SPS In Nano Reef.

alexanderthegrape · Aug 8, 2020

Hey guys! I want to grow some SPS frags in my Nano Reef. I am currently doing a 40% weekly water change on my 8 gallon biocube , is this sufficient enough for my two SPS frags? I only plan on keeping them until they are 4” tall then I am going to trade them in at the LFS. The frags are a Birdsnest, and a Stylophora. Thanks!!

Brandon McHenry · Aug 8, 2020

alexanderthegrape said:
Hey guys! I want to grow some SPS frags in my Nano Reef. I am currently doing a 40% weekly water change on my 8 gallon biocube , is this sufficient enough for my two SPS frags? I only plan on keeping them until they are 4” tall then I am going to trade them in at the LFS. The frags are a Birdsnest, and a Stylophora. Thanks!!

Birdsnest and Stylophora are pretty forgiving SPS corals but they don’t necessarily tolerate huge swings. Water changes in general should replenish most of the elements needed by those two corals and remove their waste. A lot of other factors go in to SPS success but I think you picked the right corals to start with. FWIW I think 40% weekly is a bit much. Hope these corals grow well for you! :)

alexanderthegrape · Aug 9, 2020

Brandon McHenry said:
Birdsnest and Stylophora are pretty forgiving SPS corals but they don’t necessarily tolerate huge swings. Water changes in general should replenish most of the elements needed by those two corals and remove their waste. A lot of other factors go in to SPS success but I think you picked the right corals to start with. FWIW I think 40% weekly is a bit much. Hope these corals grow well for you! :)

Thank you! I am going to cut down to 20%

Y8ZC · Aug 9, 2020

If your lights are good you should be fine. I have a diy AIO 12g and I have a bunch of encrusting sps, and a monti cap that has quadrupled in size in the pasted 6 months. I agree with Brandon I think you’ll do good with your plan of 20% water changes. Good luck!

Brandon McHenry · Aug 9, 2020

alexanderthegrape said:
Thank you! I am going to cut down to 20%

Sounds like a good plan to me

Geo Reefer · Aug 9, 2020

Great plan! I think you should cut back to 5-10% water changes weekly. 40% IMO is too much.

minus9 · Aug 9, 2020

I think 10% to 20% weekly changes are good, but you may find that you have to dose a little alk and Ca during the course of the week to keep things more stable. Depending on which sps you have, their growth rate, once they start to take off can consume alk faster than a weekly water change can keep up with. If I were running a nano again, I would use TM All for Reef and be done with it. You could probably get away with fewer water changes? Temp and salinity are the real killers in nano tanks, so keep an eye for any swings. Good luck, nano reefs are a blast!