Sps dominated nano reef. Is it possible?

[ectoaesthetics]

IME auto top off and dosing pumps were critical. I have also needed kalk to keep the pH up in my nanos at night. Even with a fuge they always seemed to just totally plunge at night without kalk

 

[elorablue]

Could I get away with minimum testing as long as I have easy to keep sps

SPS and Acropora are not something you want to half-a ss. Either do it right or drop back ten and punt.

 

[jeffww]

No such thing as a minimum testing sps dominated nano especially for the first year. I test biweekly now as of the two year mark. If you want to test less go with bigger volume.

 

[GHOSTLY]

IME auto top off and dosing pumps were critical. I have also needed kalk to keep the pH up in my nanos at night. Even with a fuge they always seemed to just totally plunge at night without kalk

Regarding that. Is there no other way of keeping PH up? Does calk raise calcium and alk too?

 

[jeffww]

Kalk will suffice at first but 2 part is needed long term. Sps nano isn’t something to try to do the minimum effort on. If you did only 2-5gallon tank you might be able to manage by doing 50% water changes for some time but it will eventually be impossible to manage without dosing with a dosing pump. Its not like a sps nano reef suddenly has fewer requirements than those of a larger system. If anything, the bar becomes much higher and the room for error shrinks.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Kalk will suffice at first but 2 part is needed long term. Sps nano isn’t something to try to do the minimum effort on. If you did only 2-5gallon tank you might be able to manage by doing 50% water changes for some time but it will eventually be impossible to manage without dosing with a dosing pump. Its not like a sps nano reef suddenly has fewer requirements than those of a larger system. If anything, the bar becomes much higher and the room for error shrinks.

How should I auto dose if I do? It seems like a lot of work and I honestly would not mind a mixed reef with lots of sps either

 

[GHOSTLY]

Would mixed reefs just be a tad bit harder than your average lps eith the exception of some more dosing and flow?