BC29 -- Advice on Next Steps for SPS

[egscms]

Hi -- new to this forum. Hoping for some advice to ratchet up my BC29 to include SPS. I've tried, but not successfully. Below I toss out some options from reading threads and some questions. Any advice would be great.

CURRENT SET UP
-Sunpod150
-Floss in first chamber
-Sponges in second chamber with ChemElite under false floor
-Heater in third chamber
-Kora 1 powerhead (in addition to stock)
-10-15% water changes 2x weekly (and still having trouble with Alk and Calc)
-Candy cane, hammer, shrooms, 3 fish

POSSIBLE OPTIONS? Please provide feedback, other ideas . . .
-Heater to chamber 1
-Tunze 9002 in chamber 2
-Media basket in third camber

OR

-Aqua Life Mini in Chamber 1
-Media basket in Chamber 2 or ChemiPure Elite under false floor with Cheato above
-Heater in three

QUESTIONS
-I use spring water for top off. Should I go with RO/DI?
-I top off almost daily -- how important is ATO?
-How important is auto dosing?
-Thoughts in fuge?

 

[skipm]

If your having cal/alk problems you should probably start using something to supplement them, you could use a 2 part additive like ESVs B Ionic or use kalkwasser in your top off water.
It doesn't make a lot of difference on the chamber order, I would stay with the way you have it though. Stay on top of keeping the floss clean or it could cause problems down the line.
I can't really say whether your spring water is safe for top off, I would go with RO/DI to be safe. Daily top off is minimum, an ATO keeps things more consistent by adding top off more often keeping salinity swings to a minimum.
Auto dosing is a luxury, once you dial in how much you need to dose then it isn't that important whether it's added automatically or manually as long as it's added regularly.
Refugiums are great, they add a place where benficial things like copepods and amphipods can reproduce w/o predation, you can also grow macroalgae for nutrient export. Depending on how they are plumbed they can also add water volume to your system.