Soft coral in a big tank with fish...without calcim reactor it is possible?

[frank88]

It is possible without calcium reactor and only changes of water for the soft corals?

In a 800 gallon tank :worried2:

Only Soft corals + many fish of all types, I still have to integrate trace elements etc?

thanks to all.

 

[Scoey]

Absolutely! It would help if you used a reef salt when you did water changes to get a little calcium and trace elements in there, but not totally necessary with soft corals. If you want LPS or SPS then you either need a reactor or you need to dose calcium.

 

[Flanders]

No. Your calcium and alkalinity levels will creep down over time. Water changes cannot mathematically keep up. You might not need to dose daily and the depletion will happen slower than it would in a stony coral tank, but it will happen.

Even in a fish-only tank, calcification happens when coralline algae grows, when snails and inverts grow their shells, and from biological processes.


Read this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8528221

 

[Khemul]

It'll all depends really. All tanks are different. Some things are unavoidable, like what Flanders mentions, but the levels aren't always the same. Hell, there is always the odd case of the tank that goes years without a water change without needing dosing or supplements so you never know.

You won't need the full bells and whistles of an LPS or SPS tank (which aren't always necessary even for those) with a softie tank. But you may still want to at least keep an eye on levels and adjust when needed.

 

[insanefishguy]

You could possibly just do kalk in your topoff water.

 

[frank88]

No. Your calcium and alkalinity levels will creep down over time. Water changes cannot mathematically keep up. You might not need to dose daily and the depletion will happen slower than it would in a stony coral tank, but it will happen.

Even in a fish-only tank, calcification happens when coralline algae grows, when snails and inverts grow their shells, and from biological processes.


Read this:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8528221

advise me how to integrate it? : Thumbsup:

 

[gregm11]

just use iodine and essential elements and they will do fine unless someone is picking on them.

 

[Flanders]

advise me how to integrate it? : Thumbsup:

I would suggest dosing kalk in your topoff water as Khemul suggested, but start off with a small dose and increase until you feel you have a balance with what is being depleted. That'd certainly be the cheapest solution in a large tank like you describe.

 

[Flanders]

I would suggest dosing kalk in your topoff water as was suggested, but start with a small dose and ramp it up until you strike a balance with what is being depleted.