12 gal nano noob chemistry

[skunkmere]

what kind of chemicals do i need to add to my 12 gal nano with live rock. i want to add some soft corals in about a month. how often do i need a water change and how much. i used to a 10% water change weekly in my fish only tanks so i would like to change the nano the same frequency.

 

[Illuminati]

Chemicals you can use include Chemi-Pure & Purigen. Check out Dr. Foster & Smith for them, buy the little mesh bag packets, perfect for Nano's. That's basically all you will ever need.

You can do 10% if you want. I do 5 gallons weekly in my 24 gallon but I have 5 fish and mine setup is packed with coral.

If you ever make it North to the Six Flags/Gurnee Mills area and want some softie frags let me know.

What do have planned for this one?

 

[skunkmere]

im not sure what to start with. im just gonna wait to see what grows out of the rock first and then ill start adding frags. im not sure what i want i guess whatever i can get.

 

[skunkmere]

so i dont need to add calcium, idodide, or stuff like that?

 

[Illuminati]

If you do weekly water changes and use a good salt (I use reef crystals) the salt will have enough elements in it for your needs.

Now if you get shrimps they may need iodine dosed for molting, I don't keep shrimp, maybe someone else can chime in.

 

[skunkmere]

is coral life ok?

 

[fnicklaus]

Just change 1 gallon 2X per week. That should be sufficient to keep the trace elements at good levels. If you change too much water at once, it could be too drastic,so do small frequent changes.

 

[dystopian]

As colinadam said, adding activated carbon, purigen, etc could be used to polish your water, but your water changes should be more than enough to keep everything in check while you're adding corals. I wouldn't recommend adding any coral additives at all unless there's an obvious need for it, ie. corals are doing poorly and all other factors have been ruled out.

 

[skunkmere]

thanks guys. im pretty confident now on this nano