Fieldwork Report (what SPS make it in my mixed reef)

[asg]

Starting this thread as I think it is useful to document the result on keeping SPS in my two feet mixed reef. I guess a lot of reefers out there are in the same consideration as me i.e. what SPS can be added to a mixed reef.

I have added about 5 different types of SPS in my mixed reef and intent to monitor and document the progress for two months. Of cos it might happen that at the end of the two months, I am left with zero SPS but then at least I tried and will be more than happy to stick to fishes + LPS + GSP.

Hopefully reefers out there can draw from my experience (and mistakes). Questions welcomed (so long as dont ask me to sell away my fish/ LPS can liao....)

My tank basic information:

DT: 60cm * 34cm * 30cm

Temp: 26-27oC

NO3, PO4: Undetectable

PH: 7.9 (night), 8.2 (day)

Salt used: Tropic Marin Reef Pro (top up with DI water, TDS 0)

Light: Zetlight ZT6500 (Max 90W, currently set at 77W)

Flow: RW4 (set to 2000l/hr), caninster (1240l/hr)

WC: 3 time weeks, about 10% each time

Feeding: heavy feeding (morning and evening), light feeding (lunch)

LS:

LPS: about 20

GSP: about 5

Fishes: 11 (2 blue tangs, 5 blue eyes anthias, 2 true percula, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 green Mandarin)

Currently, the SPS I have in my tank are as follows (if I id any SPS wrongly, please correct me as I am very new to them):

4* Acros (two green two purple)

1* BN

1*pink millies

2 digi (one green, one orange)

2* monti frags (one red, one green+red)

1* ridge (blue)

Most of my SPS are on the top 1/3 level of my tank

End of week one field report (22/12/14):

Bad news: one of the arcos already showing signs of RTN after two weeks in the tank. The remaining 1 purple arcos is not showing any PE. The other 2 green arcos showing some PE.

Good news: the green and orange digi are showing somewhat great PE. red and green monti, BN, Millies and Ridge showing PE. (will take photo during the holiday break)

Colour wise, there is no browning (yet)

dont die 1

dont die 2 (this ridge coral really stuns me with its deep electric blue colour)

Conclusion of week one:

All things equal, frags from reefers stand a higher chance of not mati-ing. I am pinning my hope on the BN, digi and millies having the highest chance of making it. hopefully, they dont prove me wrong ah...

===============================

One unexpected 收获，as i never really pay much attention to the SPS tank when I visit LFS, somehow I never "see" this coral before. Haha, bought it thinking that it is a SPS, turnout it is not.

[Evolutionz]

I know this ain't about sps but, seriously bro? 2 big blue tang in a 2x1x1ft tank? You do know that even 1 blue tang for a 422 is small enough already. And they look way too big to be in your tank. I know i probably offended you with this post of mine, but i myself find it wrong if i don't do anything. I know you probably cant upgrade or have a big tank but thats not an excuse to be keeping 2 large blue tang inside a 2footer. you have no idea how much space and current(flow) a blue tang or generally any tangs require..

I hope you seriously consider rehoming them..4 footer for a juvenile is ok, but ultimately (and at the size your blue tang are) they will need at least a 6ft tank. No hard feelings but this is just wrong IMO...

Just my 0.2cents.

[asg]

I know this ain't about sps but, seriously bro? 2 big blue tang in a 2x1x1ft tank? You do know that even 1 blue tang for a 422 is small enough already. And they look way too big to be in your tank. I know i probably offended you with this post of mine, but i myself find it wrong if i don't do anything. I know you probably cant upgrade or have a big tank but thats not an excuse to be keeping 2 large blue tang inside a 2footer. you have no idea how much space and current(flow) a blue tang or generally any tangs require..

I hope you seriously consider rehoming them..4 footer for a juvenile is ok, but ultimately (and at the size your blue tang are) they will need at least a 6ft tank. No hard feelings but this is just wrong IMO...

Just my 0.2cents.

Bro, point noted. Frankly speaking when i first got them few months back, they are only about one inch. I didnt expect them to grow that fast too. Now they are about 3 inches in length. Will surely rehome them once i got a chance to catch them.

[Powder blue Tang]

Suggestion :

Add in data for ca mg KH

NO3 undetectable seem not a good news for corals. And for 211 tank housing 11 fishes, would consider too many ?

[asg]

Suggestion :

Add in data for ca mg KH

NO3 undetectable seem not a good news for corals. And for 211 tank housing 11 fishes, would consider too many ?

Thanks bro for the suggestion. My KH is about 8. Didnt test for ca and mg as i think my WC will be about to substain the ideal level. Nevertheless will buy the two test kits in jan.

As for fish, based on my own estimation, my bio filter can substain max of around 15 fishes.

Swimming space wise, the fishes (except the blue tangs) are actually quite small in size. I try to get diff water level swimmers too.

[sherman]

What u use to measure your PO4?

[asg]

What u use to measure your PO4?

Salifert test kit bro

[sherman]

The reading can be very misleading. For PO4 I propose you to use Hanna

[asg]

Thanks bro for the suggestion. I know hanna is better but saving up for a digital hydormeter in jan. Will get hanna when price is better.

The reading can be very misleading. For PO4 I propose you to use Hanna

[sherman]

Digital hydrometer. Something new to me.

[asg]

Basically it is like handheld TDS meter, just that it measures salinity instead of TDS. about sgd70 each. Buying during my jan china trip

Useful for me when doing frequent WC

[sherman]

I see.

[asg]

Fieldwork report: Week 2 (26 Dec 2014)

SPS wise nothing much has change. For ease of reporting I am categorizing my SPS into three categories: Safe, maybe safe and RTN.

Safe: 80% chance of it retaining its colour and remain healthy for two months (and thereafter)

Maybe safe: less than 50% chance lah

RTN: high chance of RIP...

so below are my SPS status as of week 2 (26 Dec 2014)

Safe:

green millies

Green, Orange BN and ridge

BN

Pointed acro

Orange Gonio (Thank you the bro who sold this to me, the gonio is indeed as nice as what was shown in the photo)

Maybe safe:

不开就是不开

RTN:

Update summary

The observation still pretty much remain the same. Green and Pink millies, BN, Green and Orange BN, ridge still has good PE, especially at night.

While the acro team showing only a tiny bit of their polyps.... (ok ok, i know they are call SPS for a good reason, but this is really small loh)

One funny thing that I have noted (or maybe is my hallucination) is that the RTN acro which I broke off one frag of it because of RTN (and the RTN has gotten to the base of all three frags). Somehow I think it has become healthier and the colour has become better once I put it on the sand bed. Hopefully it not a case of recovery and not my willful thinking...

see you guys in a week time ne.

[tofubox]

Just my own honest opinion...theres too many variables here to come to a conclusion.

Personally, this is what i feel is required to keep a successful mix reef tank, regardless what coral...

1. Space

Biggest problem is chemical warfare, especially in a small tank like yours, a chemical warfare can result in overnight disaster and death/rtn of corals. U need to leave ample amount of room between the corals, taking into consideration nightly polyp extension and growth over time.

2. Cater to individual coral needs

Another important aspect is catering to each type of coral needs...U can't expect to keep a difficult acro with high nutrient requirement LPS or zoas. This is just not going to work. This is also the main reason why people choose to go for sps or lps dominated. Whereby it is much easier to cater to the specific needs of the corals.

I understand the concept u have behind ur field work....but the answer is obvious.....if u want to keep a mixed reef tank, u need to find a balance between catering for both types of corals.

From ur field work, i believe its water parameters / lighting and not a matter of chemical warfare within the tank.

For those interested in keeping mix reef, start with ur lps/softies....than go on to beginner sps like BN and Digi....if they do well, u can try out milles and even acros.

Dont expect a coral to be of it best standards or flourish unless u are able to cater specifically for its needs and requirements.

[asg]

Just my own honest opinion...theres too many variables here to come to a conclusion.

Personally, this is what i feel is required to keep a successful mix reef tank, regardless what coral...

1. Space

Biggest problem is chemical warfare, especially in a small tank like yours, a chemical warfare can result in overnight disaster and death/rtn of corals. U need to leave ample amount of room between the corals, taking into consideration nightly polyp extension and growth over time.

2. Cater to individual coral needs

Another important aspect is catering to each type of coral needs...U can't expect to keep a difficult acro with high nutrient requirement LPS or zoas. This is just not going to work. This is also the main reason why people choose to go for sps or lps dominated. Whereby it is much easier to cater to the specific needs of the corals.

I understand the concept u have behind ur field work....but the answer is obvious.....if u want to keep a mixed reef tank, u need to find a balance between catering for both types of corals.

From ur field work, i believe its water parameters / lighting and not a matter of chemical warfare within the tank.

For those interested in keeping mix reef, start with ur lps/softies....than go on to beginner sps like BN and Digi....if they do well, u can try out milles and even acros.

Dont expect a coral to be of it best standards or flourish unless u are able to cater specifically for its needs and requirements.

Bro, thanks a lot for your honest opinion. What get me started to try out SPS is just the thought of venturing and learning into areas where it is unknown to me.

Frankly speaking, most LPS in my tank are pretty stable and are in auto pilot mode to growth, so are my fish (My doctor fish has started eating pellets for a week plus. So theoretically speaking, i can auto feeder all my fishes for two weeks).

My main problem now is that if i dont try somethings new, i will be bored to death...

[Firestarter]

Frankly speaking, most LPS in my tank are pretty stable and are in auto pilot mode to growth, so are my fish (My doctor fish has started eating pellets for a week plus. So theoretically speaking, i can auto feeder all my fishes for two weeks).

Just to share that SPS is a whole new different ball game. Before I started keeping SPS, my LPS was flourishing in my tank even with both eyes closed. Applying that same methodology with SPS resulted in failure.

If you really like the challenge, you should change to a full SPS setup.

[asg]

Just to share that SPS is a whole new different ball game. Before I started keeping SPS, my LPS was flourishing in my tank even with both eyes closed. Applying that same methodology with SPS resulted in failure.

If you really like the challenge, you should change to a full SPS setup.

but i like fish and LPS more... SPS is like part time lover ah

[Angel Keeper]

Just to share that SPS is a whole new different ball game. Before I started keeping SPS, my LPS was flourishing in my tank even with both eyes closed. Applying that same methodology with SPS resulted in failure.

If you really like the challenge, you should change to a full SPS setup.

Agreed... In totality!

Angel Keeper

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/128217-Angel-Keeper's-5-Feet-Mixed-Reef-Tank

[asg]

Agreed... In totality!

Angel Keeper

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/128217-Angel-Keeper's-5-Feet-Mixed-Reef-Tank

still six more weeks till end of fieldwork report ah. Cannot confirm sure die or brown ah

[Soong Yu Juan]

Bro andtsg, I support you. Everything must try then you know. Montipora, bn, milli and pocci can make it in mixed reef tank... It's normal for some to turn brown. For example, my birds of paradise bn is light brown with purple polyps but on the other hand my blue digitata managed to colour until almost purple. Having fun is the most important thing.

[Angel Keeper]

I also support you!

Angel Keeper

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?/topic/128217-Angel-Keeper's-5-Feet-Mixed-Reef-Tank

[asg]

Bro andtsg, I support you. Everything must try then you know. Montipora, bn, milli and pocci can make it in mixed reef tank... It's normal for some to turn brown. For example, my birds of paradise bn is light brown with purple polyps but on the other hand my blue digitata managed to colour until almost purple. Having fun is the most important thing.

Thanks bro for the encouragement. So far I have come across any pocci in LFS, would try a frag once I got a chance to buy one.

[asg]

I also support you!

Angel Keeper

Thanks bro, now my fieldwork report has side topic liao -> will flagfin angel and orange butterfly rather eat SPS or LPS or softies...

[asg]

Week 3 Report @ 05 Jan 2015 (delayed)

Update summary

The observation still pretty much remain the same. Green and Pink millies, BN, Green, Orange and blue BN, ridge still has good PE, especially at night.

While the acro team showing only a tiny bit of their polyps. The RTN acro has RIP while the other two acro polyps still remain closed.

The indicators remain very strong that things might just remain as it is till the end of my report.

My humble SPS corner

The left two German blue and green digi really has nice PE. together with the orange forest fire.

Maybe can make it:

[Angel Keeper]

Thanks bro, now my fieldwork report has side topic liao -> will flagfin angel and orange butterfly rather eat SPS or LPS or softies...

Just saw this post... Paisey...

My Flagfin didn't touch my euphyllia, but my gonio never opened up again...

It also pecks at SPS but have stopped since...

Angel Keeper