My first "big-ish" tank

[dnguyen1]

Hey guys, so not entirely BIG but 70g w/ a 40g sump.

My previous tank was 50 and I counted on doing water changes to replenish trace elements.

I am going to keep this tank simple which is primarily going to be easier to keep softies and fish.

I'm just thinking about bi-weekly or even monthly water changes now being much larger than I'm previously used to and if dosing might be a better way to replenish trace elements?

I've tried to search for a few articles but am wondering if anybody can chime in on a good "trace elements 101" type of an article of thread that I can dig into.

In essence, is calcium/alkalinity/magnesium vital if I'm not not keeping corals that are advanced?

TIA

 

[homer1475]

The big 3 are important to nearly every life in the ocean.

For example, fish need alkalinity to remain stable so they keep their nice slime coat to help fend off disease. All corals(yes even softies), even coraline use all 3.

As far as actual trace elements(iodine, strontium, potassium, etc), bi weekly or even monthly WC's are usually enough to replenish these.

 

[five.five-six]

The big 3 are important to nearly every life in the ocean.

For example, fish need alkalinity to remain stable so they keep their nice slime coat to help fend off disease. All corals(yes even softies), even coraline use all 3.

That is correct however, the consumption rate of softies and FOWLR is vastly lower than the consumption rate of stony corals.

OP should be just fine with WCs

 

[sde1500]

Hey guys, so not entirely BIG but 70g w/ a 40g sump.

My previous tank was 50 and I counted on doing water changes to replenish trace elements.

I am going to keep this tank simple which is primarily going to be easier to keep softies and fish.

I'm just thinking about bi-weekly or even monthly water changes now being much larger than I'm previously used to and if dosing might be a better way to replenish trace elements?

I've tried to search for a few articles but am wondering if anybody can chime in on a good "trace elements 101" type of an article of thread that I can dig into.

In essence, is calcium/alkalinity/magnesium vital if I'm not not keeping corals that are advanced?

TIA

Dosing would be more complicated I'd say. I don't think a regimen of testing and dosing tons of trace elements really makes sense until a tank size of a few hundred gallons. Even then most don't. A good example of one that does here is GlennF. You can find his tank here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2395250
You can find more info on his method on his website here: http://www.dsrreefing.nl/

 

[anthonys51]

I have a 600 gallon system and I too wanted to not do water changes. To be honest everything was going great and about month 10 things started to go south. Now it wasn't a tank crash or anything like that. But a piece here and there died plus a bunch of acro. Last 2 months been doing weekly water changes and my tank is starting to bounce back. Now yes maybe the op can get away with biweekly or even once a month water changes with softies. But I will ask why. To do 20 gallon water changes once a week cost 5 bucks. Why not do it. Once you set up a routine on doing it , it becomes easy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ReefMaster48]

I have a 600 gallon system and I too wanted to not do water changes. To be honest everything was going great and about month 10 things started to go south. Now it wasn't a tank crash or anything like that. But a piece here and there died plus a bunch of acro. Last 2 months been doing weekly water changes and my tank is starting to bounce back. Now yes maybe the op can get away with biweekly or even once a month water changes with softies. But I will ask why. To do 20 gallon water changes once a week cost 5 bucks. Why not do it. Once you set up a routine on doing it , it becomes easy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I wonder if you only have a few pieces dying off if that might have been some coral warfare? Maybe not a direct result of no WC, but the WC took out the chemicals? Just a thought


OP, check out BRS on youtube. Some great videos, and I think they have a number on dosing and even started not doing WCs on their tank and are testing to see how it goes.

 

[anthonys51]

It's might be. With corals I been in the hobby a long time. But I basically no very little . Still learning everyday. That's why I just go back to basic. Simple water changes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ReefMaster48]

It's might be. With corals I been in the hobby a long time. But I basically no very little . Still learning everyday. That's why I just go back to basic. Simple water changes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

haha! I don't think that anyone can learn even half of this hobby. lol

Even if the warfare caused the corals to die off, we can't "end" there. As the WC would have removed those toxins. So maybe the lack of WCs didn't "cause" issues, yet it did....lol



If I could go to the dosing method, I would love to stop WCs. But I don't know if completely stopping it is a great idea. Maybe doing a larger WC every other month or quarterly would be better to remove anything that we can't see. That would be a bit more feasible IMO.

 

[dnguyen1]

Thanks everybody, good to get perspective that the tank should still have water changes done at this size.

If I do dosing, do you guys think the manual hand dosing w/ the liquid is okay? I would just drop it into my auto top off... and then still with MONTHLY water change? Too little too much?

 

[anthonys51]

haha! I don't think that anyone can learn even half of this hobby. lol



Even if the warfare caused the corals to die off, we can't "end" there. As the WC would have removed those toxins. So maybe the lack of WCs didn't "cause" issues, yet it did....lol







If I could go to the dosing method, I would love to stop WCs. But I don't know if completely stopping it is a great idea. Maybe doing a larger WC every other month or quarterly would be better to remove anything that we can't see. That would be a bit more feasible IMO.

Yes we don't really know. I have a calcium reactor. So I though it would replace trace elements and keep tank stable. But to me now water changes is like exercise is to losing weight. New fads come and go. Some actually work but nothing beats exercise when you want to lose weight


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[ReefMaster48]

If you want to go the dosing route, look up Jabeo's dosing system. Much cheaper then other systems

Yes we don't really know. I have a calcium reactor. So I though it would replace trace elements and keep tank stable. But to me now water changes is like exercise is to losing weight. New fads come and go. Some actually work but nothing beats exercise when you want to lose weight


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

:lmao::lmao::lmao: Great analogy!!!!! :thumbsup: