Name that one thing to get a stunning SPS tank
 

I know lots of things need to come together but what's at the top?

Cash:mrgreen:

Zeovit :lol:

Lmao. After that... Stability.

And more cash after that. :lol:

Patience. With Cash you can go out and buy tons of colonies and have your tank look stunning instantly, but in my opinion it'll never look natural. Start your tank from frags and let everything grow it - you can't fake that. When all the corals are intertwined and grown in, in my opinion, it looks stunning cause it had to happen naturally and you can't fake that look. You can't go into a store and buy an 18" colony.

Maybe not but u can go to other reefers and do it. With cash. Lol
I agree with the stability and time thing although some do grow like weeds for a hard coral.

First thing that came to my head after reading the title

The less your hand is in the tank the more stuff is going to grow

Well said Dez, I do agree with this. Most of my LPS, Softies and zoas started as frags.

Water changes. And an awesome skimmer. And low nutrients. And proper lights. And flow. That's the one thing you need for great SPS. Oh, and luck.

Even with cash, buying big colonies, unless you have all the right ingredients, you'll have a bunch of big brown colonies within 2 weeks.

I would say a good plan to do water change.
Most people forgot it when setting up a new tank.

determination :razz:

I agree with water changes. I've been doing weekly minimum 40-45 gallon water changes since I started my SPS tank in August 09. The only time I've missed is when I've gone on 12 day vacations. I would say that my aquarium is pretty successful - good colours, good growth and hasn't crashed yet (knock on wood).

H2O+NaCl is at the top of my list :)

In my case O.C.D has been my biggest helper. That's ocd. Cash & diligence.

Patience and understanding.

knowledge and patience. (just noticed mine is the same as above post)

Connections

You can have the best possible tank but if you don't know the right people you will never get the first dibs on all the nicest corals.

I will agree with everyone.Bits and pieces make whole.

from my past 20 years in the hobby of experience i will have to say
Gather all given information do lots of reading ask as many questions as you can,... when you think you got it all,.
Well this hobby never stop growing, have an open mind and be willing to grow with it..

I see a lot of people have said water changes as the most important thing for sps. I have not ever done a water change on this tank. I do think water quality is the most important thing on the list but its not always achieved by water changes.

I am not saying my reef is a master piece but i do think it looks great for being low maintenance and low tech.
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0341.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0346.jpg

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f...z/SAM_0348.jpg

An attention to detail and a desire to never stop learning about the hobby. That way you know exactly what's happening to your tank and you can go out and find your solution.

Usually with cash. :lol:

totally chris, I rarely change the water on the SPS 60 and my growth and color is awesome. After I moved it to my parents and I wasn't there to freak out because of the smallest thing (hand in the tank moving stuff) things started to explode.

I think people complicate SPS tanks to much dosing this and that and I myself am guilty of it. On my 25 I kept changing everything from flow, light intensity and than had this great idea to go full zeo which ended up taking me a month to bounce back.

Dez also said a great comment on sps. My frags have no outgrown my sps colonies. my success rate with frags blows store bought colonies away.

X2

***Education & Understanding***

Forgot to mention a forgiving wife lol.

I second that..... without a understanding wife your doomed!

+3

Ya, that's probably the single thing that determines success or failure...

All of the above! :lol:

good stuff here.

The thing I will add is a term I've picked up called "nutrient balance". Getting lighting, flow, chemistry and mechanical things right is fairly easy but to realize that your tank is a closed system and balancing food (nutrient) input with your choice method of nutrient output (skimmer,W/C,Zeo,biopellets) is a hard thing to grasp.

a job at a LFS:mrgreen: