The Magic Touch: Have you ever successfully kept SPS?

[VintageReefer]

I don’t currently keep much sps but if I could do it 12 years ago I feel I could only do better if I decided to make a sps reef again

I did like growing frags into colonies

 

[Formulator]

I keep them but I don’t consider myself a wizard, nor do I think it has been a battle. The key is to keep it simple and keep it stable. Don’t change more than one thing at a time, and be patient.

 

[Comic_Reef]

Love this as a topic because I struggled for YEARS to keep SPS. Now I am having more success than I've ever had before and not just keeping them alive, but having them thrive and show the colors you would want them to show.

My biggest tip isn't really a tip from me per se but instead is a tip on where to find some of the best tips:
Only listen to the tried and true experts. And I mean the REAL experts.

I absolutely mean no offense to anyone in the slightest when I say this, as this is just my opinion, but the only people worth listening to are the people growing SPS at scale. I'm talking big, big tanks and aquaculture facilities where folks' income relies on their ability to not only grow coral but keep them healthy, colorful and thriving. (TopShelf, WWC, POTO, Tidal Gardens, CherryCorals, BattleCorals, etc. Take your pick). I mainly say this because their experiences are much less anecdotal and are much more proven, tested and replicated. These folks take care of 1,000's of individual colonies and frags. Their ability to have thriving (not just surviving) animals is why they are successful and is paramount to their ability to remain profitable. While the real fine details of their methodologies may be much more advanced and specific to large scale environments, the critical pieces can by in large be scaled down to work on any size tank. You'd be surprised just how replicable and simple most of their methodologies are.

I listen to just about every reefing podcast I can get my hands on. Many have real good general reefing information but by far the most valuable in terms of getting care tips specific to SPS is the Beyond the Reef Podcast by Adam Sutherland over at Frag Garage. Highly, highly recommend listening if you are interesting in keeping SPS. He regularly interviews the folks from many of the top SPS sellers in the industry and they spill TONS (and I mean TOOONS) of SPS specific knowledge.

Last thing I would say, keep it simple. There are so many additive products pushed on the market right now and 99% of them you don't need and will never need. If you are just trying to have some intro level success, stay away from trace element dosing, stay away from fancy bottled additives, and don't go overboard in keeping your tank too clean. You are much more likely to kill SPS by doing too much than not enough.

 

[Townes_Van_Camp]

Does this count? The day I brought it home. No idea what it was, no name, no nothing.

12 months later, today, still no idea what it is beside "some kind of acro." Super slow grower. But I'm certainly a fan of the colors I'm seeing now.

 

[Dorsetsteve]

There’s no secrets or magic, in fact I’d say that mind set is where most people get into trouble.

Without writing a book. There’s three pillars you need. Good water quality, good lighting and good flow. Good is a subjective word and that’s where you need to make your choices. Look at what others are doing to achieve those things. Not the tiny details like which brand etc but the application.

Once you have have the set up as such what you need next is stability, stability trumps perfect. So to this end resist the temptation to make changes or “improvements” stability will be in the form of regular water changes and proper replenishment of calcium and alkalinity. I would set out with a 2 part or even simpler a product like All for Reef.

All the details of traces etc will come later (if you choose), this is both over and under thought in my opinion. Some things can damage your corals and testing with test kits isnt really an option, Tin for example is a killer and so can Iodine be. But to start you must start growing simple fast growing sps and this is where success breeds success. Your building a city of tiny animals and you feed that city from above by guessing really, the more mouths in the city the better chance all the apples will be eaten and not left to rot. If the city thrives the animals in it thrive. Not only that but it will build your confidence. I’d probably spend the first year just growing out weeds, you can always hack them back, trade them, rescape if you need but go forth and grow some Montis, Seratopora etc etc.

Of corse, pretty much all of that actually applies to any reef tank SPS are just one angle and let’s be straight the term SPS is a nonsense hobby term we use to group corals by polyp size, it has no meaning or bearing on the suitability of a coral for aquarium life… there is no spoon so to speak.

 

[Orito]

I keep sps easily, my struggle is with LPS and softies...

 

[UtahReefer]

Most people have issues because they try before the tank is mature enough. It's all about great filtration, flow and light. Flow is critical. You don't want to blast the corals but you need to make sure the waste is exiting the tank.

 

[JohnCol]

Yes but not much and not many. I remember having elk horn back in the day. In the Ole bachelor pad lol.

 

[AaronFReef]

A lot of people will teach all kinds of magical stuff is needed to keep SPS but it’s as simple as keeping stable parameters and investing enough into lights and flow. Everything else is gravy or even part of the problem. It’s only when people skimp on equipment or fail to test and test well that SPS are really difficult. Although there is still the occasionally tank with unexplainable, maybe biological, aversion to SPS. In general, it’s a practice of stable inorganic chemistry. Test often and well meaning with quality kits (Hanna and salifert) and often enough to see all the trends and not dosing in ways that swing chemistry.

 

[steveschuerger]

I have a mixed reef. A bunch of lps but a fair sample of sps of various kinds. Monti types and Stylos I’ve always been able to grow but now I’m starting to have a bit of success with Acros. Big thing to me is flow and lights and keeping up with balanced dosing, currently doing Red Sea 2 part system plus magnesium in small amounts daily, manganese and kz 4 part reef dosing micro elements a couple times weekly. Bi weekly 5-10% water changes. Also dose AB+ and phyto.

 

[X-37B]

Old 120 and 18" nano cube.
Stability wins.

 

[GunnarH]

Missing option: “Yes, but I think I just got lucky.” My tips, what I think I got right, are:

Tank maturity (2 years in my case).
Parameter stability (I’m dosing Tropic Marin All-For-Reef daily).
Good and plentiful lighting (2 Kessil A360x on a BioCube in my case).
Luck.
Finally: YMMV.

 

[reefsaver]

Here I am thinking does this mean I'm Dumbledore and I see the colonies on these tanks. And I realize I'm just Harry.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

I'm setting up a new tank and am getting over the harder sps. I have seen enough awesome tanks with easy classics and am going that route with it. Only moving the easy coral over and maybe two frog and hammers. Will be heavy on Monti's , plating, branching and encrusting blues reds and greens, stylos. No zoa's. I'll move my easy acro like the Oregon tort, Westside tort and my ORA teal green stag. I have a large devils hand, waving hand as well as a Kenya tree for soft coral.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Old 120 and 18" nano cube.
Stability wins.

What happened to the 120?

 

[MnFish1]

If you ask a reef keeper, "Have you ever faced challenges with your tank?" and they say no, they're lying. Many challenges befall this hobby, but there is one challenge that almost everyone can agree upon: SPS. These demanding but stunning corals have been plaguing the peace of mind of our community for too long. Have you cracked the code?

Have you ever successfully kept SPS? And if you have, drop your biggest and best piece of advice for us poor unfortunate hobbyists who haven't figured it out yet!

@BrandonMcHenry

I think it's very important not to chase numbers too much. Keep it simple, and stable.

 

[X-37B]

What happened to the 120?

Replaced with an 80g growout. I was injured at work and could not stand on a step ladder and work in the tank safely. Then 1 year later took down all 5 systems and moved.
Just now starting back up, 3 months ago an ext 170 and ext 50.
These tanks should be up for many years to come.
80g and current 170 and 50g systwms.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I voted other. Seems like a lot of middle ground between reefing wizard and it was a battle. Lol

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Replaced with an 80g growout. I was injured at work and could not stand on a step ladder and work in the tank safely. Then 1 year later took down all 5 systems and moved.
Just now starting back up, 3 months ago an ext 170 and ext 50.
These tanks should be up for many years to come.
80g and current 170 and 50g systwms.

The new tanks look great!

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

I’m sometimes a wizard. I can melt corals without even trying, lol. Lps I’ve got down, but SPS is a whole new endeavor for me. Slowly getting there.

NJ in the house!