SPS

[Phang]

Hi All,

I'm pretty keen on SPS...

SO decided to start this thread to find out more about them and how to keep them successfully.

to start off, anyone out there who have experience in keeping montiporas or who knows about their requirements????

Regards

[Tanzy]

SPS keeping is quite simple if you can meet the conditions. Lotsa suitable light, lotsa water motion, no detectable phosphate, low nitrate(preferably no nitrate). Have a stick of epoxy and superglue handy for frag mounting. Chiller is a must in Singapore because water should not exceed 28C for long periods of time. Take into all these conditions when mounting frags.

Aquarium Corals by Eric Bourneman is a good book for coral requirements.

I've never kept montipora because I can never find them locally. They require less light than acropora and are hardier when it comes to diseases.

[Phang]

Then maybe I might have one....

Anyway sometimes these SPS are pretty hard to distinguish...

Will post pics once I can get my hand on a Digicam....

BTW, I think what I have might be Montipora Caprionis (Spelling???)

[Tanzy]

Montipora can be distinguished from Acropora because of the presence of the axial coralite in Acropora. Montipora is harder to distinguish from Porites.

Montipora capricornis tends to plate and grow whorls.

I might have a bit of montipora on a piece of rock that came with my clam. It is 2mm by 5mm, so it is too small ID positively.

[Phang]

axial coralite ???

You are referring to the location where the polyps extends, rite??

If that's once you mean, then most propably I have a Montipora Capricornis, anyway it does looks like it plating......

[Phang]

BTW, Tanzy,

Any other SPS that you are currently keeping??

Can share details and their requirements??

[Tanzy]

Axial corallite are the tips of the acropora branches. If they are growing, they are of different colour from the rest of the coral. They contain no zooxanthellae so they receive nutrients from the rest of the colony. Their only purpose is to grow! This explains the high growth rate of acroporids. Only acropora have this extraodinary adaptation. The rest of the corallites that surround the axial corallite and on the rest of the colony are called radial corallites.

[Tanzy]

At the moment the only SPS I have are 5 colonies of Acropora and one Porites colony. The tank is only a few months old since my total wipeout so there isn't much SPS.

Acropora that have a corymbose(brush like) growth form are easier to keep. A. humilis type corals are the hardest to keep because of their requirement for surging currents. Reportedly, long branching arboreal type growth forms are the easiest.

I keep all my SPS higher than half tank in hope that they will colour up and grow faster except for one branching piece on the sand because it is brown coloured. I intend to frag the acro once they have settled down and start growing so I can glue smaller pieces onto the rocks for a more natural look.

At the moment, the acro are all changing colour and have not fully adapted to the light yet. All the axial corallites started to turn blue a few days after addition. Hopefully, they will turn back to pink and purple eventually. The fun part is not knowing! The coenosarc(tissue between corallites) of my Porites have turned fluorescent green since addition.

[spiff]

if u hv a plating sps chances r tt its a montipora capriconis.

actually acros r not tt easy. they r very sensitive.low kh,ph,ca,high temp,not enuff gd flow,not enuff light, will trigger rtn. bleaching of tissues within a day is common.rtn will olso infect other acros. if u sway all ur acros will get rtn.

i have 10 acros colonies-humilis, monticlusa, solitensis,millepora,formosa, n the other 5 r unidentified.n 1 pollicipora

[Tanzy]

Thanx spiff! Stupid me forgot all about the Alk and Ca!!!

What I mean is that they will proliferate provided once all the conditions are met. They are easy to keep. Meeting the conditions is difficult.

[Morgan]

I agree to that, they are easy to keep but maintaing the all conditions are diffcuilt. Alk and Cal are the 2 most important water parameters that should be strictly followed.

[robe]

Phang,

To keep SPS such as acros you need to have at least MH lighting as a minimum for a 4 ft tank at least 3 x 150 watts can support acros on the upper half of the tank. 250 watts will enable you to place them lower in the tank.

My tank is only 20 inches high and i'm keeping around 7 species of acros, 2 plating montipora capricornis one brown and one orange, a montipora digitata, seriatopora hystrix, 2 species of pocillopora (verecosa and damicornis), a porites and a pavona decussata. SO far I have around 25 frags all over the tank most of it growing and branching. Probably I'll run out of space in a year or two's time.

Light 2 x 150, 1 x 250 planning to add another 250 w. Calcium reactor is a must, chiller to remove heat from the lighting. Oversize your chiller as lights and pumps will heat up your water very fast. I use a 1 hp for my 90 gallon tank.

A strong skimmer not those RSB Tunzes or Turboflotor but those similar to H&S . US folks rate their skimmers according to the amount of output water from the skimmer not the pump. They advise 5 times your tank volume per hour for a full blown SPS tank. Probably you can make do with 2-3 turnover per hour quite nicely

[spiff]

yo robe,

wats up wif tunzes man. there r quite gd n efficient wat. unless u comparing wif beckett injectors.

wa kao.......i didnt know skimmer must be 5x bigger.mmmmmmmmm must rethink H&S liao. cant afford the 200-1060 model

[robe]

acros needs nutrient starved waters to thrive and color up. Mine is not coloring up very well because of high nutrients.....

Go for H&S or order a skimmer from the US. I spend 500 bucks for an RSB the last time but compared to my DIY beckett its pitiful. I tested the two of them by running them together and the result is that while the RSB has stopped pulling things out of the water. The beckett is continuing to foam and throwing up a very dark colored skimmate .

[spiff]

i think not many ppl here can afford to bring in skimmers or a H&S one. sealife really chopping heads

how abt tunzes? i find mine foaming pretty well. n tunze r much cheaper compared to H&S,plus they r very compact.

[robe]

How big is the foam riser tube it has? H&S and beckett skimmers are 3 inches at least

[Phang]

Acropora that have a corymbose(brush like) growth form are easier to keep. A. humilis type corals are the hardest to keep because of their requirement for surging currents. Reportedly, long branching arboreal type growth forms are the easiest.

Hi Tanzy,

Maybe some photos to help in identifying the various species of Acros would help alot....

ANd what do you mean by "Surging currents"... How can I stimulate that in a reef setting???

Thanks

[Phang]

Phang,

To keep SPS such as acros you need to have at least MH lighting as a minimum for a 4 ft tank at least 3 x 150 watts can support acros on the upper half of the tank. 250 watts will enable you to place them lower in the tank.

My tank is only 20 inches high and i'm keeping around 7 species of acros, 2 plating montipora capricornis one brown and one orange, a montipora digitata, seriatopora hystrix, 2 species of pocillopora (verecosa and damicornis),  a porites and a pavona decussata. SO far I have around 25 frags all over the tank most of it growing and branching. Probably I'll run out of space in a year or two's time.

Light  2 x 150, 1 x 250 planning to add another 250 w. Calcium reactor is a must, chiller to remove heat from the lighting.  Oversize your chiller as lights and pumps will heat up your water very fast. I use a 1 hp for my 90 gallon tank.

A strong skimmer not those RSB Tunzes or Turboflotor but those similar to H&S .  US folks rate their skimmers according to the amount of output water from the skimmer not the pump. They advise 5 times your tank volume per hour for a full blown SPS tank. Probably you can make do with 2-3 turnover per hour quite nicely

HI Robe,

Pictures would be good, esp. for species like Seriatoporas, pocillopora and pavona..

With these pics, maybe identification would help us SPS newbies to avoid the more difficult to keep ones till we are more experience....

That's the reason why I chose the Montiporas....

Regarding MHs, I'm planning for 3 x 250W Iwasakis...

Plan to DIY a Calcium Reactor...

Currently with a RA 680 and will upgrade once the cash flows in ... Thought of a 1 1/4 Hp Hailea....

BTW, anyone out there with those Beckett skimmer, or planning to DIY???

Spiff, How much does that Tunze Skimmer of yours cost???

You got them from Kenny???

Thanks

[Tanzy]

Aquarium Corals by Eric Bourneman has lots of pictures! Get it!

Surging is the back and forth movement of water.

[spiff]

Maybe some photos to help in identifying the various species of Acros would help alot....

top one is A.humilis

one below is A.monticlusa

[spiff]

A.millepora

[spiff]

A. solitaryensis

[Tanzy]

Nice corals!

But how do you tell the difference between A.humilis and A.monticulosa?

Also the A.solitaryensis looks so much like A.effeloensis.

[loonz]

a HEART-shaped coral....NICe!

[Phang]

Hi Guys,

Was wondering for SPS,

What kinds of livestock would be recommended or what kind of livestock is too be avoided......