Low Tech SPS tank

[redrooster]

I am just getting into SPS. I have had my tank for 3.5 years, but it has been 85% or more softies/LPS up until now. I have been selling/trading my softies and replacing with SPS as I go. The whole right half of my tank is now SPS except for a few brains. So far the pieces of SPS I have been doing all right, but I'm not sure how much growth I should be seeing. Also my tank is very low tech compared to others I see on here so I am wondering if I am doomed to fail. I am looking for advise based on your experiences. The tank is 75G, but is not drilled so all of my flow comes from powerheads. I have a non-modded maxijet 1200, a seio 620, and some other generic PW that flows 500 GPH. So I have 2300GPH flow or about 30x volume. I figure this is probably not enough and I need to replace the 500GPH with another maxijet??

My lighting I'm pretty sure is OK. 2x250W MH 14K I change them every 10-12
months. I also have 2 x40W actinic.

Being non drilled I have no sump and no fuge. I have a red sea skimmer rated for 100gal.

I have no wavemaker, no calcium reactor, no auto top off, no chiller. I manually dose calcium, moly, stront, and iodine every 3rd day and do a 5 gal water change every 6 days. (33% a month)

I have a SSB. These SPS I have are 2 acro digitata, 1 montipora danae, 1 povona, 1 yellow cup. I have many other non SPS corals, but if things go well with these I am going to go to all SPS and clams to help avoid the SPS being harmed by the other corals. I have a squamosa and deresa clam right now. I also have loads of starfish,crabs,snails. The fish are a med gobie(forget which type), GSM clown, clarkii clown, med yellow tang, copperband butterfly, and a six line wrasse. I am going to be moving in about 3 months, so now is a good time to contemplate if I need to make any major changes because it is the best time to catch out fish, inverts so on. Just looking for problems that would be obvious to a veteran SPS grower that I may be missing. Thank you in advance for responses.

 

[DonW]

You dont need high tech. Keep your water parameters in line and keep an eye on nutrients,you'll be fine.

Don

 

[dpaynter]

You dont need high tech...

Don

True, but I didn't expect this from Don!

 

[SueT]

I don't consider my 120g sps tank to be high tech. Mine is drilled and I have a sump, but I don't have all the bells and whistles like so many on here do have. I feel I am good at keeping my tank water in balance and my levels are also in balance. What I would suggest is testing before dosing anything if you want to get into sps corals. Keeping these levels calcium, alk., and flow are what will be best for sps corals. Then keeping those in balance will dictate the kind of growth you will see. You can get the Natural Wavemaker which is not expensive and put 3 mj's on there and you would have good random flow which sps like the best. Water changes should replenish what trace is used and I only dose kalk. at night and dose if and when I need any calcium or alk to keep my ca. at 420ppm and alk around 9.2dKh.

 

[jezzeaepi]

What kind of growth are you getting?

My personal opinion on the matter is that perhaps your addition of alk/claclium every 3rd day is slowing down your growth. If you added it every day your level will be more stable and will stay at the higher end of the spectrum rather then constantly dropping from say 400-350ca then back up. The same goes for your alkalinity. Corals have a hard time clacifying at the lower end of the alk/calc scale.

What does your water test at before the calcium/alk addition?
After?
What does your PH test at right before your lights come ON?
What deos your PH test at right before your lights go OFF?

Finding out those things might give you a clue about a possible water chemistry issue(if thats even the issue). Thats where Id look first.

 

[redrooster]

A pic of one of my two acros with a real nice red montipora danae I believe in the background.

 

[ronj]

Sue, what do you use to dose Kalk???(equipment)

 

[SueT]

I have a used milk jug that every morning I make my mixture of 1 tsp. of kalk. and fill the jug up with ro/di water and let it settle out over the day and drip it at night. I have a line of IV tubing that allows me to adjust the drip so it's not too fast and will drip all of the mix overnight.

Very low tech, but it works better than my float vlave ever did and doesn't get clogged up.

 

[DonW]

I have a used milk jug that every morning I make my mixture of 1 tsp. of kalk. and fill the jug up with ro/di water and let it settle out over the day and drip it at night. I have a line of IV tubing that allows me to adjust the drip so it's not too fast and will drip all of the mix overnight.

Very low tech, but it works better than my float vlave ever did and doesn't get clogged up.

Sue is this the same packed sps system on your web site?

Don

 

[ronj]

is it necessary for it to be stirred up constantly??? i know some people have the reactors with stirrers...i just didn't know if it was necessary

 

[DonW]

is it necessary for it to be stirred up constantly??? i know some people have the reactors with stirrers...i just didn't know if it was necessary

No you need to stir it then let it settle until its clear, then only dose the clear liquid. Reactors have rodi water going in that does nothing more than overflow the reactor into the sump. They get diluted so need to be stirred every now and again.
There are a few different methods of stirring. Pumps IMO are the worst, mag stirrer work gread except they get stuck every now and again and rod stirrer that IMO are the best of all. They do not cloud the water and stir very gently, as of now I just let mine run 24/7. Also the rod stirrer is the easiest of all to diy a real reactor.

Don

 

[ronj]

so if i use a container that i already have, all i need is a dosing pump and some tubing going into my sump????

 

[DonW]

so if i use a container that i already have, all i need is a dosing pump and some tubing going into my sump????

A bucket, dosing pump and a wooden spoon and your set. And of course kalk, I suggest buying it online LFS usually want WAY to much for it.

Don

 

[ronj]

i got it pretty dang cheap online..i bought Mrs. Wages pickling lime....the guy that gave me those frags had probably 20? containers of it...he got it for like $50 online..he bought in bulk....i only bought 2 containers....he said it might not be a bad idea to use Kalkwasser from the lfs from time to time because it had Magnesium in it..is this a good idea??

 

[DonW]

i got it pretty dang cheap online..i bought Mrs. Wages pickling lime....the guy that gave me those frags had probably 20? containers of it...he got it for like $50 online..he bought in bulk....i only bought 2 containers....he said it might not be a bad idea to use Kalkwasser from the lfs from time to time because it had Magnesium in it..is this a good idea??

It does have mg but it ends up on the bottom of the bucket. There is a article called what your grandmother never told you about lime or something like that. It explains Mg issues with kalk, but they are easily overcome.

Don

 

[spongebob lover]

I have a line of IV tubing that allows me to adjust the drip

where do you get the IV tubing?
i'm getting kind of interested at this sps corals and i'm tryning to learn as much as i can about them before i swap from softy to lps- sps . also what bran of kalk do you buy?

 

[DonW]

where do you get the IV tubing?
i'm getting kind of interested at this sps corals and i'm tryning to learn as much as i can about them before i swap from softy to lps- sps . also what bran of kalk do you buy?

You need a kangaroo bag or a vet will give you a used saline drip tube set. The problem with IV tubes is the small size. Mrs wages for generic or warner marine ca oxide for the good stuff.

Don

 

[redrooster]

Sue do you feed your SPS at all or just light/flow/clean water?

 

[spongebob lover]

The problem with IV tubes is the small size. Mrs wages for generic or warner marine ca oxide for the good stuff.

i see, is there a way i could change the tube for a bigger one dood?

 

[DonW]

i see, is there a way i could change the tube for a bigger one dood?

Air line tube and plastic needle valve.

Don