Keeping SPS without a Calcium reactor?

[Pete_the_Puma]

Hi all,


So i just got into SPS, having a beautifull Acropora frag that i got in exchange for a bunch of Xenia "clones" i turned in to my LFS.

I have been monitoring my water parameters daily and so far needed very few adjustements, mainly to my alk which was a little low.

Parameters now:
Ca 440
pH 8.2
Alk 10dKH
Phos 0

Before i got the frag my Ca had been low requring a lot of Turbo calcium dosing, and my levels are now steadily dropping, my question is this:

Am i kidding myself thinking i can sucessfully keep SPS without a calcium reactor? there is just absolutely no more room in my stand.

Any of you guys sucessfull at SPS with just "manual" Ca and alk dosing? and how often should i check now that my params have been stable for about a week?

Thanks for any replies,

Pete

 

[James77]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/april2004/chem.htm

You can make your own 2 part additive, it would save you a fortune. If you faithfully keep on top of calcium/alkalinity, there should be no reason why doing it manually would not work. Iuse a reactor because I am awful with that stuff. What size tank?

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

65g, although i'm already kinda plannig a bigger tank... (arent' we all? )

 

[anthony34]

yes, you can do it manually with no problems at all, the down side is more work and if you have lots of SPS and clams you would almost never rest trying to keep up the demand...

SPS Loaded tanks life is much easier with a Kalk/CA reactor

if you demand is not high you can get away with manually doing it.

I just get more enjoyment out of glazing at the beauty, then always worrying about do I need to add more calcium or is my alk high enough.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Thanks for the link James77, very informative.

 

[Salty Brother]

My brother has a 75 with lots of SPS and does it manualy, his tank is beautiful!

 

[reefrick.M]

I brought my levels up with the 2 part B-Ionic. I just drip Kalk every night and have no problems maintaining 450 ppm CA and 12 dKH Alk. I have 4 clams and mostly SPS in my 55 gl tank.

 

[copps]

Good info given so far...

There are mainly two issues regarding keeping sps without a calcium reactor, but it could easily be done and the corals do not care or notice where they get it from, whether it be a reactor, two part additive, or kalk. The two issues I see are...

1. Inconvenience- Reactors are dialied in every once in a while and while they require a high initial investment in money and knowledge, they payoff with very little maintenance. Additives require frequent additions and monitoring.

2. The second issue is less often talked about but I ran into it years ago on a 10 gallon packed nano I had (pics in gallery). When you are adding the alk part of whatever system you are using (B-ionic, homemade, slurry kalk addition), the pH of your system spikes. Those with a pH monitor know this well. According to various sources and my own personal experience, you never want a change of more than .2 at once in your system (example 8.2 before additive and 8.4 after). Systems that develop a high demand (like my nano did) require more frequent additions of the additive so as not to shock the system... also the reason you need to be careful when slurrying in kalk...

The third may be cost, as additives could get much more expensive than throwing media in your reactor...

Hope that helps...

Copps

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

Thanks guys for the reassurance, i guess i will manually dose both untill i can get a bigger setup.

Now do you guys add anything to the tank to "feed" your SPS? Phytoplankton? Or is having a fuge good enough?