SPS Pro opinions needed

[jbrooks515]

Hello all, I am getting ready to upgrade my 25 gallon LPS/Softie tank to a 36 gallon SPS tank (hopefully). My main question to the experienced keepers is - Can it be done successfully with only doing water changes with no dosing???
Currently I have a Radion XR30 light, Eshopps HOB PSK-75 skimmer, HOB fuge with Chemipure Elite and Chaeto and 2 RW-4 wave makers on this tank.
Not really planning on Acros till later - mainly Montipora Digis.
My current tank has been up appx 3 years has done extremely well and I have always wanted to venture into the SPS dark side lol.
Will still be keeping a close eye on all parameters of water an will have low livestock.
Can it b done successfully? Thanks for the help

 

[Aquaph8]

At first, yes but as stuff grows in it'll use up more and more alk and cal and depend on how often your doing water changes. I would imagine keeping things stable with just water changes would be difficult eventually and small amounts of two part would need to be added to make corrections.

 

[dbl]

What Brett (Aquaph8) said is exactly the position I am currently. First several months with LPS/Softies, I didn't have to dose anything with weekly 20% water changes. As soon as I started putting SPS corals in, well, let's just say, I just purchased a dosing pump because I'm tired of doing it manually. Could be related to the continued growth of the LPS/Softies as well, or a combination of both. I'm not an expert and I'm not saying it can not be done, but just thought I would share my experience since it is in line with Brett's comments.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You cannot maintain a reef tank with rapidly growing hard corals of any kind with water changes alone. Even coralline algae rapidly outstrips the small amount of alkalinity that comes from water changes, unless you are changing on the order of 10-30% DAILY.

That said, some LPS grow quite slowly and if coralline is not a big feature of the tank, water changes alone may be adequate for some aquaria.

 

[Aquaph8]

If you don't want to deal with dosing pumps or a calcium reactor, have you considered Using kalk in your topoff?

 

[jbrooks515]

Yea I have thought about doing that. And I can see the point that as they grow they strip the water faster. Would alk be the main thing that would be stripped? Wondering if I could keep calcium levels high enough with the water changes? I know I would have to eventually invest in a sump with a doser but for now which product would you recommend for manual dosing?

 

[Aquaph8]

No, calcium and Alk get used rapidly in an SPS system along with Magnesium. There's lots of products available but the most cost effective is a DIY system like Bulk Reef Supply sales, also known as Randy's recipe.

 

[mic209]

Hello all, I am getting ready to upgrade my 25 gallon LPS/Softie tank to a 36 gallon SPS tank (hopefully). My main question to the experienced keepers is - Can it be done successfully with only doing water changes with no dosing???
Currently I have a Radion XR30 light, Eshopps HOB PSK-75 skimmer, HOB fuge with Chemipure Elite and Chaeto and 2 RW-4 wave makers on this tank.
Not really planning on Acros till later - mainly Montipora Digis.
My current tank has been up appx 3 years has done extremely well and I have always wanted to venture into the SPS dark side lol.
Will still be keeping a close eye on all parameters of water an will have low livestock.
Can it b done successfully? Thanks for the help

I tried going the same route with my 25 gallon SPS build, but it didn't work out. I'm having to dose around 50mls a day of 2 part, this is in addition to a weekly 5 gallon water change.

If you don't want to deal with dosing pumps or a calcium reactor, have you considered Using kalk in your topoff?

From my experience, Kalk used in an auto top off system is the worst idea ever! Around spring time one year I started using kalk for topoff, with a little 2 part dosing, I had my ALK and CA dialed in rock solid. Every time I tested CA and ALK it never was much different then the last test. Through the summer, corals were growing and never looked better. Then winter came and all of a sudden I couldn't keep my ALK and CA up and kept having to up the time on my dosing pumps. Took me a few weeks to figure out, but it was because I was evaporating less water and less kalk was being added. So unless you have consistent evaporation throughout the year, I'd stay away from kalk used as topoff. If you go the kalk route, use it with a dosing pump through a timer to where the same amount is being added everyday. Try to set the timer to where it matches your evaporation as close as possible, but also have an ATO system in place with plane RO/DI water.

 

[Aquaph8]

With that said I tend to agree, it can be a pain. If you want to do it right go the dosing pumps route. Just starting off though you got options and time before you have that demanding SPS system going.

 

[jbrooks515]

Haven't heard a lot of good about Kali so I think I am going to stay away from that route. I think I will do the 2 part and eventually invest in dosing pumps later on down the line. As I was reading last night about it - it honestly doesn't seem that hard like I thought. Never done SPS before cause I thought it would be a pain to keep things in check.
I was looking into going with the BRS 2 part system... Any objections on that?
I also don't have an ATO right now but I do use RO/DI water n manually add about a cup or more everyday for evap. Used to doing that so I think I could get away with that method for now.
As for testing I only have the reef pro test kit from my LFS and can't remember the brand right now. Which ones would be best and easiest for ALK, CAL, and MAG? Thanks

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yea I have thought about doing that. And I can see the point that as they grow they strip the water faster. Would alk be the main thing that would be stripped? Wondering if I could keep calcium levels high enough with the water changes? I know I would have to eventually invest in a sump with a doser but for now which product would you recommend for manual dosing?

Alkalinity and calcium are consumed in a relatively fixed ratio, but alkalinity is always depleted to the point of being a problem first (since seawater naturally has a lot more calcium), and some salt mixes start with so much extra calcium that it may not become a problem in some tanks even with no dosing if the demand is not that high and water changes are regular.

In any case, alkalinity should be the thing to measure to see if you need to dose anything.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

From my experience, Kalk used in an auto top off system is the worst idea ever! .

Well, it's all I've used in my system for 19 years.

I agree, however, that any method of delivering limewater may not meet the demand of a tank with a lot of SPS, so other methods may be needed instead of it or in addition to it.

 

[mic209]

Well, it's all I've used in my system for 19 years.

I agree, however, that any method of delivering limewater may not meet the demand of a tank with a lot of SPS, so other methods may be needed instead of it or in addition to it.

Randy, do you use it through your ATO system or on a timer or a constant drip? And just curious, why don't you ever share pics of your system, or sell frags?

 

[erk]

I'll go ahead and admit I tried maintaining my alk and cal levels by water changes alone. I did it at a time when there wasn't a lot of demand. Didn't last long. Eventually the coralline and corals were stripping the water faster than I could maintain with WCs. Long story short, drop in alk caused corals to become angry, then the sensitive ones felt like I was neglecting them and offed themselves one by one. Now I know and I won't try something like that again. For reference, I was doing a 5 gal WC every 3-4 days on a standard 29 with 20 tall sump. I still use this WC schedule because its easy. I do notice that if I go a day longer than I'm supposed to the SPS start to turn pale. If anyone knows why this happens, please tell me. Parameters are 8dKH, 450ppm Ca, and 1250-1300ppm Mg. I keep these values very stable with ESV 2 part and Mg.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy, do you use it through your ATO system or on a timer or a constant drip? And just curious, why don't you ever share pics of your system, or sell frags?

ATO.

Here's a thread with my tank pictures. I have occasionally sold off corals that have grown too much. Usually LPS or soft corals.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...es-farley/172508-randys-tank-description.html

 

[Stoneyman]

Hello Randy. I was hoping to get your thoughts on a few deviations on my Triton Lab results. I dont know what these elevated levels mean for my reef and how to go about correcting. Id greatly appreciate your feedback.

Tin is strongly deviating. My level is 2.38.
Bronide elevated at level of 88.11
Lithium very high. 659.
Iodine low at 16.69.

Anand