The successful SPS tank

[Treebeard]

Is there a successful "minimalists" approach to keeping a vibrant and colorful SPS tank? What I mean is, can it be done without using a lot of additives and dosing etc.? Is having good water quality, appropriate flow and lighting enough?
I've been researching this to death and am no further ahead than when I started.

[Pike]

No I dont think so, not for sps. And besides a minimalist approach would be boring for most reefers I think. Are you researching for your first tank? go LPS you will enjoy it just as much or more because it can be more minimalist than an SPS tank

[Slyguy00]

I think your dreaming lol

[Treebeard]

My tank has been running for 6 years and I already have some LPS and SPS, however the SPS is brown and I just added some more frags. Growth is not a problem, I just want to maintain the color of the new stuff.
Boring? You mean as in spend another wheelbarrow fu of cash for additives and dosing equipment? Not sure the missus would find that "exciting".

Originally Posted by Pike

No I dont think so, not for sps. And besides a minimalist approach would be boring for most reefers I think. Are you researching for your first tank? go LPS you will enjoy it just as much or more because it can be more minimalist than an SPS tank

[lastlight]

Frequent changes of water, gfo and carbon while keeping your calcium, alk and mag balanced can give you colourful sps in my opinion. perhaps not the most colourful but def not brown.

[Treebeard]

Already doing all of that, except I quit testing parameters. And I mix kalk in my ATO. Perhaps my alk is out of line.

Originally Posted by lastlight

Frequent changes of water, gfo and carbon while keeping your calcium, alk and mag balanced can give you colourful sps in my opinion. perhaps not the most colourful but def not brown.

[Werbo]

You have to test alk and Ca. Keep them stable with lots of light, flow and a big skimmer to keep nitrates and PO4 down and that all you need with RO water for frequent h2o changes.

The less other stuff the better.

[Pike]

Boring as in less things to research about and discover, at least for me thats a big positive in the hobby. And its a money pit hobby so yeah throw in another barrel of money if you want those colours

[Masonjames]

Originally Posted by Treebeard

Is there a successful "minimalists" approach to keeping a vibrant and colorful SPS tank? What I mean is, can it be done without using a lot of additives and dosing etc.? Is having good water quality, appropriate flow and lighting enough?
I've been researching this to death and am no further ahead than when I started.

You will need to dose to keep alk cal and mg stable. Besides that I would say it's absolutely possible to maintain a "minimalist" sps dominated system in regards to all the "extra" stuff. Water quality, stability, flow and lighting... What more do you need?
However, If you are bent on running a mini sewage treatment plant in addition to a coral tank then sorry, you will need all the bells and wistels.

[Myka]

What kind of lighting do you have? If you have T5 or halides, I doubt it's your lighting causing the brown SPS. If you have LEDs it may be the settings.

Originally Posted by Treebeard

Is there a successful "minimalists" approach to keeping a vibrant and colorful SPS tank? What I mean is, can it be done without using a lot of additives and dosing etc.? Is having good water quality, appropriate flow and lighting enough?
I've been researching this to death and am no further ahead than when I started.

Yes, you can do a minimalist approach, but in order to do so you really need to have a SPS-only tank. You need to pick enough fish to provide a bit of food for the SPS, but not so many that they impede water quality. You also need to pick the right fish. All the fish should be chosen for a job, not because you like how they look. Then you need to provide really good flow, in my opinion this is thee most important factor (assuming everything else is good, the flow still needs to be really good). SPS want to have their skin clean, and if you don't give them enough flow they will drown in their own mucous (so to say). Add good lighting; several T5 tubes, or 250W halides, or one of the better LED fixtures. Use an over-sized skimmer, use carbon, use GFO when needed (not always needed).

And THEN...keep water parameters VERY stable! Keep alkalinity within 0.5 dKH all the time. Keep calcium within 20 ppm. Don't let salinity fluctuate. Don't let temp fluctuate. Be dedicated to waterchanges. Keep everything on a schedule.

So that's simple, right?