Do soft corals need magnesium or calcium at any level?

[miogpsrocks]

Do soft corals need magnesium or calcium at any level?

I am a newbie and I don't even have my fist salt water aquarium yet.

Do they require these elements?

 

[shifty51008]

If they do it is very little and regular water changes will be all you need, no need to add in anything extra, but if you want all that purple color you see in sw tanks you will need cal, alk, and mag.

 

[SoloGarth]

Any saltwater tank will experience abiotic precipitation of these elements (let's add alkalinity as well) which will lead to a lack of buffering capacity and decreased pH. Not good for any corals. So yes these elements are needed for at least this reason. Keeping up with water changes should be fine for maintaining these. You could also use a high content salt mix such as reef crystals if you don't intend to supplement in other ways.

 

[cloak]

Being that some soft corals have small Sclerites within their tissue, yes, they do need alkalinity, calcium & magnesium all to be at the proper levels for them to thrive.

 

[Bent]

Probably not so much that regular water changes won't be able to supply.

 

[benlittle1979]

I just use oceans blend two part it works very nicely.not to expensive keeps ph right calcium good. And has all essential elements. To supplement between water changes.

 

[SoloGarth]

Yeah another great and easy supplement for low demand systems is kalk. Just add it to your ATO and monitor pH.