Dosing for SPS

[Gatorbait101]

I currently have a 90 gallon tank set up and has been running for about 3 months now. I was given some coral when I first started and it has since seemed to grow and propagate. All of which was soft coral. Since then I have picked up some more soft coral drags. That being said, a local fish store has a small 3" accro for sale for $5. I would love to have it, but have steer away from any SPS because of the high lighting requirements and adding calcium, ect. Would there be any reason to dose or add calcium for a single SPS or would the calcium in the salt mix be enough.

 

[bribo12]

Nope just keep it away from the softies as they can secrete some nasty chemicals that inhibit growth. For $5 that's a pretty good test coral to see how you do with sps.

 

[Gatorbait101]

Are SPS really bad with lighting? I only have a Current USA orbit led on the tank. Everything looks to be doing great, but soft vs SPS is a HUGE change for me in lighting

 

[bribo12]

Just acclimate it to the light over a couple days and then move it near the surface with a bunch of flow. Idk if that will be enough light over that large of a tank for an acro but it could do ok. What color is the acro?

 

[Gatorbait101]

I definitely will aclimate it to the best of my ability, but didn't really know what all that consisted of, so thank you for that! The acro is a neon green. I don't know much about SPS, so I couldn't give a better description than that. If I notice that the coral isn't coloring up fully, I can trade it to someone locally or sell it back to the store and take the loss. But flow is an important thing to keep in mind with SPS?

 

[bribo12]

Yes most acros like lots of random intense flow to really keep them healthy. To acclimate start it on the bottom for a day or two and then move it up to about midway for another day or two and then to it's final location. If it is turning brown it could be not enough light or to many nutrients. If turning white it is getting to much light. If tissue is coming off it is probably to late for it but you can cut below the tissue loss to try to salvage it

 

[Gatorbait101]

Good to know! Thank you!! I will update if I decide to pick it up!

 

[bribo12]

No problem! Good luck!

 

[Gatorbait101]

I ended up finding some local reef club members and got a rock with 30+ mushrooms on it, and then I got a hammer to dip my toe into some lps. First question is, having just a hammer shouldn't require any dosing yet right? Second thing is, as I was driving home, the coral was in a small "pee cup" and I had to slam on my breaks very fast. Needless to say, the cup started tumbling through my middle console. I was worried I harmed it because when I got it home, some of its "heads" I would call it, fell off. It's now 24 hours later and the color seems to be back to where it was, but as my light transitioned from day light to blue light I noticed something. I am going to try and post a video, but let me know if you can see it and tell me what is this thing coming out. I don't want it to be dead flesh ripped off.

 

[Sniperhank]

There is no reason to dose unless it is a heavily stocked sps tank that draws so heavily on the system that weekly water changes can't keep up with the reduction in elements.