Hi!

I was wondering what equipment and maintenance I need for keeping SPS corals in my nano aquarium?

The tank measures 32 cm (12,6 inches) deep and has 2 x 18W T5 + 2 x Weipro LED lamps for lighting requirements. Each of the Weipro LED lamps ( http://www.fish-street.com/weipro_led_ligh...category_id=118 ) is supposed to equal a 70-80 W metal halide fixture.

I hope someone can help me out here and tell me wether or not I can keep SPS corals under these lights, and if yes what other equipment I will need

Regards,
Tom-André

The T5's you have will be enough alone so long as you have good individual reflectors.

The LED module you linked to will probably put some reasonable PAR in a 12" deep tank, but I gravely doubt they can be compared to a 70W halide. The LED's they use are smaller 5mm (or so) LED's that simply do not have the punch that we really would prefer.


Altogether I think you can do this.

Just expect several things with SPS in a nano.

1) Slower growth. It's very hard to keep the salinity in the stable range that most SPS will prefer. I've grown millepora in a 10g, and I've watch frags from the same mother colony grow 5X faster when placed in larger systems with similar light situations. Your mileage may vary

2) Mysterious mortality. Sometimes something goes wrong and we just can't figure it out. I've had montipora die mysteriously out of the clear blue, while every other SPS is doing just fine.

Btw, here is a pic of my tank and rockwork:

That's enough light to grow quite a few SPS as long as they are placed properly within the aquarium. I have an Acro, various Montiporas, Pavonas etc. which are doing fine under under 32W of regular T5s.

For better growth/color feed the corals at least once a week. The less lighting that you have the more important supplemental feeding becomes.

Ok, so we have stated that the lighting is enough

So now I am wondering what else I need for keeping SPS corals.
F.I.
What kind of trace elements etc?
Balling+ or kalkawasser and manually added trace elements or frequent water changes?
Will I need any form of Rowaphos filtration?

If you can add a skimmer to your system, that would help, otherwise be religious with PWC's. As far as additives go, get a decent 2 part supplement for calcium and alkalinity, and quality test kits for both (API, Salifert, ELOS). Try to keep your calcium between 420 and 440ppm, and alkalinity between 9-11 dKH or 3.0-4.0 meq/L (depending on which units are used).

Also, it would be very beneficial to have a Mg test kit and supplement as well. A magnesium level of around 1300ppm aids significantly in maintaining proper alkalinity levels.

Chemipure Elite would be a good filtration media to use. It utilizes both carbon and GFO, so it will decrease levels of phosphate in your water.

I`ve allready got a skimmer, a Tunze Comline 9002 DOC. I`ve also got a lot of test kits, including Ca and Mg.

I live just by the sea, so I can just fill some buckets down at our brew when I`m doing a water change. The seawater here is very pure, but has a bit low salinity, so I will need to add some extra salt to get 1.025 ppm.
Is one water change of 10% of my total water volume each week adequate?

I have heard that it is very hard keeping a stabil KH in a nano, is this a fact?

As a poor student, I must ask, will it cost a lot more to run a nano SPS tank, than a nano softies and LPS tank?

Regards,
Tom-André

A skimmer can be quite helpful in keeping SPS, especially if the water changes aren't performed regularly. I don't use a skimmer in my nano, but I make sure that I do a 10% WC every week.



Lucky to live near clean ocean water. 10% can be enough, but much depends on how much you feed, how much livestock, etc. Your test kits and the health of your corals should alert you if you need to increase your WC volume and/or frequency.



Pico and Nano tanks are inherently more sensitive to environmental changes since the body of water is smaller than your 'regular' sized tanks. Keeping stable calcium, alkalinity and magnesium levels in a smaller tank is certainly possible, but you'll need to develop a dosing regimen based on the specific needs of your tank, so you'll need to test regularly in the beginning to determine element usage and such. As you add more corals, or they grow out a bit, you'll need to adjust.



The question really should be,"How much more will it cost me to keep a SPS tank vs. Softies & LPS?"
The cheapest tank is a Softies only tank, without any hard corals such as LPS and SPS. If you keep LPS then you'll need to watch calcium, alkalinity and magnesium, so your costs are higher since you'll need test kits, dosing ingredients, etc. The increased cost for SPS is mostly due to the higher lighting most people use, protein skimmer (if used) and the increased flow rates most SPS prefer.

A nano tank, even one with LPS and SPS, need not be overly expensive. Power usage in such a small tank is usually minimal, but bulbs, test kits and additives can add up quickly. Many people find that livestock is the most costly piece. However, at least that can be controlled (although it is often hard to resist buying nice, pricey, pieces).


You are lucky to live near clean salt water

Yeah, I know I`m lucky to live near pure saltwater Norway is nice that way...

Now i stand in a crossroad where the one way is SPS and perhaps a couple of small LPS (and perhaps some small Zoes?) and the other is a softies tank with some LPS.

My equipment is:
- Lighting: 2x18W T5 + 2xLED lamps
- Skimmer: Tunze Comline 9002 Nano DOC
- Circulation: 2x Hydor Koralia Nano (2x240 gph) + returnpump (180 gph)
- All test kits needed, including Ca, Mg, pH, KH...

Do I need any other kind of equipment other than water supplements?

Anybody got a good example of a "complete supplement shelf"?

Sry, if I`m repeating some of the questions. It is just to organize the tips I get from you guys in one spot

for supplelments you could get away with very little... bionic 2-part and some sort of mag additive is all you would NEED as long as u keep up with WC's...