First, lots of +1's on various posts above.
The #1 point in SPS is that Alkalinity is the most important parameter by far. Read everything you can find that relates and you'll be head and shoulders above most people in the hobby in terms of base knowledge. If you can make this number stable, your SPS will most likely be happy. Maybe more importantly to many - they will be able to compete for space with your soft corals in the longer term. (I recommend only stonies together for ease of management.) If this seems intimidating, it's really not all that different from the routines involved in properly feeding your fish. Nobody thinks twice about being there every day like religion to feed their fish. Many feed multiple times per day. Corals generally require no more (or less) dedication.
#2 is to keep nutrient levels low. Light levels over an SPS reef will grow algae FAST. This makes #2.5 realizing that most tanks you see online are waaaaaay overstocked with fish. You can do it (like Evel Kneivel "can" jump a canyon), but it's very likely you'll underestimate one of the costs (hidden or obvious) of overstocking and a price will be paid. Sooner or later. Algae if you're lucky, fish loss to tank crash if not.
#3 is lighting, but there isn't much mystery here IMO. 3-5 watts per gallon of traditional (mh/t5) lighting per gallon (traditional tank sizes) of a quality brand of bulb is an easy solution. As close to 20k as your tastes allow will bring you the best coral colors. Use Radium halide bulbs on non-electronic ballasts for the best results IMO. LED's may not be as easy a target, but they're the latest technology and have a lot of good qualitites to recommend them.
Some random details and observations that are useful to me:
My system has been running since 2007 with the addition of the second tank a couple years ago. I lost three corals in the first couple of years, but all were my fault/no mystery. (i.e. not going to be repeated) No current photos as the tank is completely overgrown and in need of transplant to a larger system. Monti's are 6-8" up the front, left and back glass. Culling and fragging are not my strongest suits and I like BIG colonies. ;-)
I've used Reef Crystals almost exclusively since the first stony corals went into the tank. I will most likely switch over to Instant Ocean once I'm settled in with my new dosing pumps.
Target parameters haven't changed much over time:
Ca: 420
Alk: 4.0 (scaled down to 3.5 with addition of dosing pumps)
Mg: 1350
PO4 and NO4: so there are desireable levels of algae growth (too much = too much feeding and/or too many animals)
Salifert kits are used to measure Ca, Alk and Mg and to gauge dosing rates.
I've never had better growth or color than when I was doing 10%
daily water changes. (plus req'd 2-part dosing) You better go out of your way to make it easy or automated if you want this to be a long term plan.
Dosing has almost always been a two part formula. Started with Brightwell and ESV, dosing baking soda and calcium chloride these days.
About half way through I also added a small Tunze kalk reactor to my ATO. Highly recommended once you have significant stony growth. I see about 100ppm Calcium in the kalk effluent (abt 5 gallons per week), and dose about 200mL of two part every day. I do not recommend anyone take a stony coral tank to this rate of consumption without automated dosing - at least for Alkalinity. AquaLifters are better than nothing (good thread on nano-reef Chem Forum) if budget is an impassable factor. Peristaltic pumps are better and between eBay and some of the other Chinese vendors are much more competetively priced than even a couple years ago - save up for at least one.
I've always kept fish stocking very low, or even at zero.
My current and by far favorite piscine inhabitants are a trio of Barnacle Blennies. They are accompanied by nine Sexy Shrimp. That's it.
As you may guess, I've never had nutrient issues. Be aware of the nutrient load and what you are both willing and able to do to manage it. I can certainly fit in more/bigger fish, but it's likely I'd need more cleanup crew and maybe to increase my water change rate as well as add capability to run chemical media like GFO and carbon. I might even need to upgrade my skimmer and flow in the tank to handle the extra waste. (...and screen the top of the tank.) Then I'd have to maintain all that stuff too!
I'm sure I left out some stuff...better save something for another post tho.
-Matt
