Buy Livestock and Dry Goods

Live Corals
Aquarium Pumps
Powerheads
Protein Skimmers
VHO Lighting

SPS Coral Information

Keeping Stony Corals
Identify SPS by Classification
Identify SPS by Morphology

All About Zoanthids

Keeping Zoanthids in a Reef Aquarium

Tridacnid Clams

Keeping Clams in your Reef Tank

Reef Aquarium Hardware

Metal Halide Lighting
Calcium Reactors
Fluidized Reactors
pH Meters and Controllers
Phosphate Binding Media
RODI Filters

Reef Tank Learning Center
Click to learn

Our Partners

Why Keep SPS Coral?

Small Polyped Stony Corals (SPS) are the foundation of the ocean's reefs. The calcium-rich skeletons of SPS corals lend their structure, stability and protection to thousands of other reef life forms including fish, invertebrates and more fragile coral species.

Recent advancements and new theories have made the care and even propagation of SPS corals not only possible, but actually fairly easy to accomplish. Understanding the importance of giving the corals the right amount metal halide lighting, providing adequate flow, utilizing state-of-the-art filtration systems (including the latest improvements in protein skimmers) and understanding how to setup and "dial in" calcium reactors are all critical components that will increase the likelihood of success in captive SPS coral growth.

A thriving SPS reef tank is an amazing thing to behold. The variety of colors and morphisms are what keep reef aquarium hobbyists constantly searching for new ways to improve their ability to care for and raise these delicate creatures. Regular improvements in coral farming (now commonly referred to as "aquaculture") have provided the hobby with new and exciting species that were never before available, without harming the fragile ecosystem of the coral reefs.

Of the multitude of pleasures offered by rearing healthy and colorful SPS corals in your own reef tank, perhaps none is greater than sharing the fruits of your success with others. "Fragging" is the term used by reef hobbyists to describe the practice of coral propagation, performed by breaking or cutting small living pieces from healthy SPS colonies and giving, trading or selling them to friends, acquaintances and even strangers. The recipient of these SPS frags, as they are called, will typically use an epoxy or superglue to affix them to a piece of live rock, provide them with the key critical elements (light, flow and filtration) and watch them eventually turn into beautiful coral colonies themselves- to be fragged again and again, in effect providing a perpetuity to the hobby with no harm to the environment.There is perhaps no greater single pleasure for the reef aquarium hobbyist than to grow tiny coral frags into premium SPS colonies.

Of course, like so many good things; success in SPS coral propogation takes plenty of research, extreme patience and even considerable expense. However, it only takes a millimeter of growth on one of the branches of a rare SPS coral species to make all of the effort worthwhile.

Related Learning Center Topics:
> SPS Coral Identification