Can I do it?
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: SPS
Forum Description: This is the place to ask questions SPS corals.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=53942
Printed Date: June 12 2026 at 10:00pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Can I do it?
Posted By: xessive force
Subject: Can I do it?
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 7:28pm
| I have a 24gallon jbj with the stock pc lighting in it with a antic bulb and a 50/50 bulb. Both one week old. I also have retro fitted in a ecoxotic Panorama 12 bulb white and blue led lights and 6 blue led moon lights. I run the lights 12 hours a day then the moon lights and the sump light come on the other 12 hours. I have retro fitted the back sump part of the tank with rubble rock in chamber one cheato in section two and nothing in three. There is a larger frog spawn a small hammer some various zoas and a war coral frag. I also have a small RBTA. Everything is doing great granted the RBTA is only two weeks into the tank but seems to be doing good. I have a couple of smaller gbm clowns, purple fire fish, and a yellow watchman and his small pistol shrimp. I do not test other than dip strips but I do 5 gallon water changes each week. So all that being said could I attempt to grow a Sps frag?? And if you think it may be worth taking a shot any Sps better than the next to grow under my conditions? And last question in my question any recommendations as to where to get one? I would love to get a frag from a local reefer but will go the lfs route if needs be. .... Any help appreciated!!! |
Replies:
Posted By: BillyC
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 7:34pm
| Try a birdsnest or digitata frag. They are vey hardy and inexpensive ;) Decide how that frag does in a month from now. Also... Stability stability stability. |
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 9:19pm
| Is there anyway to gain higher levels of stability then what I am doing ? |
Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 9:21pm
|
What is your flow like? Good flow is more important that good light IMO. I have had 2 JBJ Nano Cubes over the past 4 years and kept SPS in both. They both had stock lighting as well. I kept really easy SPS like a Green Birdsnest, Plating Monti and Green Slimer. I tried some of the harder SPS and they didn't do to well so stick with the easy stuff. I bet if you ask around, you can get a free piece of any of the three I mentioned above. They grow like weeds and are plentiful in most tanks.
|
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 9:21pm
| Also forgot to say I dose fuel and reef snow once a week on different days |
Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 9:25pm
Daily dosing. Find out how much alkalinity and calcium your tank is using per day and dose to keep those parameters more stable. Then find out how much Magnesium your tank is using weekly and dose that as well.
|
xessive force wrote:Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 26 2012 at 9:33pm
| I upgraded the return pump to marineland 1200 split with a y joint to a hydor flow water deflector and a fan shape piece connected to the return pump and a korilla 420 for flow |
Posted By: jmw
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 6:51am
| I've got some birdsnest and digitata that your welcome to come and get. |
Posted By: BillyC
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 7:50am
|
Here's how I "achieved" stability using manual 2-part dosing in my 120g sps tank. 1. Test my ALK and calcium every single day using an accurate test kit. I use salifert. Keep written record. 2. Meanwhile, dose both to raise it to target level (for me it was 8.0alk and 420calcium.) Keep written record. 3. Figure out how much ALK and calcium your tank is using everyday. 4. Continue testing daily until you've figured out exactly how much to dose daily to get extremely close test readings from one day to another. 5. Decrease testing frequency to every other day, then every 4 days, then every week. I only test once a week not and adjust dosing accordingly. I'm buying an automatic doser soon so I don't have to manually dose every single day. If you really want to get into sps I'd highly recommend upgrading your light to a 150 hqi MH. My friend Trevor (trevor40) has one on his sps dominant nano cube and his acros are doing awesome. He has a video of it on his tank thread section. |
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 8:13am
| That would be really cool of you. Do you still live up in Perry? I live in Farmington so its a big of a jog but not too far and beggars cant be choosers :) When would be a good time to pick them up? And out of excitement what colors are they? |
Posted By: jmw
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 8:57am
| pm sent |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 10:29am
Yes. If you stop and think about it, changing 5 gallons of water weekly in a 24 gallon tank is a huge instability of more than 20% every time you do that water change. I don't mean to criticize and I don't know what your previous experience with aquariums has been but the way you have this tank set up with LS, LR, LW and algae is way different than a goldfish bowl.  Does that make sense? The stability that SPS Coral need is in the water that flows past them. Since they can't move much it's the water that flows past them that must bring nutrients and good air and take away waste and bad air. The biological filtration processes occurring via the Algae, and via bacteria and bugs in the LS, in the LR and in the Live Water itself (Yes, there are bio-stabilizing bacteria and bugs in the LW  ) provide an enormous amount of stability. In fact those four live components handle 90% of the continuous water filtration. The tank is set up to take care of itself, to filter itself and provide water stability, for the most part.  The things that are lacking are the things a hobbyist needs to watch; the depletion of coral and invertabrate foods. Feeding the fish also feeds the coral, even without adding Marine Snow, etc., which is good, don't get me wrong. But there are other foods/nutrients. It's pretty well known that these special coral and invertebrate nutrients are called minerals and elements. Typically, 10% monthly water changes replenish these special nutrients, but when a tank has a lot of stony coral and/or Coralline Algae, some of these nutrients are depleted much faster. More frequent or larger water changes are an expensive and troublesome way to replenish those nutrients. And as I pointed out earlier, these large and frequent water changes play havoc with stability. As has been mentioned by other good hobbyists here, the most important of these special nutrients are Alkalinity(Alk) and Calcium(CA). I would add, Magnesium(Mg) and Iodine(I) are the next two most important elements. I personally recommend that Alk and Ca levels be checked every 2-4 weeks. The recommended levels are discussed here by one of the best Chemists in our hobby http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php" rel="nofollow - Randy Holmes Farley . The most economical method to determine Alk and Ca is to buy and use test kits. The testing of Mg and I is only needed once or twice/year, because those elements are more adequately replenished with 10% monthly water changes and thus only need to be topped off once or twice a year. The LFS is a good place to have Mg and I tests done. Of course the more stony coral a tank has, the more frequent must be the checking and supplementing. Every hobbyist has heard of and/or knows something about pH. The pH in a reef aquarium is typically best between 8.0-8.4, though there are exceptions. What many hobbyists may not know is that pH follows Alk. If Alk is good and there is adequate water circulation, pH never needs to be checked, because it is guaranteed to be within range. To learn more about Alk and Ca, click on the Reefkeeping Tips link below and read that thread, especially a few posts down where Alk and Ca supplementation are discussed in more detail. Hope this helps.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 1:50pm
| wow this is awesome .. I learned a couple of great things .. I will cut back on my water changes for one.. I guess to long in the planted world putting fertz into the system and needing to do large water changes :) |
Posted By: Snowsrfr
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 2:33pm
|
I've got Idaho Grape plating monti, I'm always breaking off accidentally, and you're more that welcome to a piece. ------------- "A fish tank is not a pet. It's a TV that you gotta feed." - John Caparulo |
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 2:42pm
| That would be super sweet I am going to be heading up to Perry tomorrow and I could stop by on the way home or the way up there |
Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 2:56pm
|
Im in bountiful, I can frag my birdsnest if you want to try a piece. ------------- |
Posted By: BillyC
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 3:24pm
| Wow man with all these hookups you're n your way to a full blown sps tank hahahaha |
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 27 2012 at 5:01pm
| I know this has been great everyone has been so nice. I went to the frag meeting at the start of the month as well and have had a great time. I am excited to keep learning |
Posted By: xessive force
Date Posted: January 28 2012 at 4:21pm
|
I Must take a few minutes and thank John (JMW) his generosity is very much appreciated. After showing me his more than amazing tank that just pops all over with eye catching colors he was kind enough to give me some beautiful frags. I spent the last two hours rearranging my tank and placing my new frags. Yes placing the rocks is a huge pia and I can never seem to get it "just right" but so worth it for a shot at growing some very cool Sps. Thanks again John you are the man!! ------------- Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift that's why they call it the present. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 28 2012 at 8:38pm
|
One last item, remember to use AC(activated carbon) at least 2 weeks per month.It removes chemicals, especially allelopathic chemicals that cannot be removed by algae growth or a skimmer.
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: jmw
Date Posted: January 28 2012 at 9:26pm
|
Thanks, but Mark is on the money, activated carbon is a must. Thanks for bringing that up Mark. There are so many "little" things that you just forget to mention when going over your system. Yes, I do run AC!!
|
Posted By: rufessor
Date Posted: January 30 2012 at 3:39pm
|
Not to dissent... but I had a nano for a year that did very well with lots of stony corals (not Acros). I am a very firm believer in large water changes weekly for stability in Nano tanks. Just my experience. My BioCube 29 had a refugium mod with a cheato ball (that grew and I gave it away) as well as a AquaticLife mini skimmer etc. If I did NOT change 4 gallons a week it would be obvious that things were going down hill within the next week and I only every went longer than 2 weeks and paid for it. I sorta figure that clean fresh water mixed to exactly the same salinity is a very good way of "supplementing" a nano... there is no other system you can find that reasonably can get meaningful alkalinity etc by a water change... but 20% weekly in a nano will do this to some extent. It got to the point where I was excited to do a water change, everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) would just perk up and look so much better as well as crystal clear water. You DO need to supplement as well.... but at least consider the water changes or go without and see how things do... its also a great nutrient export solution... just my 2c experience with a single tank. I can no longer accomplish this as I now have over 80 gallons of water (no way am I mixing 16 gallons a week). But I now rely upon much more efficient export apparatus such as a high performance skimmer a much larger refugium with a sand bed etc etc... I guess part of why I did this was bioload, I had 4 fish... and without water changes it was obvious that algae was going to be an issue if I choose to feed a lot (and I do) so there are many ways to keep a nano... Activated carbon is goooodness. Change it often, its cheap and you need so little in a nano its not worth letting it go too long between changes. ------------- Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler -A.E. 57 Gallon RImless build in progress check the thread before if becomes boring and just full of nice pictures of colorful coral! |