Is my 20 long sufficient for SPS?

[Ryan927]

Ive been keeping fish tanks for a decade but my one and only reef tank was a 90 mixed reef. It went pretty well until I had an aiptasia outbreak that I couldnt beat that left me frustrated and I broke the tank down and sold it.

A year later im starting over, gonna take a crack at the whole nano thing. The thing is I have this perfect piece of furniture that fits a 20 long, with no room for a sump. So right now im running it with a penguin 200 biowheel stuffed with some foam and 2 koralia 425 nano powerheads, with 25 lb LR. Thats it. I think my lighting is sufficient for SPS with an LED Ocean Revive Arctic T247. Putting together an auto top off tomorrow.

My question is can I get good SPS growth with this kind of water volume and 2 clowns + CUC. Adding more flow would be easy but I dont wanna be spinning my wheels here. I can manage 5 gallon+ water changes weekly but working as a firefighter I am gone alot and dont want to burden my wife with too many daily tank chores. When Im gone she will mostly just feed, sometimes 5-7 days at a time, up to 2 weeks in the summer fire season. The reef would be mixed but with an SPS focus. Should I stick with LPS? Thanks. Ryan.

 

[Mark426]

I have 20 cube with all SPS..... An ATO and a Doser are mandatory to keep things stable.

 

[Radioheadx14]

I had an 18g AIO with 2 clowns and a small CUC and I was able to grow SPS just fine. I had the problem of not having enough Po4 and NO3 in my tank so I had to over feed. If done right, it can be fine. I would recommend ATO and Dosing 2 part. The biggest thing with a small tank is stability. I ran out of 2 part once, and didnt catch it for 2 days. My alk dropped from 9 to less than 7 in only 2 days, luckily the only effect was temporary slowed growth

 

[Kurt03]

dosing pump or strict adherence to manual dosing will be required. I have a 20g QT that just has a handful of frags and its consuming .3-.5 alk per day. If i dont keep an eye on it I can get alk swings pretty easily. I imagine a stocked 20g sps tank will drain alk very quickly. Your biggest enemy will be the small water volume ratio to alk demanding corals and coralline algae. It can certainly be done, IMO you will need dosing pump for alk/calc, skimmer, water changes, ATO, good temp control. Remember small volumes swing parameters quickly be it salinity, alk, temp, etc. Possibly dropping the skimmer for more water changes, but i like the insurance that skimming provides incase anything goes wrong in the small volume of water. (dead snail, fish, etc)

 

[JammyBirch]

i have a 25g cube, SPS dominant tank. Def need to dose and understand your tanks needs. I second 2 part, i dose every three days so it doesn't have to be as strict as you may think. the biggest thing i've learned about SPS is to watch how they behave to determine what you need to do.

Actually small tanks with SPS are kind of nice, you do'nt have to look around to see everything.

 

[Ryan927]

Thanks for the replys. Does anyone recommend a good doser for this size tank? Could I just add the chems to the ATO water?

 

[Mark426]

IMO...for small tanks a good 2 part and an auto doser is best practice. Bang for the buck is a bubble magus. If you have a controller then BRS dosers work great too.

Anyway...for a small SPS tank you just really have to have an ATO and doser. With softies or LPS you can get along without those things.

 

[MondoBongo]

Thanks for the replys. Does anyone recommend a good doser for this size tank? Could I just add the chems to the ATO water?

you certainly could, but it is easier if you can automate it. cuts down on daily duties.

i really like the BRS dosing pumps, but for just starting out why not try kalk in your top off? you likely won't out pace what kalk can provide for a little while, and it cuts down on your need to get new equipment.

there will be specific challenges with your specific setup, but it's certainly do-able.