SPS for Nano

[Mischke]

I was planning on putting the following in a ~25 gallon DT, with a sump that can hold ~20 gallons of water, and was planning on dosing 2 part.

1) Purple Millepora
2) Red Monti Cap
3) Bali Green Slimer
4) Fiji Grape Coral
5) Yellow Birdnest

Would all of these grow under compact fluorescent lighting, or should I look into Metal Halides (I might add a clam)?

I know that smaller tanks are a little unstable, that's why i want to make sure that these corals are hardy. Do all of these have good growth rates?

Thanks in advance, and any other input is welcome.

 

[Andyf30]

If you want a clam, don't even consider compact flourescents. A clam will be hard enough in a tank that small even with good lighting. Go with like 1 150w MH and maybe an LED strip or two for color pop. Check out the reefbrite combo fixtures. They have a pretty nice MH pendant that comes with 2 led strips

 

[Mischke]

Thanks for the info.

I've seen clams kept in smaller tanks before, but is this harder to do than I'm anticipating?

 

[Andyf30]

The most difficult thing about nanos and sps is keeping everything stable. The key to growing sps is stability. In a nano it's much easier for calc, alk, and mag levels to fluctuate

 

[rovster]

Can it be done? Yes. Will you be successful? It depends, LOL! I have a 14 gal that is SPS dominant. I have a few large "starter SPS" colonies that are almost a year old, and getting big, and if been collecting mostly acros for the last 4 months and my results so far have been good. I am very religious with my waterchanges and dosing. Your tank would be easier than mine, LOL!

 

[NanoJosh]

+1 I have a 10 gallon sps dominant and I do 2.5% WC daily and dose Ca daily and Alk every other day with small tanks I would say more frequent small WC and maybe 10-15% evry other week all my other params are stable its just the sps using up those two elements for skeletal building. Good luck and happy reefing.