SPS

SPS Selection and Care Tips:
Most of the time, I strongly advocate the desire to obtain cultured fragments from fellow aquarists.

SPS - Small polyped stony corals which require high intensity lighting.
Salinity - The amount of salt in the water. Measured by Specific Gravity or Refraction.

SPS Frag Identification and Growth Sequences
Basic Staghorn Coral Information
Basic Coral Biology ...

SPS corals are those with very small polyps like Acropora, Montipora, Porites, etc. LPS corals (and mushrooms)
do fine with low to medium intensity light.
SPS do well only under high and very high intensity.

SPS - Small Polyped Stony.
Strontium - A trace element found in seawater that is needed for corals with calcaregous skeletons to grow.
Substrate - The base of which an organism grows.

In SPS tanks: add KW and buffer when needed
In soft coral tanks do not add anything
In SPS corals, add very little or no KW ...

Metal halide lighting is recommended for aquarists planning to keep SPS corals and clams, or if you have a tank deeper than 24 inches. Like the sun, metal halide bulbs have one point of light, so it creates a stunning shimmering effect.

The use of calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser), when introduced by Alf Nielsen in 1990, probably did more to enable us to keep SPS corals than just about any other advancement in reefkeeping to that point. Before this discussion by Mr.

High intensity lighting, a must for SPS corals, is extremely costly. Small tanks, which are reduced in length and shorter in height, require less sophisticated lighting set-ups.

A reef equipped with MH's can expect to keep almost all corals, SPS, LPS, Soft corals and even some of the most light demanding Tridacna clams.

A small polyp stony (SPS) coral that will frag easily but needs high flow and high intensity lights.
Candy Cane Coral
An LPS coral that needs moderate lighting, moderate water flow and supplemental feedings.

or similar SPS corals. The female Yellow Clown Goby will lay her eggs on the underside of the coral's branch, which will cause tissue recession in that area of the coral. However, under good conditions, the coral will regenerate the lost tissue.

Soft Coral... Low. 100 to 200 PAR
LPS... Low to moderate. 100 to 300 PAR
SPS... Moderate to very high. 300 to 1000 PAR
Anenomes... High. 400 to 600 PAR ...

Coral Species Light Requirement Chart
Species Intensity Water Column
SPS Corals
High ...

DSB = deep sand bed
FO = fish-only (tank)
FOWLR = fish-only with live rock (tank)
LPS= large polyps stony (coral)
LR = live rock
LS = live sand
RTN = rapid tissue necrosis
SG = specific gravity
SPS = small polyps stony (coral) ...

See also: Aquarium, Water, Fish, Species, Algae