Can i keep sps with no LR/lS?

[DrewBrees713]

2 of my LFS have sps in their tanks with nothing but water, light and flows. Their sticks have decent colors and growth. Some are frags but i saw a few colonies too. Why cant i replicate this at home?

 

[Crabs McJones]

Are the tanks plumbed to a sump filled with live rock? Thats what my local fist store does. The tank is bare, but the sump down below is packed to the max with live rock for filtration.

 

[Waters]

2 of my LFS have sps in their tanks with nothing but water, light and flows. Their sticks have decent colors and growth. Some are frags but i saw a fee colonies too. Why cant i replicate this at home?

You can, as long as you provide bacterial filtration using another method....and don't mind seeing your frags on frag racks all the time

 

[DrewBrees713]

I looked and the only thing they have is a skimmer in sump. No algae, rocks, sand etc.

I’d like to start a bare tank with no sand, no skimmer and maybe one small rubble of LR and weekly WC. Can this be done to keep sticks

 

[pickupman66]

yes. it can be done. Keep in mind these are only holding tanks. they probably have a very low fish bioload. My LFS has 6 90 gallon tanks connected together in a single system with a sump. IDK what is in it thought. They also have a 10 foot x 4 foot shallow tank that has an entire levated layer of egg crate. beautiful system but no rocks.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I think it would be quite hard to keep sticks fed without fish or nutrient additions. More to the point though...why?

 

[jda]

You willing to test a few times a day and change a ton of water like they do? There is more to the story with your LFS than you probably know. In order to have the same results as them, you will need to do it the same. Instead of looking to a LFS for results, look at other hobbyists.

 

[DrewBrees713]

One tank has a YT and the other has two damsels.

The reason why id like to do this is because i have a 5 months old 25g cube with sand and rocks. But both are loaded with po4 so i removed them have left one small rock rubble in the tank and filled it up with fresh water. Keep in mind, i just want to try maybe 3-4 small frags so the bioload isnt that much i hope.

 

[ikolbaba06]

I would say some type of synthetic material would work just fine for filtration instead of rocks. Ive only used and have experience with Seachem matrix which works very well and inexpensive off Amazon. I would follow the directions on how much to use since it can drop both nitrates and phosphates too low. I just had it with passive flow in the sump from the overflow boxes. I’m starting up a smaller frag tank without any live rock/skimmer and I’m adding matrix for biological filtration. It does take about 6 months to fully kick in so do not give up on it.

 

[DrewBrees713]

Thanks for the idea. Ill give that a try.