Anemone and soft coral consumption

[A Toadstool Leather]

Do softies and anemones consume calcium or alkalinity? I know they dont make calcium carbonate skeletons like stony corals, but do they still use it? Do tanks full of nems have noticable consumption?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

No, anemones do not consume significant amounts of calcium and alkalinity.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

No, anemones do not consume significant amounts of calcium and alkalinity.

What about softies like leathers? I assume then that mushroom corals and zoas probably dont consume much either.

 

[wesman42]

What about softies like leathers? I assume then that mushroom corals and zoas probably dont consume much either.

If I remember properly, their main thing is trace elements...magnesium/iodine. Don't quote me on it though.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I remember properly, their main thing is trace elements...magnesium/iodine. Don't quote me on it though.

Just being nit picky since this is the chemistry forum. Magnesium isn't a trace element, and it won't be appreciably consumed by anything that doesn't calcify. Either is iodine a trace element, but many organism will take it up. Certainly, many true trace elements (iron, copper, manganese, etc.) are taken up by every photosynthetic organism, either from the water or in foods.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What about softies like leathers? I assume then that mushroom corals and zoas probably dont consume much either.

Some soft corals contain spicules inside them that help provide support. They are called sclerites and are made of calcium carbonate. Leathers can (I've encountered them when cutting leathers). So they will contribute to alk and calcium decline. Mushrooms and zooanthids do not, as far as I know. Coralline algae and other organisms in a soft coral tank can be huge users, and I've known soft coral tanks to use 2 dKH per day.