Why has SPS husbandry become so accessible?

[300ZXNA]

I was talking to Kevin at his shop today and we had a discussion that piqued my interest enough I figured I would throw it out here and see what answers are given. We were talking about how the whole 'sps revolution' has occurred in the hobby over the last 15 years. Some background on me is that i had a reef tank in the early/mid nineties, but gave it up til this year. Needless to say, a lot has changed, plenums were out, refugiums are in, etc. Now when I was in the hobby 15 years ago, it was almost unheard of to keep sps tanks. I saw pictures of Tyree's tank and was just floored, thinking it was a pipedream. Now, most any hobbyist who does his homework and is willing to find quality equipment can keep them. So what changed?

I have a few conjectures. One, refugiums were largely unheard of back then, so I am thinking that the little critters facilitated by the refugium floating in the water column are one part. Also, I remember that effective protein skimmers were much harder to find, especially for smaller tanks (which I think are what most people start with). I had a 55 and went through several skimmers, and they all pretty much sucked equally. Now, there are units like the AquaC facilitating people such as myself to keep SPS in a small (30 gallon) tank. Not so much 15 years ago.

Lastly, I'm thinking that the livestock itself is probably a lot of it. The pioneers of SPS had to deal with colonies fresh from the wild, and by all accounts they are very finicky and upset to have been removed from their home. I think this would have stacked the deck even further against the average aquarist from keeping them. Now, we all have access to aquacultured frags that have been living in captive systems for several generations; only the hardier strains have emerged. Consider it a 'domestication' of sorts for SPS.

Anyway, these are just a few of my ideas. Any others?

Signed: someone who is thoroughly enjoying returning to the hobby and having a blast raising corals he never thought would have been possible for him.

 

[gas4544]

I'd guess that its a combination of factors that are contributing to our ability to raise SPS that not only survive, but thrive in captivity. Those factors include:

1. We know much more SPS now than we did 15 years ago. Some of that knowlege has come from scientific studies, but much of it has come from reefers who keep SPS in their tanks and share their experiences with other on the internet. The internat has greatly facilitated the sharing of SPS related knowlege, especially through discussion baords like Reeef Frontiers and Reef Central.

2. There are some very good authors out there writing very good books. We owe then very much, as although they are specialists in the field of saltwater aquatic life, they are also reefers just like us. These books help greatly to spread the latest information regarding SPS husbandry.

3. The equipment and additives- from lighting to water filtration to water movement to calcium supplememtation to whatever else you want to add to the list. We have at our disposal many differnet competing products to enable us to keep such beautiful and diverse creatures. Thank God for capitalism and the free market. There is a huge market for reef related products, and many companies and individuals are providing products to help us succeed.

4. Captive bred coral is a huge benefit to reefkeeping. We have created a vast network of businesses and individuals propagating captive bred coral. Some people may be in it for mostly the money, but many people are reefers like you and me who just want to advance our hobby through selling and trading frags and colonies of coral. The wild reefs are under siege, and the reefing community has responded passionately by embracing the propagation and distribution of coral amongst ourselves.

I may expand on this post later. It is late and I just got home from a deafening kickass AC/DC concert at the Tacoma Dome. My ears are still ringing. Good night, y'all.

Gary

 

[morgan]

ive been running my tank for 3 years and half years it is pretty mature tank with quiet alot of corals.
i pretty much reackon i skim barely anything becaue the skimmer is utter crap but oxygenates the water with out having bubbles everywhere although scince changing to this skimmer and skiming barely anything my acros have been colouring up like mad
all i do for my tank is use ocean water, tap water, aquavitro ions, 8.4, CA also add iodine and feed corals everyday with nutr kol
lighting is 400watt 20,000k over a 200L tank no fuge, no sump

 

[tamarindthai]

i am still running my tank the old fashion way,,strong ecosystem,,new high tech equipments just like the new car,,but the old car is still running if the proper maintainence will run almost forever.JMO

 

[returnofsid]

Great analogy Dang!!!

 

[kevinpo]

Hello,
Here is my experience with the changes in the hobby that led up to the keeping of SPS corals.

I started in the early eighties in Southern California (the location gave me access to the latest methods and good availability of livestock). The typical setup consisted of an under gravel filter with either air stones or pumps in the riser tubes and pea sized crushed coral or dolimite as substrate. Skimmers were rare and of the air stone type (usually the square wooden type). Sections of the crushed coral needed to be vacuumed each water change to keep the under gravel filter working properly. I felt things were in good working order with nitrates in the 40-60ppm range .

Lighting consisted of a couple of Vitalights, plus one cool white, and one actinic bulb. I had a six foot tank and had to order my 72" actinic bulb from Japan which in today's dollars would have cost a couple of hundred dollars.

Tank decor consisted of two sets dead coral skeletons. One was in the tank and the other would be bleached then soaked in clean water then dried in the sun. They would be swapped once a month or so when they became covered in algae. I think it was about 1986 or 7 when I got my first piece of liverock with some macro algae on it.

With the above method I was pretty successful keeping fish and thought "Hey I have this down now"

Then I switched to VHO's in 1995 and as you can imagine algae became quite easy to grow. I added a venturi type skimmer, more water changes (with tap water), more herbivores, and still the algae was a challenge. I made a 600 mile round trip to Seattle for a wet/dry trickle filter and overflow box that was the latest craze then. I was able to keep several types of soft and LPS corals with this method however.

In 1996 I decided I would set up a 90 gallon as true reef tank. I had gotten on the Internet in 1995 (28.8 dial-up ) and became a member of an FTP type bulletin board (I think it was called Fishnet). I learned that nitrates must be controlled in order to reduce algae growth and started using deionized water. I went with a DSB and much more water flow, larger venturi skimmer, 25 gallon sump, and a 175W Belgium halide 10,000K bulb with a couple of 110W VHO actinics (I was one of Marine Depot's first customers) Thanks Ken for all the help!

In combination with learning about mineralization requirements for corals, keeping SPS corals became a reality for me and I still have most of those first corals today. I don't believe I'm any different from hundreds of other hobbyists that went through the same evolution at that time and began spreading the information (mostly over the Internet in my case) of success in keeping SPS corals.

There were a few books that were very helpful that I should mention too. My first was "The Marine Aquarium Reference" by Martin Moe 1992 with the added reef updates.
Also "A Practical Guide to Corals" by Eric Borneman and Ed Puterbaugh 1997.

So I think nutrient control and lighting were the biggest hurdles to overcome in begining to keep SPS corals.

Here are some pictures from those early tanks.

Regards,
Kevin


1996 with undergravel filter.

 

[kevinpo]

Here is my 90 gallon first true reef taken 1997.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[gas4544]

Great pics, Kevin! You have experienced firsthand the evolution of reefkeeping.

I remember reading "The Marine Aquarium Reference" by Martin Moe and dreaming about switching my 29-gallon freshwater angelfish tank to saltwater. It took me awhile, but I eventually set up my first reef, a 75-gallon, back in the fall of 1999. My original plan was to set up a larger anfelfish tank, but my friend Otto encouraged me to go with a saltwater tank. Otto was not a reefer, he just could tell that I really wanted a reef tank but was hesitant to start one. In some ways, that encouragement from Otto changed my life! He was later my best man when I got married.

I started out with a Seaclone and then I found online equipment vendors. When I saw that I could have purchased that Seaclone much cheaper, I returned it for a refund and ordered another one online. Then I joined RC and found out what a crappy skimmer the Seaclone was. So I modded the heck out of it. Eventually I upgraded to a Remora Pro when they came out.

At least I got it right when I purchased lighting. I bought two 175W Blueline eBallasts and two pendants with Hamilton 10K lamps. For a couple of years, I had a pretty successful softie tank with a mated pair of Bangaii Cardinals.

Gary

 

[Skimmy]

selling equipment in this industry for the last 10 years has allowed me to very closely track the newer methodologies, and equipment as they emerge...
i would personally say that it is the advent of newer higher output lighting in conjunction with comparably super powerful skimmers, refugiums, and understanding of high flow requirements that have made sps keeping accessible to the average joe blow. other than the quality of the additives, they seemingly havent changed much in the last 10 years, although i would say that the use of complex bacteria and amino acid products is a fairly recent and extremely important aspect to maintaing growth and coloration of sps.
the other thing is that the prices are alot more reasonable now that the chinese have flooded the market with inexpensive eqipment that emulated expensive german gear...is this a good thing??? i dunno, but it surely makes it easier for noobs who have no cash to break into the sps hobby.