The successful SPS tank

[Myka]

What kind of lighting do you have? If you have T5 or halides, I doubt it's your lighting causing the brown SPS. If you have LEDs it may be the settings.

Originally Posted by Treebeard

Is there a successful "minimalists" approach to keeping a vibrant and colorful SPS tank? What I mean is, can it be done without using a lot of additives and dosing etc.? Is having good water quality, appropriate flow and lighting enough?
I've been researching this to death and am no further ahead than when I started.

Yes, you can do a minimalist approach, but in order to do so you really need to have a SPS-only tank. You need to pick enough fish to provide a bit of food for the SPS, but not so many that they impede water quality. You also need to pick the right fish. All the fish should be chosen for a job, not because you like how they look. Then you need to provide really good flow, in my opinion this is thee most important factor (assuming everything else is good, the flow still needs to be really good). SPS want to have their skin clean, and if you don't give them enough flow they will drown in their own mucous (so to say). Add good lighting; several T5 tubes, or 250W halides, or one of the better LED fixtures. Use an over-sized skimmer, use carbon, use GFO when needed (not always needed).

And THEN...keep water parameters VERY stable! Keep alkalinity within 0.5 dKH all the time. Keep calcium within 20 ppm. Don't let salinity fluctuate. Don't let temp fluctuate. Be dedicated to waterchanges. Keep everything on a schedule.

So that's simple, right?