Please help me see the beauty of SPS!

[aquarookie]

Hi all,
I am not trying to argue tastes here, just trying to understand people's fascination with SPS. I mean, some of them are brightly colored or have interesting shapes, but a lot of them are just brownish or whitish sticks... They don't do much other than just sit there, and are expensive and a pain in the butt to keep up. What am I missing?

 

[reedman]

For me, a lot of the attraction was the challenge. It was the challenge of finding ways to better keep these sensitive corals healthy. Knowing I might be breaking new ground since not everything is known about keeping SPS. The corals themselves are very attractive to me, which was made all the more obvious when I started diving. Seeing these in the wild makes you really appreciate how beautiful they are.

It's all in what you like. I like doing things that not everyone else is doing. I like to be a little different. As a result I am out of the SPS world (for other reasons too) and on to a FOWLR tank with bigger plans down the road. I plan to experiment with different filtration methods and lighting to see what works.

-Reed

 

[DonW]

I think alot of us are just facinated by shallow water reef's. I personally dont find deep water reefs attractive. I like the clean look of the sterile enviroment although the softies move and some are cool, they have to be kept in what I concider a dirty tank. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Don

 

[aquarookie]

Hee hee hee, DIRTY TANK is my middle name! I like dirty tanks because they have all sorts of little critters, and sponges thrive in them. And, as some of you already know, I love sponges . But I understand what you are saying about pristine tanks...

 

[bc_slc]

I also love the fact that SPS are fragable. I like the idea of purchasing frags from other reefers, growing up small pieces to larger colonies and then fragging them out as well. Also, if the conditions are right, I love seeing the corals change from the brown and tan sticks you mentioned to beautiful pink, purple, and blue corals.

For example....when I first set my tank up, I purchased a bunch of LR from someone breaking down their tank. On it was this ugly, brown coral. I keep it alive for 2 years and when I recently changed my lights, all of a sudden this brown coral that was not pretty but growing well, started to develop bright purple tips and neon-green polyps. It was so rewarding to see it develop.

 

[CCR]

The challenge, color, I like a mixed tank

 

[jezzeaepi]

I really like watching the sps grow. You can see new growth daily if you set up your system well(and stare at it a ton).

 

[Juanfer]

I like the way that fish swimms in and out of the sps.

 

[aquarookie]

Thanks guys for all the responses. I guess there is more to SPS than just looks... I have an empty 120 gallon tank, a bunch of LR, heaters, powerheads and extra MH lights... I was going to make it an anemone tank, but I am starting to wonder if I should try my hand at SPS. I have heard that you should not combine the two in the same tank, although I have seen people who do it and have very successful setups.

 

[gman0526]

You can do both IMO, if you get your anemones to be happy first thus minimizing the possibility of having a nomad anemone wandering all over your SPS corals.

 

[SueT]

I have kept everything and ended up trying sps corals and have found what makes me happy. I have been keeping sps corals since 1999 now and love them. Each and every species of sps corals have their own growth form and colors. I am now concentrating on acropora and montipora in the plating species mostly. I love them all and for me it's the colors that are attainable and in some the growth forms that really are incredible to me. I went through the trading and then selling of frags and it was too much so now I'm doing it for me mostly. I am also keeping the mostly exotic or rare species and finding them is half the fun. Each acropora species has their own traits and can be even down to the polyps and corallite details.

 

[ronj]

Sue, do you have any updated pics of your tank?????

 

[SueT]

Ron, not yet I don't... I don't have a camera and with my disability it's not on the list of things I absolutely have to have. I think a good friend of mine is making atrip to Houston in the next few weeks and he said he'd bring his camera. Hint, hint.. LOL.. Maybe he can get some shots for me.

 

[CarlaW]

Sue, do you have any updated pics of your tank?????

One of these days we will see pics of her newest effort, and believe me, I am looking forward to it also!

Back to the question, I like the challenge, the thrill when you start to see new growth on a frag that you have had for only 2-3 weeks, and the disappointments that go along with it. For some reason it seems to make you want more.
I still have a softie tank that keeps me on my toes also, so I am not an sps only freak................................... but I once was.

 

[spongebob lover]

well i used to think like you Julia .

before i used to think... what are people seeing in the sps, they look like ugly sticks bla bla until i saw Dang's tank ... if you haven't seen it, you should, i blame him for making me like sps :lol: .
To me i think they look very cute.... some of them not all, but still they are very pretty, right now my favorite sps corals are a monti cap and a green coral thingy (don't remember the name ) .
i guess it's what you are into.... right now i'm deciding on if i should go lps with a few sps just because i'm more of a lps fan .

I guess i'm just screwed up :lol: .... i don't know girl but whatever you like make sure you keep it happy .

 

[ronj]

and the disappointments that go along with it.

what do you mean????

 

[CarlaW]

what do you mean????

That new frag you got died, your skimmer isn't skimming like you think it should, your water isn't as clear as you think it should be.............................. should I go on? All this is, is a series of ups and downs, hopefully your ups are more than your downs.

 

[SueT]

amen, Charlie, with what you went through and the close call I had, it's seeing the turn around of an sps tank when you figure out whats going on and get everything going in the right direction again. Thats what I am seeing now and everything is doing so awesome. It is definitely what makes it worth keeping these corals. Seeing the sheer beauty they can show when all is as it should be.

 

[CarlaW]

aquarookie, this pic was 2.5 years of growing everything from a 2" frag. That was more than happiness. In the space of 3 weeks, this same tank turned into a barron wasteland, moonscape would be a better term, that was disappointment. The key thing is, I am going to do another sps tank just because of the beauty in the pic. This wasn't the best sps tank on this board, many have better, but the joy you experience when you build something that works......................

[/IMG]

 

[ronj]

what happened to your tank to cause it to die?????