Nano tank dosing

[dawson reynolds]

Is it necessary to dose nano tanks when water changes are don’t frequently? I have a nuvo 20 and will be doing a 4 gallon change every week or two. I’ll be using reef crystals

 

[andrewey]

In all but the rarest cases, water changes alone will provide everything you need (assuming the saltwater contains levels you are targeting).

 

[Fishko]

Depends what you plan on stocking your system. If you plan on doing softies and lps you could prob get away with water changes until your tank really fills in. For such a small tank it doenst hurt to dose a few ml of tropic marin all for reef or two part when feeding. I have a 29g with a 10g sump. I get about .1-.2dkh a day. I dose about 1.5 ml and it keeps me at 8.0dkh

 

[BighohoReef]

As the other posts have said water changes will probably do the trick. We used reef crystals in our 30g nano with weekly water changes. Unless you start growing SPS then you might have to dose, the only other thing I would add is to use RODI water vs tap water (if you already haven't)

 

[Robertellis30]

In my 20g nuvo. Only thing I ever had to worry about was alk. Other then that all was fine.

 

[AdamNC]

Depends on what your keeping. I have a 10g nano that has Acans, Duncan’s, Blastos and Zoas and I have to dose 5ml Red Sea Alk a day. The water changes keeps my Ca and Mg in line.

 

[dawson reynolds]

I’m going to have a softy/lps tank. Acan zoas mushrooms and a hammer

 

[FragileReefer]

Every single LPS you pick will get you one step closer to dosing. It took me 2 years but now that single head of duncan is now a colony and the tiny chalice is a large plate. Stick to softies and waterchanges will be fine forever. But after you begin with LPS it will catch up to you, it's just math. But all for reef from tropicmarin is the best for nano tanks been dosing for a year and no complaint

 

[dawson reynolds]

Every single LPS you pick will get you one step closer to dosing. It took me 2 years but now that single head of duncan is now a colony and the tiny chalice is a large plate. Stick to softies and waterchanges will be fine forever. But after you begin with LPS it will catch up to you, it's just math. But all for reef from tropicmarin is the best for nano tanks been dosing for a year and no complaint

Do I have to buy test kits for alk, calcium, and magnesium if I dose all for reef? Or just alk?

 

[FragileReefer]

You should have test kits for all 3 major elements. I test ALK 2 times a week because it fluctuates the most. Calc and mag I test every two weeks or so. They are never that far out of norm but alk can drop below 7 pretty easy and that's when I have problems.

This all started at year 1 when my uptake is too much for waterchanges. After waterchange ALK was at 9 but by then end of the week it was at 7. I missed a week and had some SPS bleach and lose tissue. That's when I knew I needed to dose. Technically you can always waterchange to keep things stable but eventually you need to waterchange non stop to keep up with consumption.

 

[liam’s little reef]

Is it necessary to dose nano tanks when water changes are don’t frequently? I have a nuvo 20 and will be doing a 4 gallon change every week or two. I’ll be using reef crystals

I have a nuvo fusion myself, and I have to dose almost every day just to keep levels consistent. I only do 10% water changes (2 gallons) every week, so you may be okay considering you do 20% changes. It’s also dependent how many corals you have and your elemental uptake by your corals. I was able to dial in my dosing schedule by testing every day for 2 weeks. This allowed me to observe the fluctuations in parameters and figure out dosing accordingly.

 

[ssster2020]

I don’t have the experience to give an answer, but I’d like to ask a question, I don’t have a fish store close to home but I went to one in the closest city. I need someone to lean on. I asked the owner who seemed like a good guy and not necessarily trying to sell, how to best prepare my cycling nano for corals. He said sample and dose now even though I’m a while away from adding them. What does everyone think?

 

[andrewey]

I don’t have the experience to give an answer, but I’d like to ask a question, I don’t have a fish store close to home but I went to one in the closest city. I need someone to lean on. I asked the owner who seemed like a good guy and not necessarily trying to sell, how to best prepare my cycling nano for corals. He said sample and dose now even though I’m a while away from adding them. What does everyone think?

Maybe the best way to understand the situation would be to ask a pretty simple question. Who would you be dosing for if you don't have anything in the tank (any coraline algae at this point will be covered by water changes)?

If you couldn't tell, that advice is pretty silly.

From the discussion above, water changes will get you pretty far (measured in months, years, or until you stock corals that have very specific needs). As you will likely be starting with beginner corals (e.g. softies or easier LPS), practice water changes and focus on your nitrates and/or phosphates for now

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Everyone says water changes should cover most things until you get blah blah, and no need to dose with no corals, but no one can tell you anything correctly but your test kit.

I just set up a 20g with a couple of rocks and sand and the first week with no lights it dropped withing .5dkh...in goes a little soda ash to brig it where I want it, 8-8.5dkh..

So it is totally possible for your target ranges to drop on you even with water changes and no "corals" .you check and adjust accordingly to where you want you #s.

Test test test some people get by at doing just water changes but maybe their water changes change their #s and makes everything elevated then by the time they test it lowers to what they like but mean time its gone up and back down.

Water changes are not expensive unless your doing them for no reason. I change when phosphates and nitrates tell me to, and add the appropriate part A or B when alk, cal, mag tell me to.

Again thats basically my ideals on it but you gotta test for yourself. I use to hate testing until I wrapped my mind around how important it is, how can you add anything without knowing the current values? Get quality test kits, easy to use makes it not so daunting. Keep a log for a month or few then you will start to see whats going on.

Again only my 2 cents, its not worth much