Going From Lps To Sps

[ronboy]

i just bought new lights"2-250 halides & 2-48" vho" and i want to get into SPS. are they really that difficult to keep? i dont have a calcium reactor and i have never used kalkwrasser before.my tank is a 135 with about 1200 gph total turnover.is that enough for sps? any input will be appreciated....

[McCrary]

Try a montipora cap, they seem to be the easiest of the SPS to keep. You are going to need more flow, at least 2500gph. The lights should be fine, but you are going to need some way to replace calcium/alkalinity. A two part solution is easy if you don't have much SPS.

[ronboy]

two part solution would be kalkwrasser? would turbo calcium be ok?if not can you point me in the right direction for mking and dosing kalk?

[Bifferwine]

Kalkwasser isn't the easiest method to use for starting to keep SPS, IMO, nor is it a two part solution. Two part solutions come in two bottles. I think bottled calcium supplements are easier if you don't have a lot of SPS. I use Kent Liquid Reactor and like it a lot, but I've tried pretty much all the Kent Marine and SeaChem calcium products and have nothing bad to say about any of them. You do not need a calcium reactor unless your SPS are pulling out the calcium faster than you can dose it, or if you're dosing so much that it's costing you an arm and a leg.

If I were you, I'd start with a couple small frags of SPS (or if you have the money, you can buy colonies). Good starters are (like McCrary said), montiporas. Birdsnest also grow super fast and are easy to keep, as are a lot of acroporas. I'd stick with a few pieces of those for now, and see how it goes. They really aren't that hard to keep if you have good lighting, and remember, SPS are usually much more sensitive to water quality than LPS or softies, so keep those nitrates as close to 0 as possible. And add a couple more powerheads too; they need a lot of flow.

[McCrary]

Birdsnest can be weird, they sometimes just die and if you don't have a lot of SPS to indicate if it is just random you may take actions that wouldn't be necessary. Montipora caps are the easiest and don't require the quality of water that other SPS do. A two part solution is going to be the easiest for you, if you get into SPS later and have a high calcium demand then you can look into a calcium reactor. Flow is incredibly important, not just a high flow rate, but flow that is high and then lower, like a wave passing over them. This intermittent flow is what most SPS keepers use and it seems to work for my tank. SPS aren't super difficult to keep, but your tank needs to be stable, if the levels of calcium/alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate and nutrients fluctuate, the SPS are going to respond negatively. I would look for frags that have been captive grown and are suited for tank life. Colonies are not only expensive, but they often adapt very poorly to tank conditions as many are taken from the ocean. You should be able to find some good options at liveaquaria.com. They have a frag section for SPS that are good and hardy; you might not find some of the mind blowing colors that you see at other places (atlantisaquarium.net comes to mind), but they aren't super expensive and are nice. Also, what lights are you running? Good lights are vital for success in SPS, cheaper lights often have a poor PAR reading and can affect the color and growth of SPS that might not be as easily noticed in LPS.

[yote]

Biff and McCrary have you pretty well covered.
Just get in the habit of testing trates,PH,alk,calcium,and magnesium at least once a week.You'll want to make sure those stay as close to constant as possible,with nitrates at 0.
It'll help to keep a chart to see how quick your system uses the calcium and alkalinity,which want be that much untill you really start adding a lot of SPS.

[fishbait]

I wouldn't worry too much about calcium supplementation at first. just wait and see what the demand will be. you may be surprised at how little the calcium drops between water changes. I know I was. my 55 gallon is now sps dominant, with a couple colonies and a ton of frags, a few lps and lots of coraline. It never drops below 420 before a water change, and is 440 after a water change. If my calcium demand increases beyond what water changes will correct, then I will buy a kalc reactor and start dosing with that. it's the simplist, hassle free way to add calcium in my opinion.

[McCrary]

Alkalinity and calcium can be replaced by water changes if growth is slow, but usually supplementation is required. SPS don't use alkalinity/calcium unless they are growing, so in the beginning when a person is getting the hang of SPS, calcium/alkalinity demands can be lower. A colony of SPS can use many times the amount of calcium/alkalinity that a frag does. As frags grow and parameters stabilize, causing accelerated growth, calcium/alkalinity demands can rise rapidly.

[kimoy]

start with a montipora capricornis. if you can't keep it alive then you're not ready for sps. it's the hardiest sps I know and fast grower too.

[ronboy]

my lights are 2-250 reeflux 10k,AND 2-72'' VHO super actinic's