Hi! Im currently building a new cube tank 30x30x18 (approx 70gal). I also plan to use a lumenbright reflector with a 20K 250Watts SE MH bulb. Will be using a phosphate reactor in the sump as well as a Reef Octo DNW 150 skimmer. Over skimming the tank since I have read in so many articles that overskimming is better for SPS tanks. Also, the sump will have separate compartments for a DSB, Cheato, and Live rock. Now I have the following questions:
1. How many fish can I keep in the tank and any suggestions on what fish?
2. Can I keep SPS without a calcium reactor?
3. Will the lighting be enough because I will not be adding any supplementary actinic t5's?
4. How long should I keep the Metal halides turned on per day?
5. How often should I do water changes?
Hope you can help me with my issues because I have no experience with SPS. Been keeping LPS and Softies only for the past year. So now I have some experience, I want to try SPS.
Thank you in advance.
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SPS Tank Build
Started by shandy_say, Aug 24 2009 03:21 PM
4 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 24 August 2009 - 06:13 PM
1. Keep what you like! However, understand the food intake required for the fishes that you keep, u dun want to have to feed lots to the fish and yet struggle with maintaining the nutrient level in the tank.
2. Yes, technically it is possible to keep SPS without a Calcium Reactor but you have to have a system to ensure that KH and Calcium is stable within the tank which can be a real challenge if you're not familiar. Most people find it easiest to maintain KH and Calcium with the use of a Calcium Reactor.
3. Besides the aesthetic effect of actinic lights on your corals, I do believe that for the long term well-being of the corals (LPS or SPS) the spectrum of light provided by Actinic tubes is required. This may however, not even realise the impact of this, so mainly for now, its about what you see, and what colours you want to see from your corals.
4. I would suggest to go for 6 hours initially. The tank height isnt too high and the 250W might be too strong for the corals, it den also depends on the bulb you use and the height of the MH lights above the tank amongst other factors... I might use 150W bulb if my tank is 18" high....
5. Water changes is always a good thing if you do it right.... Try 10-20% changes every week and it should do alot of good for SPS corals.
Keeping SPS is a almost a complete different challenge to keeping LPS corals. Your questions indicate that you should do much more research, and that your knowledge on SPS-keeping could still be improved upon. I've tried to answer all your questions without going into too many details but I believe you really need to read up more.
When it comes to marine-keeping, you can either spend money, make mistakes and learn from it... or you can research more and understand what can go wrong...
2. Yes, technically it is possible to keep SPS without a Calcium Reactor but you have to have a system to ensure that KH and Calcium is stable within the tank which can be a real challenge if you're not familiar. Most people find it easiest to maintain KH and Calcium with the use of a Calcium Reactor.
3. Besides the aesthetic effect of actinic lights on your corals, I do believe that for the long term well-being of the corals (LPS or SPS) the spectrum of light provided by Actinic tubes is required. This may however, not even realise the impact of this, so mainly for now, its about what you see, and what colours you want to see from your corals.
4. I would suggest to go for 6 hours initially. The tank height isnt too high and the 250W might be too strong for the corals, it den also depends on the bulb you use and the height of the MH lights above the tank amongst other factors... I might use 150W bulb if my tank is 18" high....
5. Water changes is always a good thing if you do it right.... Try 10-20% changes every week and it should do alot of good for SPS corals.
Keeping SPS is a almost a complete different challenge to keeping LPS corals. Your questions indicate that you should do much more research, and that your knowledge on SPS-keeping could still be improved upon. I've tried to answer all your questions without going into too many details but I believe you really need to read up more.
When it comes to marine-keeping, you can either spend money, make mistakes and learn from it... or you can research more and understand what can go wrong...
#3
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Posted 25 August 2009 - 10:47 AM
QUOTE(Vanquish @ Aug 24 2009, 06:13 PM) 
1. Keep what you like! However, understand the food intake required for the fishes that you keep, u dun want to have to feed lots to the fish and yet struggle with maintaining the nutrient level in the tank.
2. Yes, technically it is possible to keep SPS without a Calcium Reactor but you have to have a system to ensure that KH and Calcium is stable within the tank which can be a real challenge if you're not familiar. Most people find it easiest to maintain KH and Calcium with the use of a Calcium Reactor.
3. Besides the aesthetic effect of actinic lights on your corals, I do believe that for the long term well-being of the corals (LPS or SPS) the spectrum of light provided by Actinic tubes is required. This may however, not even realise the impact of this, so mainly for now, its about what you see, and what colours you want to see from your corals.
4. I would suggest to go for 6 hours initially. The tank height isnt too high and the 250W might be too strong for the corals, it den also depends on the bulb you use and the height of the MH lights above the tank amongst other factors... I might use 150W bulb if my tank is 18" high....
5. Water changes is always a good thing if you do it right.... Try 10-20% changes every week and it should do alot of good for SPS corals.
Keeping SPS is a almost a complete different challenge to keeping LPS corals. Your questions indicate that you should do much more research, and that your knowledge on SPS-keeping could still be improved upon. I've tried to answer all your questions without going into too many details but I believe you really need to read up more.
When it comes to marine-keeping, you can either spend money, make mistakes and learn from it... or you can research more and understand what can go wrong...
Thanks sir Vanquish! I appreciate your response and answers to my questions. I must admit i have no experience in keeping SPS corals. All my corals which have been with me for about a year already are mainly softies and LPS. I have never tried keeping SPS because of the many articles ive read saying that it is much much more difficult to keep SPS corals. I have also read up some articles on how calcium reactor works and to be honest i have some difficulty understanding it which I am looking for a guru who can guide me in keeping SPS corals.
As for the lighting I chose, I decided to use a 20K SE MH bulb. Based on my research, this temp will be much bluer than the 10K or 14K bulbs which somehow removes the necessity of using actinic lighting. I will also be adding 2 3watts LED bulbs which will be used as moonlights after the MH goes off. The Lumenbright reflector will also be placed about 12-14 inches away from the top of the tank because based on my research regarding the reflector, that is the best height for the location of the reflector. This will produce less heat for the tank which is also why I chose that reflector.
Lastly, regading the fishes, I am planning to keep a very low bioload on this tank to ensure that nutrients in the water will be controllable. I am just wondering, what small fishes would you think would be nice since there are a whole lot of fishes available and I am finding it hard to choose what to keep. heheh! They all look nice to me! hehehe
#4
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Posted 25 August 2009 - 04:40 PM
Just a word of advice, if you want to keep SPS corals, remove all your softies, use GAC ( Granular Activated Carbon ) on your tank for maybe 3-4 days, den change out the GAC for new ones and wait another 3-4 days before you introduce your 1st SPS coral.
Reason being, alot of softies can excrete toxics which are detrimental to SPS corals.... so you might wanna give the GAC abit more time to absorb all the toxics in the water before introducing SPS corals. The time-line I recommended above is only a suggestion as I have no prior experience of trying to treat the tank of such toxics.
Also, corals like rics are generally fine, but leather corals are a big no no...
The lighting setup sounds fine for now, but every tank varies and its really up to you to understand your water clarity, light penetration and lighting requirement for the corals, probably its best to adjust ur lighting photo-period over time and observe the corals in the tank.
Fish-wise, its really up to you! It's YOUR tank... LOL... dun even get me started on fishes to keep if you know the number of fishes I used to have in my tank!
Reason being, alot of softies can excrete toxics which are detrimental to SPS corals.... so you might wanna give the GAC abit more time to absorb all the toxics in the water before introducing SPS corals. The time-line I recommended above is only a suggestion as I have no prior experience of trying to treat the tank of such toxics.
Also, corals like rics are generally fine, but leather corals are a big no no...
The lighting setup sounds fine for now, but every tank varies and its really up to you to understand your water clarity, light penetration and lighting requirement for the corals, probably its best to adjust ur lighting photo-period over time and observe the corals in the tank.
Fish-wise, its really up to you! It's YOUR tank... LOL... dun even get me started on fishes to keep if you know the number of fishes I used to have in my tank!
#5
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Posted 25 August 2009 - 06:12 PM
This will be a new tank that is totally different from my existing tank. Will cycle the tank for 3 months (Hopefully) and I also plan to use activated carbon as well as Rowaphos using a reactor. Old tank will be dismantled and some softies (zoas and rics) may be kept but definitely no leather corals. Aside from that the only other coral I plan to keep from my existing tank is my blasto. Everything else will either be given away or sold.
For a 70gal tank I am planning to keep these fishes and inverts:
1. 1 Purple Tang (still undecided)
2. 1 Purple Firefish
3. 2 False Perculas
4. 1 yellow clown goby (not sure also about this one because Ive heard some people say they nip SPS. What do you think?)
5. 1 Banggai Cardinal
6. 1 Royal Gramma
7. 2 Blood Red Shrimp
8. 1 Sunburst Anthias (reluctant also because difficult to feed)
Do you think this is too much? Btw, tank will be skimmed by Reef Octo DNW150 Skimmer (good for up to 180gal tank), and the sump has a DSB, LR, and Cheato compartment that will be run on a reverse photo period. I think that should be able to control the nutrients right?
Hehe
For a 70gal tank I am planning to keep these fishes and inverts:
1. 1 Purple Tang (still undecided)
2. 1 Purple Firefish
3. 2 False Perculas
4. 1 yellow clown goby (not sure also about this one because Ive heard some people say they nip SPS. What do you think?)
5. 1 Banggai Cardinal
6. 1 Royal Gramma
7. 2 Blood Red Shrimp
8. 1 Sunburst Anthias (reluctant also because difficult to feed)
Do you think this is too much? Btw, tank will be skimmed by Reef Octo DNW150 Skimmer (good for up to 180gal tank), and the sump has a DSB, LR, and Cheato compartment that will be run on a reverse photo period. I think that should be able to control the nutrients right?
Hehe
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