My first SPS

P

PhilliePhil

I went to the meeting yesterday for the first time and won an item in the raffle! I chose what I think is brown acro, I will post pictures soon, it looks like its already developing bluish tips.

I have two questions and its been bothering me since I placed it in my tank.

1) These require very strong MH or T5 and above-average current, I only have a 24w t5 and 24w actinic lighting on the 10 gallon its in and I have a MJ600 with a hydor reflector for the water movement along with an aquaclear 30 for filtration/additional circulation. I have the coral sitting about 4-5" below the water line right now because of the seemingly weak lighting. Would this be enough or do I need to finally purchase MH lighting and an additional powerhead?

2) Supplements, supplements, supplements. I am going to make a kalkwasser drip system (if thats what its called) this weekend based on another members that I saw. I am picking up a sump w/'fuge tonight and will be getting that ready tonight too. What other supplements would I need to ensure the best enviornment for my newest addition?

Eventually the SPS and the two percs will be moved to the 20H. The lighting I have on there will be 2x65w PC's. By the end of this month I will have MH lighting for the 20H.
 
thats what I was concerned with too. I have another MJ600 but its missing a couple pieces.

last night I saw the seio pump and this sps, I went for the sps and figured I could find a pump if need be on here. Or worst case scenario make a trade for a softie or zoa's, which I am still trying to decide.

I just have this nagging feeling that I am a bit in over my head and my setups aren't ready for sps.

Thank you for your quick response!
 
@PhilliePhil wrote:
thats what I was concerned with too. I have another MJ600 but its missing a couple pieces. last night I saw the seio pump and this sps said:
I know where the SEIO is :) I did pick up 2 hydors while I was there from another member as well. What parts are you missing from the mj ?
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I kept telling myself to "take the seio, you need another pump; take the seio, you need another pump; take the seio, you need another pump..."

And then when it was my turn I took the sps... :lol: :oops: :lol:

I will have to look when I get home, but not really sure even when I look at it. Its almost like the bottom half is missing the propeller housing or something. I have two maxi-jet 600's but the one thats missing a couple of pieces is about .5" shorter than the full one....its odd. I plug it in and it just makes noise, no pumping of water.

But I found a pump that should do the trick from another member here and should be getting it tomorrow.
 
@PhilliePhil wrote:
I will have to look when I get home said:
I had a brand new MJ250 that the impeller just sat there as the piece under the impeller had unglued itself from the magnet, a few drops of gel CA glue and it was all better.
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Dont sweat it, watch your coral closely and if you think you see evidence of some decline, bring it over and I will let you house it in my 185 predominent SPS tank while you get the other tank revved up.

I have to be very close to you, Colleyville and HEB share a border.

Gary
 
I used to live in Colleyville when I was in high school, so that would work out well if it starts to show any negative signs. I have a friend who has a softie tank, he has my purple kenya right now, but he doesn't know much about sps care.

I will definitely take you up on that offer if I notice any problems. Thank you very much.

The funny thing is that I've been thinking about it all day and can't wait to go home and see how its doing....like its going to change much in 13 hours...hahaha
 
I secured a MH light that I will be pick up today. This way I can use the 2x65PC's as acitnics (sp?) and the MH (150w DE) as the other light... (Ima newbie still, give me a break :lol: )

The frag still looks great and hasn't show any signs of having problems. I moved a power head that has a rotating deflector so that the "wave" does directly contact it. Its not a really strong current, its outside the most force, its just enough to keep the GSP on a rock fairly close swaying around.

Thanks again for your help guys. Can't wait to show some pics when I get around to it.
 
Keep your alk and calcium at NSW levels. If you do not have test kits for these you should buy them now not later. SPS like stability the most, try to keep salinity, temperature and water parameters constant or as little flux as possible.

Do you see any polyp extension on the coral? Depending upon the species, that is a sign of health.
 
I have an alk test, but not a Ca test yet, I will buy one today after work.

I haven't seen any stores around me that sell salifert, but from what I've read about API test kits those are ok. Its what I use currently.

I have to run after work and pick up a venturi valve to complete my homemade kalkwasser drip.

About the temp swings....At night, with a heater going my temp gets down to about 74-75 degrees, during the day it gets up to 80-81 degrees.

Is that too much?

And I haven't seen any polyp extension yet, but then again I don't really know what to look for. Last night I played poker at a friends house so I wasn't around to watch after the lights went out. The first night I got it home, wednesday night, I didn't even think they would come out since it was acclimating.
 
Yes, that is too much of a swing for SPS on a regular basis. The occasional swing is okay most times. My tank varies 1 to 2 degrees daily.
 
I do have a stand up fan I could use during the day to try and keep it closer to 78-79, and I've been putting off getting a new heater. Looks like now is the time.

But I should try and achieve a stability of 1-2 degrees max?

The 4-6 degree swings aren't normal, more like 1-3 times a month...when I forget to open the vent in the room in the morning, or forget to close the vent/plug in heater at night.

I have set up a "check in sheet" in my fish room (spare bedroom) similar to what you would see in a restaurant bathroom to try and keep this from happening.
 
If you can keep the tank from getting too hot, or from allowing it to cool down too much, either would be a good option. If you use a fan, plug it into a timer and dial it in until it runs only when necessary to keep the heat down. For example, the lights come on at noon, and the fan comes on at 1pm. Lights turn off at 9pm, fans turn off at 1am. Or whatever matches your particular setup.

For heaters, I suggest two at 50% of what you need. If the tank is a 100g reef, at 3w per gallon you'd need 300w of heater. Instead, plug in two 150w heaters so that if one fails and sticks on, it doesn't have the juice to cook your tank.
 
Makes perfect sense, thank you very much for your help Marc.

EDIT: Bought a new heater, because my tank is only a 10gallon heater I went with the smalles I could find, it was a 75w theo (I believe) and have already noticed that it turns off when it gets to 78.

My DIY kalk reactor/drip was an incredible failure, but then again I can barely hang a shower curtain rod....not sure what made me think I could successfully do this. So I am going to use the two-part solution and try and keep it up manually. IN the mean time I bought test kits for alk, ph, ca and mg....is there anything I am missing as far as tests? (I already have the nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, etc. "marine tests")

I saw polyp extension saturday night, looked like brown fuzzy things all over it, I thought at first it was something bad. I didn't have access to the internet (laptops do not like red stripe beer, even if its ice cold), so I was kinda freaking out this weekend about it...didn't have the mas to verify what I was seeing.

Checked melev's Id page and whattya know? I just may have a healthy brown acro. for the time being. :D
 
Ever polyp was fully extended last night, where as before it was about 3/4 of them it seemed.

Very cool....or very bad not sure yet, we'll have to see how much of my annual income this starts to eat away... :D
 
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