SPS question

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hi all,

Question about SPS:

Kinda new to the hobby, had my 65 gallon for 8 months and first of all I wanna thank you all fo the support, the amount of info on this site is a lifesaver!

Here are my specs

65 gallon tank + 20 gallon sump, about 10 gallon rubbermaid fuge
2x620 SEIO powerheads and big return pump (cant remember the exact GPH)
400W worth of PC's (yeah i might need MH eventually)
EuroReef CS80

Water:
temp 79-80
sal: 1.026
ph 8.1-8.2
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: between 0 and 5.0ppm
Phos: 0 ppm
Cal: was 380 now 500 ppm (overdosed on the Turbo-calcium)
ALk : was a bit low, 7 dKH (supplemented, I need a test kit)
Mg: will need to check

So my tank is doing great after an initial battle with hair algea in the first months that I have won with a lot of srcubbing and tight Phos control, my fish all seem healthy and my Xenia is multiplying like crazy, coraline is covering everything and candy cane coral seems to be doing well also. So I "fragged" a bunch of Xenia clones and turned them in to my lfs and in exchange I decided to get my first SPS piece, a nice piece of acropora that had also been turned in by a fellow reefer.

So i just dropped the piece on top of my LR aquascape in the tank as high as possible for it to get good light and close to where the maximum current in my tank is. My question is this:

Will the Acropora "spread" and (eventually) encrust into my LR or will it just keep producing it's calcifed skelton towards the light and i should somehow fixate it to the LR where it stands. It's pretty steady as is but i'd hate for one of the pesky Hemeralds to disloge the piece.

I also welcome any suggestions/critics, i know i need a test kit for both Alkalinity and Mag, which the LFS was out. Anything else i should test for?

Thanks for any advice,

Pete