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Hardy SPS list

jepoy

jepoy

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I've always wanted to get into sps more but i don't have the discipline, attention to detail, nor the time to grow designer sps. I dont dose two part nor do i want to install a calcium reactor. I have a mixed tank and i would like to plug in a few sps here and there. Please give me a list of SPS that from your experience will do just fine with good lights, good flow and the occasional feeding (reef chili, reef roids, etc). One example is the garf bonsai, i had one of these and it survived my first tank crash.. it eventually perished when a fish knocked it to the back of the rocks never to be found again.

In other words, i want the sps look but with euphyllia care level.

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Coral reefer said:
Go for montis.
Green slimer
Branching green porites
Birdsnest
pocilopora
Imo stable alk is way more important than feeding. I would likely get a cheap dosing pump or dose by hand.
Click to expand...
+1 to dosing and alk...sps will demand more as they consume more. So even if now your WC is enough, you might end up needing more alk and ca..
Get cheap doser it will go along way. I purchased these kamor single and 3 heads doses they are cheap and easily programmable. Am sure there is even cheaper options. Dosers are such a commodity nowdays..
 
In addition to what Mike mentioned almost any Digitata is an easy coral and great colors. Personally I'd stay away from Pocilopora like the plague (or any more recent viruses.) Don't forget that some of the branching forms of Montipora are fast growers and really bright. I gave away hundreds of pieces of Stella Montipora to club members so that should be easy to source. Same is true with WWC slimeball. Should be lots in other peoples tanks from my original frag years ago.
 
Get a kalk reactor/doser, while probably more expensive than a 2 part setup for the equipment, it's super easy to just dump some kalk in and let it mix without having to worry about measuring. No additional equipment necessary, note: don't use it as an ATO replacement because you don't know if your top off water (which can vary day to day) is the amount you need to dose. But other than testing alk on a daily basis to dial in usage (which will change as things grow), you really don't need to do anything else.
 
A montipora dominated tank might be a bit easier to control too, digitatas for sticks, caps for plates, and plenty of encrusting ones too so you can shape to rocks if you don't want them to get far away from the surface of the rock (i.e. it's near the glass or something). Just gotta be very careful about quarantining new comers, you don't want a montipora eating nudibranch to get in the tank :D
 
Thanks for all the great tips! Please keep them coming. So i guess i need to start reading up on supplementing alk in my tank going forward. Does a kalk reactor and dosing alk serve the same purpose? Sorry for my noobness, i've never had enough corals to require more than just WC to replenish the tank.

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A kalk reactor is for kalkwasser, which doses both calcium and alkalinity in a balanced fashion, it also a high pH fluid so can keep your pH up conversely if something bad happens it can make it go too high. You can't just dose alkalinity though, well ok you could but it wouldn't be good. Alkalinity (alk) is one of the big 3 (or 2.5) of keeping stony corals.

Definitely would educate yourself on the function of calcium and alkalinity in a reef tank though before you worry about which SPS to keep which are "easy".
 
I dose alk only on several tanks and it works well. Including my own with lots of sps. I use reef crystals which has a lot of ca and mg so I don’t add those aside from water changes.
 
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