What's a good SPS to start with?

[WarmSoda]

Just as the title says. My favorite kind are Acropora and Seriatopora.

I have a 6 bulb T5 fixture with two k2's -soon to get another- in addition to the rio 2500 which is used as the return pump.

 

[RichT]

montipora are the most forgiving

 

[Phyl]

Rich is right on the mark. Montipora are the most forgiving corals. I'd start with those.

 

[qwik]

Rich is right but none will do well if the system is not fully cycled first and water params are good . SPS will do much better in a matured tank with steady conditions . Post up some info on your system,equipt,size,age,water chemistry,,etc..

 

[WarmSoda]

65 gallon RR
Water Chem is all safe and good for reef'ing. (calc, alch, nitrate etc.)
Tank has been since Apr 17, of 2009; the day the live rock went in.

Dose it mater why kind of Monti it is? i.e. branching, encusting etc.

 

[john90009]

I think the branching would be more forgiving and also hold its colors better than an encrusting one like superman or sunset, if anything went wrong. Another good thing about the branching ones is there mainly cheap if i had any id give u a piece.

 

[monsterfishkeeper]

Whats a good SPS to start with? Hmm... a cheap one.
Montipora are probably the best but you dont need one with flashy colors to start off with. Just find a half-way cheap frag that are so often sold in the for sale forum and see how it ends up.

 

[JRWOHLER]

Whatever my wife wins in a raffle? ;D

 

[Gonzapa]

65 gallon RR
Water Chem is all safe and good for reef'ing. (calc, alch, nitrate etc.)
Tank has been since Apr 17, of 2009; the day the live rock went in.

Dose it mater why kind of Monti it is? i.e. branching, encusting etc.

If you are close to 07928 I can give you and encrusting and a branching to try out

 

[gogol]

On a related topic, how much difference does it make in growth if you chose a 6500K bulb vs 10000K vs 12000K bulb? I had read that growth decreases but color/fluorescence improves if you go up the kelvin rating. Also perhaps bulb life somewhat decreases as you go for higher Kelvin MH.

If I supplement 1 X 250W 6500K Ushio with 3 X ATI Blue Plus and 1 X Fiji Purple could I get get both growth and fluorescence ?

 

[Aceswild]

I lost a hand full of acros when I first started with them. Get yourself 1-2 cheap frags and just see how you do with them for a few months before going sps crazy like many do

 

[NYCREEFER]

I'm new to corals but this thread seems to cover a question I have too. How do caps do under T-5 Ho lighting? Approximately 12" from lights I have a Current Sundial with 4x39w bulbs. Thanks please PM answers to avoid ruining this guys thread.

 

[gogol]

I would not really mind having a discussion sharing experiences on lighting and SPS growth. Feel free to open a thread or continue on this thread.

I believe water quality and proper regimen is just as important.

 

[monsterfishkeeper]

Its funny you mention water parameters because I never had any success with sps and they always died. Then I had a huge hair algae outbreak in my tank, ever since sps do great. I guess all the algae straightened out my trates and everything. Now with the algae waining my tank is starting to look pretty good.

 

[NYCREEFER]

I know water parameters are just as important as lighting. My water quality is good Ammo 0ppm
Nitrites 0ppm
PH 8.3/8.4 fluctuates between these values
Calcium 435ppm
Salinity 1.026 (Refractormeter)
Temp 78/79`

my only problem is my Nitrates, usually around 15/20ppm, I do regular bi weekly water changes of 15ga on my 60ga system but that only helps to lower it momentarily. I believe I have too much live stock and overfeeding going on. I've been considering Vodka dosing or the use of a nitrate reactor to lower them down to 0ppm and keeping them there. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[r2reyzer]

I'd put a refugium in place with macroalgae. It helps a lot. It won't get your nitrates down to 0 (by itself), but it will help a lot.