Fast Growers

[Pierce]

Ive got tons of space to fill and want to fill it quickly. Considering staghorn coral but have done no research yet. Just getting started with the idea of SPS. Not all that concerned with the rare types, just want a full tank. Saw some staghorn and liked that look. So feel free to throw out your advice and experience.

Currently I have a bunch of softies and LPS but would like to incorporate some SPS. Tank is 600 gallons with over 200 gal in refugium. Ozone, skimmer, 1-250, and 2 400 mh over back half of aquarum and 2 rows of VHO towards the front. The SPS will be in the back half where the light will be strongest. Pumps are 3600 gph and 1400 gph recirculating. Good enough for now. In the near future I will double the recirculating gph and add 3 powerheads. Getting the water movement to over 10,000 gph.
(the main pump is 7 amps of power and the head pressure is not affective at such a short distance)

Also have over 500 lbs of live rock which has been in a tank for 10 years.

[MAthU]

you might need more flow.. i would try some montis, and see how that goes stags are not the easyest coral imo..

good luck

[Pierce]

Pretty sure 17 times tank volume of turnover is enough. Really just looking for the easiest quickest growing SPS. Dont like the Montiporas look. Take up too much space and dont want to waste my time on them. Anybody with experience experimenting with this?

[Marko9]

I would say that 17 times turnover is not enough. I would say a minimum of 30, especially as your flow will get blocked with corals.

I would the majoity of SPSers are well over 40x turnover. I would get yourself some yongei and milli's to start out with.

[MAthU]

i agree with marko on my 400g sps reef i had around 50x turn over and still found it was not enough...there are many types of montis thatgrow differnt ways and there a fast grower! dont judge somthing youve never had. millis are also easy to care for and one of my favorite corals vert fast growers but can be expensive!

good luck

[mrme]

The Blue Tip Acropora Kimbeensis, is a very hardy fast growing Acro.
Of course i have only had a 2 generation Frag, and have no idea how wild colonies fair.
But so far, My quickest growing coral is my Blue tip Kimbeensis. The purple polyp birdsnest comes in second.

I don't have many staghorns right now, But The Blue Tort can grow Fast.

[Craig Lambert]

Green Slimers and staghorns in general are fast growers. Maybe a blue tort also. Agree with the others on flow. Might want to goose it up to 30x for openers.

[jade2122]

i have about 70x turnover and still want to get another big powerhead, once the coral starts growing in flow really is blocked more than you would think now. another thing is yes everyone wants fast growing corals but you haven't said anything about your parameters, tank maintance routine, testing, levels, etc. the fastest growing sps will do nothing and die in your tank if it isn't ready for it. softies are way easier...

[Craig Lambert]

Jade raises a good point.
If you go ahead with this plan (assuming your parameters are appropriate) you also might want to run carbon 24/7. Some softies put out chemicals that will stunt sps growth.

[checkinhawk]

scripps stags(A.Microphthalma) grow like weeds,as for flow 17x is not enough for sps.in my 150g tank i push approx 13000gph or over 80x turnover and i still need more flow.also i agree that you should run carbon.

[northbay-reefer]

this tan stag with blue tips is my fastest grower

[mcliffy2]

Monti caps are always super fast. Look at the thread about the biggest colonies, there is a strong correlation between the corals in that thread and those that grow the fastest (with the exception maybe of that huge efflo).

17x turnover is nowhere near enough flow for SPS. You'll want at least 25,000 gph in that tank, and probably more. The number 5-10x tank volume gets floated around for flow through your return, but this is your return only you need powerhead, closed loop, and/or surge units to increase your flow. Your SPS will die pretty quick in only 17x flow.

Also, as others said, what are your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels? Big SPS will suck the calcium and alk out of the water, and youll almost certainly need a calcium reactor or need to set up dosing pumps, unless you are willing to manually dose numerous times every day.

[nismo driver]

the fastesst grower ive had is a green monti digi but it seems like it had a growth spurt and quadrupled in size in a few months and has drastically slowed since im going to jump on the more flow band wagon, you want so much flow the sand (if you have it0 just barely stays on the bottom and if bare bottom then so much flow the corals barely stay in place..

[xian]

Originally posted by nismo driver
the fastesst grower ive had is a green monti digi but it seems like it had a growth spurt and quadrupled in size in a few months and has drastically slowed since im going to jump on the more flow band wagon, you want so much flow the sand (if you have it0 just barely stays on the bottom and if bare bottom then so much flow the corals barely stay in place..

I'll second the M digitata. I have green orange and elkhorn that are all superfast growers. I have a purplpe polyped one that isn't too slow either.

S. hystrix (Bird's nest) grows pretty fast


Here is a terrible pic but you get the idea

[orangekush4]

All ORA sps i have grow very fast if every thing is up to par.

[dascharisma]

I agree that you need more turnover. A big tank will allow for innumerable dead spots. My 420 has around 35,000 GPH of internal circulation.



Brad