sps corals

[ZOOT098]

a few preliminary questions
1-which sps corals are the easiest in your opinions?
2- most that i look at call for strong waterflow, does this mean powerhead directly on the coral or constant flow without interuption?

 

[stagofdoom]

SPS I have heard like random water flow and not constant at one spot...or thats the best water flow you can have for them.

 

[yote]

Stag's right.SPS like strong,random currents.The more chaotic the better.
Montipora verrucosa are fairly easy,so is Montipora foveolata.Both are encrusting montis.Usually,the duller the color,the easier it is to keep.

 

[dustin_P74]

the montipora capircornis is also fairly easy and likes medium flow and light

 

[Bifferwine]

Many acros (acropora) are also easy to keep. Birdsnest can be hit or miss. In my experience, they are super easy, really colorful, and really fast growers. But other people on this forum can't keep them alive, and find they die really quickly.

 

[yote]

Birdsnest is one SPS I flat out give up on.Every single frag I've tryed bleached and died within a week.
Hydnophora is another fairly easy SPS.

 

[lightcs4]

I have a Stylophora that is doing great (green and pink), but I may have just gotten lucky.

 

[JAG107]

I've had the best luck with my monti cap frags which were 1" square in April, now have grown to over 2.5 to 3" and have better color than when I added them. However I've had a pink birds nest colony and encrusting monti bleach out in 3 weeks. I just bought a blue monti digitata and green birds nest last week, so we'll see how that goes. I got a good tip from a fellow reefer who said frags seem to have a better shot than bigger colonies because they will adapt more easily to your flow and lighting, plus bigger colonies are usually wild caught, which aren't as hardy as aqua cultured frags.

 

[SSalty]

I personally don't believe in one SPS being easier to keep than the other. It all depends on your tanks conditions/parameters. If you plan on jumping into SPS, you should be prepared to keep any types of SPS. I would buy an Acro and a Monti and see what works best. What works for one does not always mean it will work for the other.

 

[Gooseman]

well i am one of those unlucky individuals that can not keep SPS's i have tried 8-10 different frags and lost them all

 

[ZOOT098]

bought a montipora today it would be of the foliaceous variety its a frag so i will give it a shot, actually i think its three frags glued to 1 plug, green, pink and a reddish color very cool looking about an inch and a half across

 

[yote]

Got pics?

 

[ZOOT098]

i will post a pic tonight yote
oh and i believe its a capricornis

 

[lightcs4]

Tonights a long time from now ....

 

[yote]

Its tonight:mrgreen:

 

[ZOOT098]

i lied its more purple in the back, red on the right and green on the left, the colors didnt come out as great as they could have, oh and its sitting on new live rock i put in, cured but painfully white

 

[hoopsdaddy]

Nice, break off the 2 colors you like least and I will PM you my address and you can send them to me. ha

They look great.

 

[yote]

Those are good looking frags.

 

[Rcpilot]

I have one SPS. I got it as a frag when I first started out, over a year ago. It was the size of a pencil and about 1.5" long when I got it. I wedged it down into a crack and left it alone.

It hasn't grown up or out. All it's done is grow out and spread across the rock. It's only grown a TINY bit. Today it is about the size of a silver dollar.

Frankly, I'm not impressed. Most SPS just look like tree branches. Sure, they have different colors, but they all look like sticks IMO. The one I have is supposed to be neon green. The bony skeleton is neon green, but the polyps are an ugly poop brown. Whoopee!! I can get a million poop brown frags in this hobby.

Not an SPS fan.

 

[lightcs4]

RC,

It's just nice to have a variety. I really like the LPS (my Duncans look great), but my green stylo looks pretty cool. The only ones I'm not into are the leathers.