve see tanks with fuges and with out and for me I really prefer a tank with one. I’ve have pretty good luck growing macro like crazy and it helping me maintain my ph4 . But I really thing there is a lot to be said about the pod production and the relationship it has with the health of coral. Good stuff for sure thanks for sharing

 

[Pico bam]

1 Good flow - pulsing pump at least to get some sway
2 a good cleanup crew tangs, big snails, sea urchins and possibly something for aptasia.
3 decent lighting, still preferring t5's to led's
4 I personaly like a refugium. I don't always run one though. Sometimes there difficult to keep Nuisance algae out of...
5 don't put any wack products in the tank no mater how good they claim to be! Or who recommends it!
6 MY FAVORITE K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid don't oversize the skimmer, don't run a huge fuge, don't run carbon and gfo and phosphate remover and nitrate remover and all the things that keep your tank from finding a balance etc.
7 weigh out the possible benefits of a uv sterilizer. No bacterial blooms! At least very unlikely. Doesn't exactly match the kiss method but a goodie!

Hope some of these are good tips!

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Very interesting see I’ve see tanks with fuges and with out and for me I really prefer a tank with one. I’ve have pretty good luck growing macro like crazy and it helping me maintain my ph4 . But I really thing there is a lot to be said about the pod production and the relationship it has with the health of coral. Good stuff for sure thanks for sharing

Hey good comments Rip (can I call you Rip) lol You are one of the lucky ones. I wish it was a no brainer that all refer could grow a successful fuge. Full green fuges (like yours, I think) are seriously impressive! But unfortunately it’s not that way.
Re: pods, I’ve posted comments here on R2R more than once that pods are so ridiculously prolific breeders that they will out breed the crazy appetites of fish like CBB (I have one) Mandarins ( I have 2) so don’t worry about reseeding your tanks every 6 months with 1000 pods because you probably don’t have to. Just look at the health of your pod-eating fish. If they’re fat…..pods are breeding! Later bud.

 

[cancun]

How long has your reef been running for

This tank almost 3 years, a lot of the coral I transferred from my old tank which was running since 2013.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

1 Good flow - pulsing pump at least to get some sway
2 a good cleanup crew tangs, big snails, sea urchins and possibly something for aptasia.
3 decent lighting, still preferring t5's to led's
4 I personaly like a refugium. I don't always run one though. Sometimes there difficult to keep Nuisance algae out of...
5 don't put any wack products in the tank no mater how good they claim to be! Or who recommends it!
6 MY FAVORITE K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid don't oversize the skimmer, don't run a huge fuge, don't run carbon and gfo and phosphate remover and nitrate remover and all the things that keep your tank from finding a balance etc.
7 weigh out the possible benefits of a uv sterilizer. No bacterial blooms! At least very unlikely. Doesn't exactly match the kiss method but a goodie!

Hope some of these are good tips!

Very interesting, Imdeffently agree KISS is key with all things reefing, it’s very easy to spiral and before overcomplicated.
Another phrase I think is very accurate is
Nothing good happens quickly in this hobby.