What to get for 1st SPS

[dmbfreek]

Hey, just need opinions on what sps would be a good choice for a first time sps owner. Any Idea on where I could purchase a good sps frag pack?
I have a 29g w/ a 10g sump, 175 watt 20k MH and about 1600 gph flow.
Thanks for any advise.

 

[Reefdaddy1]

How long it been setup? and is your calcium up to snuff? Also is your flow from Power heads or CL?

 

[dmbfreek]

The tank has been set up for about 3 yrs. Calcium is around 450 and the flow is from the return pump in the sump and a seio 620 and a couple of other powerheads.

 

[balogh03]

Everything sounds good to me, though i think calcium is like 420ppm?
good luck

-augustus

 

[dpaynter]

I would recommend Montipora caps for a starter sps. They seem to tolerate a fairly wide range of lighting and flow conditions. Also the green slimer acropora seems pretty tough.

These should be available from other reefers, but I don't know how common they are around Walla Walla.

 

[The Apprentice]

RE: what sps would be a good choice for a first time sps owner

Plating Motipora's are very good grower and good starting corals the only problem you will have with these is It would fill that 29 up in a year.
Montipora_digitata Is a good easy one to start with as well they have allot of different colors but always it seems the base will be brown. check out the link:
http://www.reeffrontiers.com/photos_corals/showphoto.php?photo=144&cat=503

Kevinpo's store up in spokane would be a very good place to get a starter pack from plus with his choices It may help you get started on the easiest but nicest ones. Check out some of his frags :
http://www.frags.org/memberfragslist.php?id=16
This is were i started..

Hey, just need opinions on what sps would be a good choice for a first time sps owner. Any Idea on where I could purchase a good sps frag pack?
I have a 29g w/ a 10g sump, 175 watt 20k MH and about 1600 gph flow.
Thanks for any advise.

 

[JaxReef]

monti cap is a good start and you will have frags to trade for other sps corals down the road.

www.riptidesreef.com has great prices and service. You can ask him a ton of questions too

 

[redrooster]

The first SPS I tried was a montipora danae (superman red) I have had it 8 months and it is doing great. It is 8" by 5.5" now, I'm not sure how big it was when I bought it. I've also got a greem slimer acro about 8 weeks ago and it is also doing well so far. I don't even have enough flow, but I am upgrading this weekend. The Montipora danae doesn't even seem to need that much flow. I will be adding a piece of red acro digitata this weekend when I buy a new seio.

 

[dmbfreek]

Great! Thanks for the help.

 

[SueT]

Montipora digitata is a good choice to start with besides the montipora plating corals. They are good for low in the tank so when they grow out they do not block lighting from anything underneath them. For acropora, the green slimer, like has been mentioned is a good idea. Some of the not so brilliantly colored acropora millepora's are also a good idea. Plus they will give you long polyps, more so than any other sps and thats always cool to watch.