why are so many people having problems with sps lately?

[surfnvb7]

in the last couple of years, i've never seen so many people post on how they are having problems with keeping sps than they are in the past couple of months.

what gives?

is it really that hard?

are sps more readily available than 2-3 years ago?

are LFS's failing to educate their customers?



i've never had any problems keeping sps, aside for your occasional frag falling over into a frog spawn, or a random wild colony/frag RTN'ing for no apparent reason or failing to color up.

i dosed 2-part manually in a 20g and 40g for about 2 years before i automated the 2-part dosing on my now ~60g tank. keeps all the parameters in check and things couldn't be happier....seems simple enough to me.....


just curious....

[gcarroll]

I would say that the reason you see more failing is that there are far more people keeing sps. look at more people failing as also meaning that more people are succeding.

[sjfishguy]

Yup, reefcentral itself has probably doubled in membership in the past 3 years, and people are more likely to post questions on problems than stories of success, so I would second that it is merely due to an increase in the SPS keeping population.

[SDguy]

More people in general. Also, more people pushing envelopes....density, color, fish load, other coral variation.... all in one tank.

[acrodave]

I think the major issue is that most people don't read on how to keep the corals and want every one to tell them how to keep them

[acrylic_300]

are LFS's failing to educate their customers?

Maybe because August and September are so HOT.

[curthendrix]

I also think more people are aware of sps pests....redbugs. acro eating flatworms, etc... As the frag trade as expanded it seems that these pests are showing up more frequently in our tanks. Many people who are having sps issues are dealing with these critters and fail to realize it imo.

[gasman059]

Originally posted by SDguy
More people in general. Also, more people pushing envelopes....density, color, fish load, other coral variation.... all in one tank.

ditto

[Kip]

... and some people who thought they knew a thing or two about stonies are finding out how ignorant they really are

(pointing finger <<<<<<<<< that way)

[gasman059]

Originally posted by Kip
... and some people who thought they knew a thing or two about stonies are finding out how ignorant they really are

(pointing finger <<<<<<<<< that way)

hey kip that's all of us.
I only know I know nothing~
Are things settling down.

[SDguy]

I know one thing...I do lots of guessing

[Neptune777]

Along with the increased demand I wonder how the importers are doing their part to house and keep everything healthy. More corals are being kept in enclosed systems in higher densities (and I would guess that the importers are doing less to ensure diseases and pests are removed mainly because of the high turn over and increased work load?)

[Craig Lambert]

From the threads I see on various forums here, there are just alot of people out there that don't really understand water quality. There are so many threads about problems and the person says "water quality is good, A,N,N are all 0.".....What's your Alk level?...."I don't have an Alk test kit".

Or, when asked how are you maintaining ALK, Calcium, and Mag? The response is..."I do regular weekly/bi-weekly water changes". (Don't know about you but my Alk drops 1 dKH in 24 hours and my calcium 6-7ppm).

Lots of people buy first, and worry about care later.

I also think there are alot of people who lack patience. Last week I read a thread about a guy with a phosphate problem and dull sps colors so he added a phosban reactor. 7 days had past and he was "getting tired of waiting for the corals to color up".

Maybe it's an internet generation thing....instant gratification.....(he said, dating himself).

[Kip]

Originally posted by gasman059
hey kip that's all of us.
I only know I know nothing~
Are things settling down.

nope... still going thru it... now its my monster... it has be slllooooowwwwwlyyyy receding over the last month

its about the size of a baseball and took nearly 2yrs to get that size (from a nub of a frag) ... it is gonna be a hard one to loose

[Craig Lambert]

Originally posted by Kip
nope... still going thru it... now its my monster... it has be slllooooowwwwwlyyyy receding over the last month

its about the size of a baseball and took nearly 2yrs to get that size (from a nub of a frag) ... it is gonna be a hard one to loose

Two years of growth and it decides it's unhappy.....That is really frustrating.

[surfnvb7]

Originally posted by Craig Lambert
From the threads I see on various forums here, there are just alot of people out there that don't really understand water quality. There are so many threads about problems and the person says "water quality is good, A,N,N are all 0.".....What's your Alk level?...."I don't have an Alk test kit".

Or, when asked how are you maintaining ALK, Calcium, and Mag? The response is..."I do regular weekly/bi-weekly water changes". (Don't know about you but my Alk drops 1 dKH in 24 hours and my calcium 6-7ppm).

Lots of people buy first, and worry about care later.

I also think there are alot of people who lack patience. Last week I read a thread about a guy with a phosphate problem and dull sps colors so he added a phosban reactor. 7 days had past and he was "getting tired of waiting for the corals to color up".

Maybe it's an internet generation thing....instant gratification.....(he said, dating himself).

thats more along the lines of what i was thinking, honestly.....

i mean, the concept really isn't that difficult in my eyes....but maybe thats b/c i come from a science/technical background...i dunno. clean water, stronger lights, stronger flow, constant parameters.....and monitor calcium and alkalinity.

IMHO this concept is a HECK of allot easier (if you keep the equipment simple) than doing a planted freshwater tank....that was just a MAJOR PITA...

also, one of my big things are not over stocking the tank, and only picking HEALTHY aquacultured or sometimes maricultured corals.

i've only gotten red bugs once (i took a chance on something b/c i wanted it really bad)...and never gotten any other pests.

[slojmn]

Originally posted by surfnvb7

i've never had any problems keeping sps, aside for your occasional frag falling over into a frog spawn, or a random wild colony/frag RTN'ing for no apparent reason or failing to color up.

...seems simple enough to me.....

Al, You are tempting fate, lol .

I agree with all of the above statements, a combo of a lot of things. I feel like keeping these ecosystems is not all that simple. When things are going well it seems simple, but when things start to go bad it becomes quite difficult to figure out. I know one thing, this hobby keeps me humble.

[surfnvb7]

Originally posted by slojmn
Al, You are tempting fate, lol .

I agree with all of the above statements, a combo of a lot of things. I feel like keeping these ecosystems is not all that simple. When things are going well it seems simple, but when things start to go bad it becomes quite difficult to figure out. I know one thing, this hobby keeps me humble.

possibly....but i'm really big into keeping things as simple as possible.....i don't run much equipment (typical pumps/heater, a skimmer, a dosing pump for the 2-part, and some carbon and thats it), i don't use any chemicals other than 2-part, and i try to keep things as natural as possible (diverse clean up crew, diverse fish with different roles in keeping the tank clean etc.).

[gasman059]

Originally posted by Kip
nope... still going thru it... now its my monster... it has be slllooooowwwwwlyyyy receding over the last month

its about the size of a baseball and took nearly 2yrs to get that size (from a nub of a frag) ... it is gonna be a hard one to loose

I took a break once LOL- u can consider that I guess.
Any ways I still think about your reef , kind of sad.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I noticed this too.

I dont really know. I dont agree with most of the answers on this... It doesnt seem to be newbies losing their systems. King-Kong, Kip, Trueblackpercula, and myself. I am on top of water quality, and all other things mentioned above, as are all these other people.

[old salty]

Count me in as an SPS system crash owner.



It happens and for many reasons; many of which cannot be explained.

[SDguy]

Originally posted by slojmn
I feel like keeping these ecosystems is not all that simple. When things are going well it seems simple, but when things start to go bad it becomes quite difficult to figure out. I know one thing, this hobby keeps me humble.

Couldn't agree more!

[reefer_for_life]

as i was reading your post i was thinking the same thing slojmn was. it seems whenever i say something like you did, im tempting murphy's law and it usually comes back to haunt me, lol. but i agree with most, there are more people keeping sps, and when people post its usually because something has gone wrong. most people dont make posts saying how great there tank is.

[Craig Lambert]

Originally posted by LobsterOfJustice
I noticed this too.

I dont really know. I dont agree with most of the answers on this... It doesnt seem to be newbies losing their systems. King-Kong, Kip, Trueblackpercula, and myself. I am on top of water quality, and all other things mentioned above, as are all these other people.

Though I discussed water quality it certainly wasn't directed at you or any of the long timers you mentioned who have experienced these disasters. Sometimes it seems as though there is no way to explain these situations. It's as if some people get corals with good genetic makeup and others don't. Some have good immune systems, and others don't. In some cases it's just unexplainable.

[REEFY1]

I agree its actually as easy as taken a 2-part in a IV bag setting a drip and testing, I thought i tested alot as a diabetic GEEZZZZ Man i test all the time- In fact i use 2part and Mag thats it, i find waterchanges disturb things and all my sps color up nice and are growing- i choose All of the above