Very Simple SPS Tank - no magic juices - Looking for experiences

[Battlecorals]

One could get by with just a heater, light, bare bones RO unit, mixed saltwater and eventual manual dosing of two part if you are committed and diligent, and have great success with sps.

Will still need to test a few things fairly often. I have a couple peripheral tanks including my Qt and and a smaller sps setup run this way.

 

[ClownSchool]

Those who put this guy on the moon not only didn’t have SPS but never owned a space ship. Yet they took the science and applied it and got it done.

That aside. What exactly did I say that wouldn’t be successful and post implementation wouldn’t keep reefing simple. Plus how exactly is stripping a sump of socks and skimmer then adding macroalgae complicated. Pretty sure a caveman can accomplish that in an afternoon after club of the month meeting

Have always considered the “you haven’t done it premise” rather small minded since everything ever done once had to be started and all advancements begin with trying something others haven’t

Well, after watching Fly Me To The Moon, that statement isn’t as cut and dry as you think. LOL

 

[GARRIGA]

Well, after watching Fly Me To The Moon, that statement isn’t as cut and dry as you think. LOL

Care to elaborate

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Well, simple is how I reef.

Never use carbon, gfo, or chemical filters of any sort.

Never had a UV.

Never had a controller of any kind.

Never used to monitor PH. Now just monitor with a simple Pinpoint.

20% water changes weekly. (5g on 29g bio cube)

Was only hand dosing Red Sea A + B.

Now only AFR hand dosed.

My old biocube.

This is my current tank and it’s very young.
It will be branching sps only and my method is going great so far.

 

[sunnysidecorals]

Definitely a fan of minimal magic juice! I think you’ve got the right focus with light, flow, skimmer, 2part dosing, fully stocked with fish - that you feed heavy and they feed the corals.

IMO you could even get away with less water changes. We only do about 10-20% water change monthly. (Bigger systems though). Also we only run Carbon when needed. Like when we cut some leathers etc. Refug with Chaeto is great, but as colonies get big you might find it competes with the acros for nutrients.

Simple is interesting. There’s simple to set up and then there’s simple to maintain. 2 part dosing is probably the easiest method with a system your size. But even with my first 90g years ago, I thought it was a pain constantly mixing and refilling reservoirs trying to keep up with full-grown wall-to-wall acros. I switched to a Cal Reactor and never looked back. Currently we have a couple big reactors that we only touch about once every 6 months to a year. Plus with ZeoMag in the reactor the big 3 are taken care of with one peristaltic pump.

Also we have a 200g QT system (decent amount of new acros currently) that is maintained only with a 50g Brute Kalk reservoir and a dosing pump. We refill, mix in a couple cups of Kalk, stir, let it settle. Last about 2 months. About as simple as it gets. (we manual toss in some Mag as needed)

Side note: I’m a big fan of Kalk. Kind of messy, and I wouldn’t chase PH - but it helps boost SPS growth (and it’s cheap).

So I’d say you have everything you need for a successful SPS tank - but you’ll probably make adjustments as corals become hungry mature colonies. More flow, more light for shadowing, keeping nutrients up (no/less chaeto, turn skimmer down, more feeding, maybe occasional coral foods - I don’t think that’s too magic juice realm ) more dosing (lots of options)

 

[Pod_01]

Well, simple is how I reef.

Never use carbon, gfo, or chemical filters of any sort.

Never had a UV.

Never had a controller of any kind.

Never used to monitor PH. Now just monitor with a simple Pinpoint.

20% water changes weekly. (5g on 29g bio cube)

Was only hand dosing Red Sea A + B.

Now only AFR hand dosed.

My old biocube.

This is my current tank and it’s very young.
It will be branching sps only and my method is going great so far.

That was nice biocube…

In my opinion to get simple sps tank focus on easier to care for acros, montiporas etc…
The red montipora being prime example.

The right SPS corals can make it simple, other finicky SPS not so simple.

 

[LoneStarReef]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to draw on your experience. I'm an intermediate reefer. I have a Shallow 3x2 ft waterbox which has been running for over a year now. Plenty of light and flow and fully stocked with fish. I'm about to start stocking it with SPS frags.

Partly to reduce costs, but primarily to reduce complexity and unknowns, I want to experiment with this tank being an ultra simple, no magic juices build and see what kind of results I get with SPS. What I mean by that is -

- 10% water changes weekly for dilution and additional elements
- Randy's recipe for the big three
- steady alternate light cycle kalk drip for pH
- activated carbon
- Chaeto for nutrient export.
- Skimmer

Has anyone got any experience running a tank like this or something similar? How did you go (pics welcome)? Any advice, cautionary tales or suggestions?

The golden rule in reef keeping: consistency. If you keep alk at 8, try not to deviate much. Choose a number (within reason) and try to keep it plus or minus 1 dKH.

I consider my setup “fairly” simple:

1) lots of fish. They feed your corals. I don’t use fancy coral food. Fish poop is my coral food.

2) oversized skimmer to pull out organic waste.

3) Auto feeder to keep fish happy with smaller more frequent feedings (see the Avast plank auto feeder that hydrates freeze dried plankton).

4) I used to use chaeto but pulled it a while back. My nutrients were way too low. Corals are doing better now. My sump just has rock rubble, some sand and a lot of sponges. I’m thinking about adding miracle mud.

5) 10-20% water change monthly.

6) dose all for reef on an auto doser (love this stuff)

7) I also use the Neptune Trident for real time readings on the big 3. It’s been a game changer. Now I’m able I adjust my doser frequently to ensure alk stays consistent. Coral growth could alter your numbers (especially alk and CA) quickly and again, stability is key. If you only test once a week, your numbers might swing quite a bit before you notice it.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lonely reefer's]

Here how I simplify to run my system.
10g wc, filter socks, no skimmer, All for reef, kalwasser as a primary ATO (2.4L per day) and Tunze ATO as a back-up.
No other magic juice is dosing

 

[bobnicaragua]

I run my SPS system nearly identical to the way the OP is planning. Good light coverage, kalk, 2 part, refugium, skimmer, and carbon.

I started with water changes, but moved to moonshiners several years ago. I think that the method outlined in the original post is solid.

 

[Punchanello]

I've been keeping acros for 24 years and have a similar setup to what you want to do.

I've never used algae filters of any kind.

Build Thread - Big E Rimless 80g Sps

6-8" is a good sweet spot range. I'd go 8" and see how colors/growth respond.........this will give you better coverage. If acros are shutting down or dying you need to look at other causes as I doubt it's the lights. I’ll try messing with them and see if I have any better luck. I’ve done...

www.reef2reef.com

Here's a basic rundown of my current 150g---
2% daily water change = 10% a week........ I do do 10% weekly on my separate 60g frag tank.
Large oversized skimmer
ESV B-Ionic- This is the only thing I dose.
No coral foods, just homemade mush for the fish.

I don't chase ph

Best advice........don't follow the hyped fads, most are regurgitated things we have done in the past.

Thank you and thanks for the pic. I'm with you on the food mush. My theory is that many of not most of those micro elements would come from the food supply so I try to get as wide a variety of ingredients in there as I can.

 

[Punchanello]

I run my SPS system nearly identical to the way the OP is planning. Good light coverage, kalk, 2 part, refugium, skimmer, and carbon.

I started with water changes, but moved to moonshiners several years ago. I think that the method outlined in the original post is solid.

Great pictures, thanks

 

[Punchanello]

This person is looking for people who have simple approaches to keeping SPS and you:

1. Have no experience with SPS
2. Share 3 paragraphs of recommendations that are absolutely not simple in any way



To the OP: most experienced SPS keep pretty simple systems. I dose 2 part and that’s about it (ESV). I don’t run carbon, UV, or any mechanical filtration.

Good light and flow, regular water changes, 2 part, good skimmer. And I feed a lot! That is my simple approach.

My tank:

beautiful tank

 

[Punchanello]

Simple is interesting. There’s simple to set up and then there’s simple to maintain. 2 part dosing is probably the easiest method with a system your size. But even with my first 90g years ago, I thought it was a pain constantly mixing and refilling reservoirs trying to keep up with full-grown wall-to-wall acros. I switched to a Cal Reactor and never looked back. Currently we have a couple big reactors that we only touch about once every 6 months to a year. Plus with ZeoMag in the reactor the big 3 are taken care of with one peristaltic pump.

That is a great point. I run a doser. That's another piece of equipment i.e. more complexity. But it does introduce some efficiencies. So whether that's a net benefit on time, effort and complexity as well a coral success, we'll see. And of course, that might change as uptake changes or depending on the size of your system.