30 gallon reef tank

[Jolee0722]

Does anyone know if I would be able to maintain a full on sps reef tank with only biological filtration like live rock and live sand. I have seen it done with smaller tanks like a 12 gallon, but I was wondering if I would be able to do that for a bigger tank. I might add media reactors in the future though.

 

[Phranque]

Depends on what kind of SPS you're wanting to keep..... Montiporas, some milleporas, and birdsnest can tolerate slightly dirtier conditions, but not by much. You're going to find yourself doing very large water changes much more frequently to maintain the higher standard of water conditions that a "full on" SPS environment is going to require. At this point, I'd highly recommend a sump with a good skimmer & refugium with macro algae for nutrient export.... otherwise you're going to find yourself buying salt by the skid.

 

[Jolee0722]

I was thinking some acropolis but besides that, it would probably be softies, mushrooms, and fungia. Instead of a refugium, would I be able to use media reactors with gfo and carbon. Also, do you know what bio pellets do?

 

[Jolee0722]

Acropora

 

[Grizz]

If you plan on running Bio pellets you'll need a very good skimmer they produce a lot of bacti the the skimmer needs to remove.

 

[Jolee0722]

Okay, I was just thinking of carbon and gfo later on. I was thinking of starting out with only biological filtration and seeing how it went. If it didn't end up working out, I plan to have a fake wall and putting some filtration equipment in the back, kind of like the innovative marine nuvo tank designs.mi don't Wally want to get a sump or refugium.

 

[Jolee0722]

I also plan to have a pretty big cuc so I can avoid large ammonia spikes.

 

[Jolee0722]

I have also heard that skimmers remove a lot of trace elements that corals need, so I think I will just use reactors and maybe filter socks as a future filtration if only biological doesn't work out. Do you think this is a good plan. I recently read an article that said that the best way to maintain a reef tank is only biological filtration and replenishing trace elements with water changes. For this I have read good things about Red Sea coral pro salt. Is this a good salt for replenishing trace elements.