Giving up on SPS!

[mrhasan]

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?

I am really frustrated with this matter!

[Proteus]

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.

[Zoaelite]

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.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Titus99

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.

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.

[wickedfrags]

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

SPS - stability promotes success

Originally Posted by Titus99

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.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Zoaelite

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.

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

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

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by wickedfrags

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

SPS - stability promotes success

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.

[Proteus]

I have a 26 gallon tank with 35 sps

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

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

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

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

Cant even bump that up to like a 40g with sump eh . 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.

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Titus99

I have a 26 gallon tank with 35 sps

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

Beat me to it .