Crucial factors to Maintaining a successful SPS tank

[DevilBoy]

From my reading on feeding of SPS they like flow, lighting, good water parameters, and believe it or not. almost everyone i spoke with does not feed their SPS corals they let the corals feed off of the fish poop...

[cwegescheide]

I think a lot of different regimenes will work with SPS. Some people like to run higher alkalinity > 9dkh, tons of flow, dosing supplements, 400W halides over 90 gallons with high kelvin bulbs etc..

For me what I think works best is whatever your parameters are (within reason) keep them stable. I can guess what my alkalinity is after three days or so and be within 4ppm every time. 2 part dosing has been great for me. Using a dosing pump I have been able to keep my alk/ca more stable than I EVER have using a ca reactor. I keep my tank temp stable from 80-81. Also I do pretty big water changes every week (~20%). I have an I-Tech cone skimmer that does a terrific job pulling the nog. I run bare bottom and use filter socks and I've been able to keep my P04 down below .04 hanna consistantly without using GFO. I've never had a nitrate reading using Lamotte with this tank either. I feed 2x/day and sometimes a few more pinches in between for the heck of it. I also do the Oyster eggs 1 to 2 times per week. Halides on for 5 hrs/day only.

I've been doing this stuff for a while now and finally I have a tank this is coming along nicely. I think it has a lot to do with keeping up on your husbandry.

Also you must keep an eye out for pests. Always dip new corals and inspect them for critters. If you see any recession on your corals and your water is ok DIP THEM IMMEDIATLEY before its too late. More than likely you've got flatworms.

[diggler]

For sps all you need to feed is fish poo.

[kyrie_eleison]

interesting.

[jjc0987]

I think sometimes people over-complicate how to take care of sps corals. Simple is good. The less you feed them the less you have to clean (your coral won't consume everything you throw in your tank, some will float around, settle, or go into your filter uneaten, then decay) So if you don't want to worry too much about maintainance...don't feed them anything. I've heard they will eat the algae you scrub off you glass.

[kyrie_eleison]

interesting.

[BlackwaterMerk]

my palys and my yuma just grab pieces of food from me feeding my diamond goby. It's pretty cool to see.