Good husbandry for SPS tanks.

[bradreef]

Wanted to start a thread to discuss good methods of maintaining SPS coral and keeping them healthy.

A few key points to discuss

Chemical Balance: Maintaining calcium and Alk, as well as mag and balanceed ph

Water movement: different ways to make sure your corals get flow.

Lighting: OFten overdone but to get good growth and color a neccesity

Filtration: How much to skim, Phosphate removers, natural filtration

Placement: where to place frags, colonies

 

[bradreef]

hWell I hate to admit it but I have killed my share of SPS in the past and have found many things that work and don't work.


Flow: For me flow is the most overlooked thing when keeping SPS. Now all of you soft coral people this is different. To many times have I seen struggling colonies with STN caused by detritus biuldup in the center of the coral. I think there are a few ways to get over this problem.
1. Rockwork is very important. Open rockwork allows flow to reach more places without getting distorted. Look at some of the big SPS tanks in the Northwest. MOJO has some of the most open rockwork I have seen in a large tank(HE also has creative ways of attaching the rock) Chuck has lots of open space for his corals to grow. Dang's tank is very open and allows flow to penetrate. And so on. I feel the Lb per gallon rule is overdone at times and has been reduced in the last few years.
2. I know some people hate the BB tanks but they are great for flow. I beleive in random and great amounts of flow. By this you dont want a 1100gph return directly hitting your corals but a powerhead on a wavetimer or a closed loop system on a motorized ball valve. A great improvement to yesterdays powerheads is the streams and seio's. They move great amounts of water that flows in a wider stream. I personally have seen my corals love the flow of both types of pumps with good polyp extention. The classic Mj's with a wavemaker do work though.

 

[bradreef]

AS for chemicals in a reef tank. I think it depends on the age of your coral. Some of the larger tanks like Kevins need large Calcium reactors, additives, and a kalkreactor, as well as regular water changes. I am at the point where dripping kalk at night isn't keeping my calcium as high as it used to. One important thing to look into is test kits. The two obvious ones to me are Calcium and Alkalinity, I feel for Ph you might as well get a monitor because you can get them for as little as $50-$150. I have used a ph checker which I have to randomly check at different times of the day. The Monitor will be very valuable if you have some way of automated calcium addition such as a reactor or top off. Ph can swing substantually durring the day and should be checked at its high and low. Some Salts have different benifits than others chemically. When using Oceanic I found the calcium was way to high and the Alkalinity was low. This caused a long time balance problem for me. I switched back to IO whick has higher alk and lower calcium.

 

[bradreef]

Lighting. There is a lot of info on this site about lighting and SPS coral and I cant say that I have read everything. I am a big believer in MH lighting but it isn't the only way to keep SPS. Color of coral depends on the spectrum of the bulb and the intensity. I have recently become more aware of how important reflectors are and how they can increase lighting. I feel a luminarc with a 250 watt bulb would be better than a 400 watt with a spider reflector. Of course there are going to be exceptions to that but there are 250 watt bulbs with way higher par than some 400's. So to just go by wattage is not a good way to pick a bulb. Also for the most part the color temp that the bulbs are labeled for the most part is marketing. Do you really think hamilton and pheonix bulbs have the same color temp at the 14k or Xm 10k and the ushio. Before you buy lighting for your SPS reef do your research. You dont want to have to ask, "Why do all my frags look better in his tank".

 

[bradreef]

Filtration: I am a Skim big person because you can't overskim. When the yucky is gone it wont pull anything out(Ask boomer if you have to). For big tanks the becketts are great skimmers as well as the needlewheels. There are pro's and cons to each but if you get one that can handle your size tank and then some you should be OK. I am still on the fence with Rowa and phosphate reactors but others with experience can chime in here. I use the old method of cheato in the sump with a light over it. I also run carbon and change it monthly. The other big thing I do is siphon Detritus into a filter bag because my tank is BB. So basically My things are Dont overfeed, Skim, Cheato, carbon, and siphon the bottom. The less phosphates the less brown the SPS.

 

[bradreef]

And for placement. Thick colonies need to get flow into the middle. Sticking it in the wedge between the rocks because it fits there so good isn't always a good Idea. I would stick it the the edge that protrudes and spend a few more mins gluing it there. That is my thought on why people lose so many of the wild tabling colonies. Plan on this when gluing a frag. Stags that grow big will eventually block some of your flow so place them appropriately. Most thick branched stags will grow ways too big for a smaller SPS tank within a couple years.

 

[bradreef]

And before anyone replies the most important thing. Research, Research, Research.



Jiddy has spent a lot of time looking into his purchases and asking questions. He will spend soo much less money and lose a lot less life than many of us who said this one will be OK for now.

 

[CarlaW]

Good thread Brad, I think I'll just follow along here, you seem to have everything under control!

 

[Jiddy]

Well B now that you made this thread can i still ask you how to keep SPS's in 5mo? I suppose it doesnt matter cause Nikki will just link me anyways, =)! Another great thread B and RF!

 

[CarlaW]

Brad, when you were using Oceanic, how did you supplement your alk? I have been using Oceanic now since last July, and haven't had any problems with balance between alk and ca.

 

[Scooterman]

Well I guess this will be a short thread Brad already did his husbandry and covered so much already good shot brad, thanks for the info also the thread is a good idea. I have to comment on lighting, one thing trendy these days is all of the different kelvin lamps available, I agree this is a marketing thing to please the eyes more than the corals, we already know what would be the best range but don't like the yellowish looks so now we blend lighting to get that pleasing look.

I think we need to designate Brad & Jiddy the RF nite crew.

 

[Jiddy]

LoL Scooter! B and I are definatly the night crew around here, ive been a little quiet the last few nights because we got hit with 10inches of....... SNOW, can you believe that? So work hasnt needed me and my wife has me in the bedroom! NO.... just to paint the walls. It was part of our deal to get the tank, we had to paint the roomto her likings. Anyways im ramblin and i dont think this was the type of husbandry you guys were talkin about........ *get it Scooter* hahahhahahahah -Jidz

 

[Scooterman]

HAHAHAH! YEA I got you covered on that, I have to paint the room I planning to move my tank to lol, bad carma huh!

 

[reedman]

Mg is another item to check occasionally. If it gets to low it can inhibit the incorporation of calcium into corals.

Flow: People need to come to grips with the fact that this is not a set it and forget it item. Your corals will grow (yes, they will) and as they grow they will change the path of the flow. You need to be able to adjust this to maintain good flow. This can be done with loc-line, moving powerheads around, or creative rearrangement of rocks. The amount of flow is not as relevent, IMHO, as how it is used. You can have 5000 gph in a 75 gallon tank and still have dead spots, or you can have 1500 gph in a 75 and have very effective flow. Think it through and experiment before finalizing a plan.

Lighting: This gives me a headache. I've seen so much data that contradicts each other that I now look for lights that are not on any of the extremes. I don't know that there is a clear correlation between PAR and coral health. Certainly not a correlation between "color temperature" and health. You can influence coral color (to a limited extent) with the color of the bulbs. But I think the bottom line on bulbs is to find something that is appealing to your eye and that has proven successful in maintaining corals (unless you want to be a trail blazer and try the new products out for the rest of us).

Temperature: Maintain it as constant as possible! This is often overlooked and has caused many bleaching events. Monitor it and don't trust the thermostats on the heaters. I keep 2 thermometers in the tank; one digital for ease of use and one mercury for accuracy.

Salinity: Same as temperature...constant. Get a refractometer and understand what the reading from it means. Bomber has a thread on this for adjusting the reading. The swing arm hydrometers are fine if they are calibrated to a known regularly, otherwise...toss 'em.

Most important - observe the tank and log any major changes (good or bad). This will allow you to see trends over time and find things that worked well and things that caused problems. And don't over react to bad events. We all have things go wrong. Slow and steady will keep things growing.

 

[tamarindthai]

this is the very good one Brad,

 

[jlehigh]

Two More Categories to Add...

Inhabitants:
Fish, Inverts, Plants, and other corals can all have a negative impact on the preferred SPS life in your tank.

There are a large number of fish that will nip at polyps but in addition to predation fish can greatly increase the bio-load on the tank and lead to damaging nutrients. Browning, and Algse break-outs are classic symptoms. s Brad knows I was even losing a colony because fish crap turned detritus was trapped in the base of it..

Some Snails, Nudibranchs, and even Starfish treat SPS like a Vegas buffet. You must choose all inverts very carefully as many procreate quickly and or are difficult to catch/rid.

Anenomes can have a sting that quickly can kill SPS. A seperate tank is ideal. I keep by RBTA in place by creating just the right flow over and around it.

Some SPS can coexist in close proximity while other will battle each other through toxins and over growth. This has much to do with placement and growth, hence the beauty of fragging!


Pests:
Mojanos, red worms, red bugs, ZOOANTHIDS!!! hehehe These are just a few of the rapidly reproducing critters that often hitchhike, reproduce rapidly and MAY cause issues in the tank whether is be stinging, eating, mass die-off, covering and overgrowing. So be ready to nip these in the bud when you first catch them.

 

[mlheppl]

This is a great thread Brad. Lots of good info so far. This may be a little out of the scope of your thread, but does fish selection play any role in an SPS tank? I mean aside from the obvious is it reef safe or not reef safe. The reason I'm asking is that from the pics I've seen, there are usually less fish and in some cases no fish in an SPS tank. Is this because the focus is more on the corals or is this a false observation on my part?

 

[mlheppl]

LOL, I guess someone answered my question while I was thinking of how to word my question. Thanks jlehigh.


Mike

 

[kevinpo]

Great thread!
Another technique that has worked well for me over the years is to have a log of all the tests, livestock additions, bulb changes, pump maintenance., etc. This allows you to be more consistant and detect cause and affect more easily.

I have also found that as a SPS tank matures it becomes harder to maintain conditions at the preferred settings. In just a few years the fish grow quite large, the corals block the flow, the calcium and alkalinity drop like a rock, etc. Until 2003 I used to travel outside the country for 3 weeks every month and when I returned I would just do a water change and that was it. Now that the tank has grown into a solid reef and the fish are very large I have to dose and keep a close eye on it every day. So be careful what you wish for when you ask for fast growth

Regards,
Kevin

 

[tamarindthai]

Ohhh fast grow ,Kevin,,you tell me about it,,your frag i got from you ,,my tank is geting smaller,.