Beggining sps keeper seeks colorful coral.

Hey, I'm sort of new to sps(I have a couple birdsnest, an acro, an orange montipora plate, and a hydnophora in my 75), and my 120 gallon is mature enough for me to add some sps to it. I do like the sps I have, but I'm tired of an absence of the kailadoscopic colors I see in magazines, and online. I want some bright colors to look at, when I view my tank, after a long day. I would like some multi colored sps, to add, and I don't know that much about sps species, and names. Any suggestions? I like the strawberry shortcake I've seen around, and I've seen a couple great combos of colors. I've had my reefs for several years, so, experience isn't really the problem, just a lack of guidance, and knowledge.:-/ Thanks, in advance!

 

What lights are you running? Alot of vibrant color in SPS is due to the intensity and color of light provided. Honestly I would take a drive to Boise and look at the Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation. I think they run tours.

 

I've lived here, almost 6 years, and still haven't made it out to Boise, yet. I'll have to keep that in mind, though. I'm running 6 t5 bulbs, and (4)65watt compact bulbs over the tank. I'm going to switch over to led's, soon however. My sps have nice colors, in my 75, but not more than two colors per coral. I'm looking for, at least, three. I know those can be pricey, but it'd be nice to know what to look for, when I'm searching the classifieds. A lot of posters put just a name, and no pics., which leaves someone like me guessing or scrambling to google a possible picture, with a common name alone to go by. I'm, kind of, looking for names of some popular tri-color stuff. The brighter, and more colors, the colors, the better. My lighting should be enough to bring out the colors. I know a lot of people use halides, but I've had great results, with t5's. Plus, I plan to put them up high, in the tank. Couldn't hurt, right? Does the geothermal place you mentioned sell frags to the public? I'm going to google them, next. Dang insomnia! Just when I think I've got it licked, I come up with all these new questions, and sites to google! Lol. Sheesh!

 

I would suggest going through the sponsored vendors that are here on the site, and scouring their sps, and begin learning names, and stuff that stands out to you.

World Wide Corals, Happy Corals, Wet Thumb Frags, Reef Pets, and Aqua SD, are good ones for sps

 

Hey, thanks. I'll try that. I hadn't really planned on getting into sps, when I started my first reef, but some of them look pretty awesome. I might throw a frag of birdsnest in there, just to test the water. I could, also, frag my monti., and try that, in there. Problem, for me, is that when I put a coral in my tanks, I tend to do it in a permanant way, and then it's a real pain to remove it, later. I need to check with my local coral guys, to see what they have. I know one has a strawberry shortcake, but I don't know how much or if he'd even frag it. Any one of those vendors near Idaho? A couple states away should be close enough to ship from. Thanks.