new 20 gallon nano

[clowntank10]

i am going to setup a 20 gallon tank. i am downgrading from my 55 gallon tank. the twenty gallon tank is going to be a regular one. i have 35 pounds of live rock the same for live sand. i have a maroon clown a diadema pseudo and cleaner shrimp. i intend to have a back pack fuge. i am going to use for lighting 2X65 watt pc fixture all 10,00k bulbs. is this enough light to keep sps? i intend to keep a mixed reef but with sps dominant. i am going to use teh same rock, sand water and etc from my 55 so im knida sure i dont have to cycle again. big question is kan i do sps in this tank. i intend to add two more fish. 4 fish at the most.. so how does it sound

 

[Anonymous]

I think SPS is doable, but I don't think any more fish are. Maroons are mean, not to mention the diadema dotty. Maroons also get to be about 6" full grown, which is a big bioload in such a small tank.

Trade that clown in for an ocellaris, and the dotty in for an orchid dottyback, and then we can talk about other fish

 

[brandon4291]

Good call Matt.

I also think sps is doable if you stocked them high up on the rock wall, but you can really maintain the coloration by using MH if you'll make the cost jump to that lighting right off the bat.

My SPS don't really keep the intense colors under PC but they do grow. I'll settle for a little brownishness if they'll still plate and send up new lateral growths, but in your case your nano is big enough to deal with MH heat so if you'll upgrade now you will not need anything else in the future to keep pretty much any photosynthetic coral you want. Of course my problem is I am working with 13w PC's, I remember Matt had fine purple acro (or was it monti?) growth under his 65 w pc's so at least it can be done. Keep those calcium levels and alk levels high and you're good to go.

B