Nano Tanks : LPS and SPS can long term equally thrive ?

[claudio wagner]

Hello everyone



I am having problems with my 100 liters nano tank, mainly loosing SPS lately. Found my NO3 around 10 and Phosphate around 0,1, those suppposed the culprits of killing my SPS corals.



One of local LFS "advisor", told me:



You have to decide, you will never get both SPS and LPS sucessfully in the same tank. Decide for one.



Well. My question is, is that true ?



What is the experience of you guys?

 

[lazyd00d]

You can definitely get easier types of SPS (monti, birds nest, stylo) working with your 10 ppm nitrate and 0.1 phosphate and tbh you can get acropora working in those parameters as well. Your problem is probably your lighting and flow for SPS.

For mixed reefs you aim for 250 par at the upper section of your rockwork and around 100-150 at the sand bed. Hope this helps.

 

[nereefpat]

Lots of us keep LPS, SPS, soft corals all in the same tank. 100 liters (26 gallons) isn't *that small. There are certain challenges, especially lighting and flow. There are also all sorts of things can cause SPS to die off. What kind of SPS?

How old is the tank?
Specific lighting?
Flow?
Parameters for temp, salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium?

 

[claudio wagner]

Lots of us keep LPS, SPS, soft corals all in the same tank. 100 liters (26 gallons) isn't *that small. There are certain challenges, especially lighting and flow. There are also all sorts of things can cause SPS to die off. What kind of SPS?

How old is the tank?
Specific lighting?
Flow?
Parameters for temp, salinity, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium?

Hi nerrefpat

My tank is 1 year and a half old.

I use a AI 16HD

I have one circulation pump 2000 l/h and 2 water outlets with a 4000 l/h pump. I dont think circulation is an issue.

Temp 26 oC

Alk 9

Ca 500

Mg 1600

Salinity 1026

I dose Triton but lately I turned off because I was loosing corals. Trying to stabilize with partial water changes.

 

[nereefpat]

I'm not an LED guy, so I can't help you much there. You might look into settings for Primes or rent a PAR meter.
I would let alk fall to below 8. Other people will disagree I'm sure.
I'm also not a Triton guy. But, doing some small weekly water changes would be a reasonable plan.

What kind of SPS are you losing? What is happening, like are they losing skin right away or slowly dying or what?

 

[claudio wagner]

Lost some acro frags, bu I have 2 of them in the way of dying. One monti and another one. I think is a seriatopora. See the photos

 

[claudio wagner]

You can definitely get easier types of SPS (monti, birds nest, stylo) working with your 10 ppm nitrate and 0.1 phosphate and tbh you can get acropora working in those parameters as well. Your problem is probably your lighting and flow for SPS.

For mixed reefs you aim for 250 par at the upper section of your rockwork and around 100-150 at the sand bed. Hope this helps.

 

[claudio wagner]

@lazyd00d

thats exactly I was trying. Fail... unfortunately. See the photos.

Yes I will have to get a par meter and see what I'm having with my AI16...

See the photos in thread

[]'s

 

[lazyd00d]

Dang, that bird's nest (seriatopora) does not look happy at all and that is a coral that will grow like a weed when it's really happy. I would try to do a quick iodine coral dip on all the frags to sanitize and perhaps remove any pests bothering the frags.

 

[nereefpat]

Birds nest can actually be finicky. Some people have trouble with them.

Now, I haven't heard of montis being difficult for anyone. Too high or too low of light, depending on type. There are also monti pests.

 

[claudio wagner]

yeap. back to the beginning. About the monti, will try to move around and see if the light can be the problem. Abou the other one, I´m hopeless..

 

[Stigigemla]

Normally with mixed reefs it is a good idea to use active carbon.
I would use 4 or 5 ounces in a sock somewhere unvisible but with good circulation.
New carbon after the first week and then every 2 or 3.
Sinularia and Sarcophyton are said to be the worst in poisoning hard corals.

 

[JorgeS]

It can definitely be done! I have a Red Sea max 130 with a lot of mods. I have several high hopes me acroporas, lots of torches, clams, scoly, etc.
I use esv b-ionic and my lighting is a region g5 blue with reef brites.
you’ll definitely need to measure par but should be no problem at all
Run my nutrients at No3 5-10 PO4 0.05-0.08
I have a vortech mp10 for flow and everything seems to be doing great. As someone mention I run carbon all the time, seachem matrix and I change it every 4 weeks.