Hardiest SPS

K

kaledrina

Any day now I'm going to be getting some T5 lighting in the mail. It has 2 daylight, 2 actinic bulbs. At the moment I have one frag of surviving SPS from the tank upgrade. Its managed to hang on and grow under PC lights and no Kalk additions which is somewhat of a miracle. Its a 75g with mostly softies, LPS, and BTAs. I would like to add a couple of SPS to the tank and I'd like some opinions on the hardiest/fastest growing. I really am hesitant towards dosing Kalk since it all just looks like it has the potential to be a big mess. If anybody also has economical suggestions towards simple kalk dripping procedures that would help me also as I know I'll need it eventually. Thanks in advance!
 
Kalk is easy to do, but you have to pay attention and do it correctly. I have a drip box you are welcome to, its an acrylic box with an IV line. You fill the box, mix a tablespoon of kalk/lime into it, let it settle out, then drip slowly into your sump.

The other alternative is 2 part dosing. You buy the chemicals and mix them up, then dose a certain quantity of it each day. You can purchase some from twopartsolution.com or from someone local who does since your needs are low. A 1 gallon jug of ca and alk would last you a month or more at least.

As far as the species... Monti's as mentioned would be a very good starting point for you. There are several folks here who have some VERY nice colonies that frag them on a regular basis. psteele has a great looking purple one, tcureefer has a green one thats lovely and one that is green with a purple rim. Others have red or orange etc...
 
Monti caps, montipora digitata, hydnophora, pocillapora, stylophora and green slimer acropora

all are pretty easy to keep and would be good for your first foray into SPS.
 
I have orange monti cap, as well as whats supposed to be purple but looks brown. I like SPS but only want a few as I don't find SPS forests too fun to take care of (wavemakers, tons of flow, tons of kalk). I'd be interested in your dripper, but I'm far from S FW. When you drip kalk, though, you also have to compensate for Alk too right?
 
@kaledrina wrote:
I have orange monti cap said:
Nope they are both included in the kalk solution so you don't have to worry about that and they end up going in equal parts. I run errands all around the Metroplex on the weekends and may be up near bedfod/euless next weekend. I'll let you know later in the week about dropping off the box or we can find another way to go about it at a later date.

Here is something for you to read about kalk itself.. just remember the critical thing for you to remember about Kalk is to add it slowly and keep eye on your pH. It will rise quickly and you want to stop dripping when it hits the high point.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/may2003/chem.htm
Click to expand...
 
I went to the LFS and traded in some softies for store credit. I forgot the name of the coral (stupid me) but I got a lovely SPS. Its super furry and a relative of Acro, but not an Acro. The guy there said it would thrive under T5s and I'm really excited. I got the T5s in this afternoon and everything looks awesome.

The best part of this hobby is that you're patience is rewarded greatly.
 
if you want something you can buy at the store "b ionic" is a good product.. which in my opinion can be done with home made two part solution if you want something cheaper....


one thing now that you stepped up to sps is to make sure you look into dipping for red bugs...i just had my first infestation and boy was it a hassle to get the crabs and 2 cleaner shrimp out of my tank.
 
oh my suggestion for easy sps to take care of are any of the birdsnest corals...they have pretty colors too...green...pink or blueish purple ones
 
Blue/Purples are my next choices for corals. Everything is either pink/red or green/yellow... Including the fish. Thanks for the advice guys. Is there any sps in particular I should steer clear of for any reason?
 
Stay away from acros and some of the encrusting montis. They are by far more difficult then the others mentioned.
 
My first sps is a brown acro, and so far its going well.

But I would agree, compared to my leather cabbage and the kenya I had to let my friend bank (too big for my tank) its 100 times more difficult.

Why can't they all be like GSP? :lol:
 
Maybe it is a pocillopora? Here are two pictures of some from my tank for you to compare again, kaledrina.

green_pocillopora.jpg
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pink_pocillopora.jpg
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Marc! You're awesome! That's exactly what it is. The bottom polyps are light pink/red and the tips are green. I can't wait until it gets tea-plate sized. Then I'll have some bragging rights.
 
I tend to say that it will take a long time to grow to tea plate size, as mine has never grown quickly. Ryan on the other hand had a tank full of it, and he began to hate it to the point that he'd put new corals on top of it or place rocks on it in hopes it would die back. It wasn't the pretty kind though, so I can't completely blame him.

One man's trash is another man's treasure - or so the saying goes. I know he gave out lots of it, and probably got some decent store credit over the years. But had it been blue tort, I think he would have been more supportive of its growth. :wink:
 
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