Sps in 20g and under?

[joshbbert]

Hello I have a 10g nano reef and a few months ago I threw a monti cap in and a chalice and both are doing really well so im wondering if I would be able to keep acro's I know their a different monster so I thought id see if its even possible to keep them successfully in a tank this small. Water changes are done bi weekly as weekly proved to be unnecessary, is this too often a change for acros? I run a large hob skimmer fuge combo rated for 50gallons (prolly more like 30) and 2 wp-10s on the way for added flow. I dose very little, a drop of iodide a week and trace elements added once a week thats it.

Thanks in advance id appreciate any input.

 

[Pete polyp]

Yes it can be done. It will certainly be a challenge though. More than likely you will havs to supplement calcium, alkalinity and magnesium if you have a bunch of stony corals

 

[joshbbert]

Lps and softie dominated dont have too many corals at the moment trying to take my time. I would be ok with supplementing I worry the water changes could be too big a swing for them. Im just hoping I wouldn't require more equipment id prefer to keep it simple on this one. So the main issue would be my other corals sucking the goodies out of my water? Still a newbie sorry. Thanks pete!

 

[Pete polyp]

The stonys are going to be the ones slurping the ca and alk. Just keep them stable and when you do a water change match what you're putting back in.

 

[joshbbert]

Awesome tyvm

 

[Pete polyp]

It will be very challenging in a 10 gallon.

 

[joshbbert]

It will be very challenging in a 10 gallon.

Im up for the challege as long as its not an irresponsible thing to do. I would keep at one or two acros and another monti.

 

[Velodog2]

Here is my 18 gallon. It is a challenge keeping alk, Ca, and pH stable and I consider a doser and pH probe essential. It is actually the montis, stylos, and birdsnests that are sensitive to changes. The acros don't give me problems.

 

[RacingTiger03]

I lost an acro in a 29G and it was my first attempt at them. Started dosing, and tried a monti-cap and digitata afterwards. Both thrived and the monti eventually began encrusting on the rock I had it on . Just carefully watch your specs! I typically dosed a little calcium daily (used something in a big tall white bottle from ball. it's been so long ago I forgot exactly what it was, but it was basically a calcium additive) Eventually picked up some kent calcium additive.. honestly it didn't make enough difference to justify the cost.

 

[justjosh012]

My first nano had quite alot of healthy and happy SPS, as well as a maxima clam. I found the best way to keep the levels where they needed to be was regular small water changes (once a week) using a high quality salt, Tropic Marin Pro Reef in my case. The only struggle was magnesium if i remember correctly, and i'm pretty sure the clam was the cause of that.

 

[Velodog2]

Don't dose if you don't have to. With a few small SPS you can likely do fine with regular water changes for quite a while. Just get good test kits and monitor the levels.

 

[joshbbert]

Don't dose if you don't have to. With a few small SPS you can likely do fine with regular water changes for quite a while. Just get good test kits and monitor the levels.

I would prefer not to do dose I dont want this tank to get away from me its 10g I would prefer to keep it simple but there is nothing simple about sps lol. Im gonna try and acro and test daily for a month see how it goes. Thanks for all the info everyone

 

[ms705jk]

I'm tossing to same idea around. Pretty glad I read this thread. Awesome question and suggestions

 

[joshbbert]

In the end I decided against the acros and picked up 2 monti caps instead since the one I have already is doing so well without dosing its still my first tank and if it aint broke ya know. Ill save the more difficult sps for the 75gallon im working thank you everyone for all the input but I guess ill save that challenge for when im a bit more experienced

 

[justjosh012]

check out birdsnests and stylophora as well, they are pretty easy to care for.

 

[joshbbert]

Will do thanks, I love birds nest!

 

[hart24601]

I have had lots of sps in my biocube 14 over the past couple of years. If you decide on acro there are a bunch of good tough ones that I think are better than some of the tight growing birdsnests. They all grow fine, but I have to think of it like a bonsai garden. The lights in my nano at least will start to shelf shade the colonies, so fragging every couple of weeks becomes important. It also becomes impossible to reach the bottom with large sps encrusted and growing off the rock. Green slimer rocks, you can trim and glue to itself and make neat shapes that fuse. Lots of montis like digita are great too. There are many sps that are way tougher than I ever thought. For a long time kalk in the ato and weekly change were enough, but I got lazy a few times and my alk dropped below 5dkh... On quite a few occasions. The corals just stop growing, color and everything else looked fine. I bought a doser now because the tank was eating well over 2dkh a day, but before that I would just put calcium and baking soda in the rear chamber, without measuring much... Everything always looked fine but I wasn't adding enough calcium to alk and it drove Ca silly low. I did a 50% water change and the values after that were 6dkh and 100ppm calcium. Everything was fine, but decided to get a doser as I was just too busy and not paying attention. The Ca must have been around 50!!! The alk had to have been low too since reef crystals is around 11. Like I said nothing lost color or died, I just noticed a bit less PE and slow growth.

 

[Velodog2]

Hart
Would love to see tank pics!

 

[joshbbert]

+1 On yhe pics man still havent glued my montis yet becuase im worried aboutbthe shade and wiggle room I know ill have to trim them eventually. Thx for the info

 

[justjosh012]

I have had lots of sps in my biocube 14 over the past couple of years. If you decide on acro there are a bunch of good tough ones that I think are better than some of the tight growing birdsnests. They all grow fine, but I have to think of it like a bonsai garden. The lights in my nano at least will start to shelf shade the colonies, so fragging every couple of weeks becomes important. It also becomes impossible to reach the bottom with large sps encrusted and growing off the rock. Green slimer rocks, you can trim and glue to itself and make neat shapes that fuse. Lots of montis like digita are great too. There are many sps that are way tougher than I ever thought. For a long time kalk in the ato and weekly change were enough, but I got lazy a few times and my alk dropped below 5dkh... On quite a few occasions. The corals just stop growing, color and everything else looked fine. I bought a doser now because the tank was eating well over 2dkh a day, but before that I would just put calcium and baking soda in the rear chamber, without measuring much... Everything always looked fine but I wasn't adding enough calcium to alk and it drove Ca silly low. I did a 50% water change and the values after that were 6dkh and 100ppm calcium. Everything was fine, but decided to get a doser as I was just too busy and not paying attention. The Ca must have been around 50!!! The alk had to have been low too since reef crystals is around 11. Like I said nothing lost color or died, I just noticed a bit less PE and slow growth.

I want to see crazy green slimer shapes!