Advice on Equipment and Planning for SPS Tank

[reefEng10]

I am looking for tips and suggestions on my planned setup for an SPS dominated tank. I had success with a mostly LPS tank and was able to keep some SPS with limited success, but feel I could have put more into it. This tank has been torn down after a move and I will be setting up again in June. I want to give an overview on equipment and how I plan to run the tank to see if anyone has any suggestions or can point out trouble areas or areas for improvement.

Equipment (purchased):
Tank: 90 gallon Reef-ready Perfecto w/ corner overflow
Stand: Black Perfecto
Sump: 20g
Return: Quiet One 4400 HH
Lighting: Aquamedic Aquaspacelight 2x250W HQI + 2x24w PC w/ custom retro'd 2x54w T5HO on Tek-2 reflectors ( I have EVC 20K DE bulbs w/ ATI blue plus and UVL Super actinic for T5's)
Skimmer: SWC 160 Cone
Powerheads: 1x Vortec MP40w + 3x Korallia K3 (Plan to replace K3's w/ another MP40)
Heater: 300W Titanium w/ separate controller
RODI: 75gpd Optima Vision w/ dual TDS meter
Media Reactor: Next-reef MR1
Mechanical Filtration: Filter socks

Planned equipment:

1. Replace RKL w/ Apex for better smartphone integration
2. Use a wireless webcam to view tank remotely
3. Add media reactors for GFO and NP Biopellets
4. 2nd MP40 to replace K3's
5. BM T101 dosing pump for Ca/Alk/Mg dosing down the road


Plan:

To keep a very clean, low nutrient tank that suits my husbandry style and will be relatively easy to care for.

I want to run bare-bottom w/ high flow in the display... at this point I want a minimalist aquascape, and plan to place rock directly on the glass. The rock will likely be BRS Eco-rock, initially seeded with one or two small pieces of LR from a mature system (is there a better/ safer way to get this seeded?.) Periodically, I will use a powerhead to blast the bottom of the tank and bring up particulates to be caught by the filter sock. I like the idea of running filter socks and changing them fairly frequently.

Due to having a low amount of live-rock and wanting ample biological filtration I think a carbon dosing method will be a good fit. The NP biopellets seem like a no-hassle way to achieve this, and a recent TOTM has be convinced.

I would also like to run carbon and GFO. Not sure if I will use my nextreef media reactor for carbon or gfo or biopellets... but I will need at least one additional media reactor (maybe the BRS one?) I think the combination of filter sock / skimmer / biopellets / gfo / carbon and regular water changes will allow me to be successful in keeping a LNS.

Any suggestions /ideas or criticism would be appreciated as I embark on my SPS journey!

 

[dan-in-gr]

Hi, It sounds like me have about same system, for setup. Mine is a 90 gal with SWC skimmer and am running a Deltec reactor with 500ml bio-pellets, they are slightly over 3 weeks old and takes up to 2 months to fully colonize with bacteria. The main different is I have a 4 to 4.5 inch sand bed and 125 lbs of rock, I have seen several super nice systems with either no sand or very little and much less rock than mine with primary SPS. Keep fish to a minimum until things really take off, you can put tangs in first for any algae. A carbon reactor is going into my system very soon, for top-off, I use a Geo kalk reactor and my levels are very stable. I had a 180 on my previous 180 mixed reef, but always had to fight to keep pH up. Now mine is 8.2 morning and 8.4 end of day. Tank currently has 40 SPS frags and mini colonies, two LPS and one softy and 4 small fish. For lights mine is similar with Giesemann mH with 4 T5's, for SPS, I use two actinics and 2 super actinics. Keep softies to near minimum and zero leathers to prevent chemical warfare. My new SPS system is about 4 months old and is dead stable, because I added things slow and kept lights near off for the cycle period.

 

[reefEng10]

Thanks for the tips dan. I will definitely avoid softies and leathers... been there done that. I am wondering now if I should let the tank cycle THEN add the bio-pellets or if they can be added at start up. hmmm

 

[dan-in-gr]

For bio-pellets I had my tank cycled completely. I have almost no problems by keeping the lights out. The only issue I had was I bought "used" rock from two guys, the first 75 lbs was perfect, but the other guys 50 lbs, came back to life with red macro algae and nothing would eat it. I took it out and baked it in a oven at 400 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, nothing will live that. If I ever add rock, it will be with dead rock.