Giving up on SPS!
 

Well I feel like giving up on SPS. They are just so variable :|

I have a blue tenius which bleached overnight (many of you know about that story) but now that I have it at the middle of my tank, it seems like its tissues are reconstructing and growing brown.

I acclimated the blue gomezi to my light (I even wonder whether I should have acclimated it in the first place) and put it high up in the tank since I heard they love LOOOOOOOOOOOTS of light. Guess what! It BLEACHED!!!!

On the same level, I have pink milli which is going great with awesome polyp extension and the color is good too. Alongside, I have a purple bonsai and tri color acro on the same level and they are browning out!!! Like how would I know which is strong and which is low light for them :O Its freaking irritating!

I got a monti cap almost at the bottom and its growing even faster than my softies! Got orange and yellow digitatas at the middle which are doing great too along with purple and green birdnests.

So in summary, I had acros and a milli in the same level, some of them browning out, one bleached and the milli doing great.

My water parameters are not my concern since I keep them at check but still here are the values:

SG: 35ppt
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm (or atleast undetectable by API)
Calcium: 440ppm
Magnesium: 1325 (I believe)
Phosphate: I believe its close to 0 (with seachem) but really, that test makes me feel like I am colorblind :| I don't have any algae growing anywhere other than coraline.

Any idea SPS gurus? :mrgreen:

I am really frustrated with this matter!

And you alk is?

When I first started I sought out stuff that was easy to grow. Digi worked good for me. I didn't worry to much about color.

You will continue to frustrate yourself keeping SPS in a sumpless nano packed with softies... Even some of the most experienced reefers out there (myself included) can't do it.

The suggestion of a 6 month established tank with a larger water volume is out there for a reason, simply put these are very finicky organisms.

Many of your posts seem to be oriented around having all the nice stuff that a larger tank offers, why not save up for something like a 90g so you can really enjoy all the facets of the hobby? Instead of buying SPS frags that will only die on you save the cash & put it towards such.

Ops sorry, I missed that :P

Its starts at 10dkH and goes down to 9dKh before the water change every 2 weeks.

And the temperature stays at an average of 78F.

in addition, what are you doing to maintain alkalinity on a daily basis, fluctuation can be a problem for SPS

SPS - stability promotes success

I am stuck with 20gallon for two particular reasons:
1. Living in a rented room (dorm-like)
2. Maintaining a big tank would be too much upkeep till I graduate and get a job :P

And I didn't really buy any of the acros, they were all free. I just bought the the milli and the montis which are actually doing great :P

I can see that you already know how impatient I am :redface:

So I guess I am not doing it wrong, they are just too finicky :razz:

Haha, nice work with the abbreviation :P I would say

SPS = Seriously Painful Specimen (close enough :P)

I don't do anything, dKh seems to remain constant and drops by 1 (maybe there's some decimals too but API can't grab that) before biweekly WC.

I have a 26 gallon tank with 35 sps

My trick. Is a sump is a must and no zero nada. Softies

Cant even bump that up to like a 40g with sump eh :wink:. I would argue maintaining a larger tank is easier than a nano because of small water volume fluctuations. Again the mixed reef is really your biggest contender here, in such a small water volume alopathy is happening out of the ying yang and the softies will win practically 100% of the time.

Beat me to it :razz:.

What's nada?

I just run a AC110 refugium at the back to keep my nitrate undetectable. My space doesn't permit anything more :(

I think he means ZERO softies in the tank. Not talking about water parameters.

This alone will kill you before you even get started!

Yap I do 100% agree that larger tanks are easier to maintain but likewise, space should permit too :P

The first month when I set up this tank, my landlord was asking me how much water do I use for the tank since the bill was high (luckily it was not my fault since they found out an old washing machine was the criminal). Plus I really don't have space in the room other than my reading table which I am using as the stand and left all the books and notes in university :P And to make things more spicy, the table doesn't have space for a sump underneath and I can't modify it since its landlord's table :P Sweet charm of rented dorm-like place :mrgreen:

Ah how can I say no to all those wonderful zoas!

Damn you caught me :redface:

I disagree to the sps/zoa combo in tanks. Its just a fine balance is all.

I think your best bet is to just put more digitata and millepora in the tank.

Zoas won't be the ones causing you problems, its the xenia, colt... larger slimier softies that release alopathic toxins.

Leathers also excrete that right?

And what about GSP?

I never gave my eyes towards colt and kenya since they are like biowar machines as far as I heard.

You could house zoas. But if you house to many softies then you need to run a reactor with "good" carbon. To absorb the chemicals that the softies put out. Even some lps like chalices can play chemical warfare.

I alway put it like this softies kill all. Lol and yes as Levi said nana means none

Find another table something you can put a small sump under. Get a return pump. Drill your tank. ( which u can do with all inhabitants still in tank)
Consider carbon dosing of some kind. Prodibio will cost you $100 bucks a year in your small tank. If you don't already.

And mushrooms. There terrible lol

I have about 6" clearance down the table and that's it. No other table is there :(

I do run carbon and chemi pure in, (ahmm) HOB filter. It kinda works well since the water looses its odor within an hour or something after the tank gets disturbed in maintenance or WC.

Can you really drill tank without completely emptying it? :| Never knew that!

Ah damn. I give up on SPS totally then! I will just stick with montis and birdnest. Need to try how pocci works. Acros are so boring (ok don't flame me :razz:) :lol:

Of coarse you can drill the tank. Just have level of water below where your going to drill

I won't flame haha. I've seen great leather tanks. I just don't care for them.

Yap but won't small debris get into the tank? I guess you can stop it by putting something just above the water surface to stop anything getting in the tank but still kinda looks like a risk :| Particularly with fishes that eats literally everything!

Hold a cloth on inside to catch it yep

Thanks, I will keep that in mind if I need to drill my tank :D

welcome to the world of Sps :-) it is a pain in the @#$@#sss to grow them.

I can't even keep their color; let alone be their growth :P

growing them is pretty easy. Getting the colors is the hard part :)

How old/type are your lights? Sorry if this has all ready been answered.

SPS.. If you can't take the heat, get out if the kitchen :lol:

..or just enjoy your thriving collection of brownapora.

I agree with this. You really need to be on top of "everything"

SPS can be done in a 20 gallon. I did it for many years. It's just more painful and variable. I'd argue that you could do a sump. Just build one in under the stand. Before you state otherwise I'll retort with: Trust me, you can. Sumps really do make a difference, especially with a good skimmer. I use a skimmer rated for 100 gallons on my 50 gallon tank.

Leathers are probably the worst for allelopathic warfare. GSP is't know for it, but it can and will overgrow SPS if not kept in check. I'd ditch the leathers if you have any. Running carbon can help cut down on this type of warfare and it tends to work better... you know... with a sump :razz:

I'm a chemical engineer. I nerd out over parameters and stuff like that. I love knowing the science about everything going on in my tank. I've found that even when parameters are stable in a new tank, all but the most hardy SPS will struggle until the tank is more mature. It's not science, it's ****ing black magic! Drives me nuts! For all purposes, the SPS should be OK if your water is stable but that isn't always the case. Hence the 6 month rule of thumb.

Damn! Weird stuff -_-

Lighting might be an issue. I use 2 30" T5HO bulbs over the 12" deep tank. Lights were changed like 2 months ago.

Hahaha :lol:

I might be able to chip in a 6" high long sump but skimmer is totally out of question :P And I hate HOB skimmers. Nothing beats the performance of in-sump and good HOBs costs fortune!

I don't have any sort of swing in my tank (white magic perhaps :razz:). I guess SPS are just not for me :P LPS FYI! :mrgreen:

I def start at your lights.