Corals - success with no dosing?

[brett559]

Thinking of adding some corals to my 42g tank (smallish sump). With sand and rock displacement, there might be 50-55 gallons total water volume.

I do a 10 gallon water change every other week, so about 40% water change per month.

I currently have been using the regular Instant Ocean salt mix (purple) and it's been fine. I could start using the Reef Crystals.

I want to keep fairly easy-to-keep corals, mostly LPS and softies: frogspawn, hammer, torch, zoas, etc. No SPS. Is it possible to have success with corals like this by only keeping to my maintenance schedule, i.e., no extra dosing?

My lights are the Current Orbit PRO LED.

Let me know. Thanks!

[alten78]

My mixed reef ran very well for a few years before getting too full and needing to dose anything.

[brett559]

alten78, what salt did you use? Did you use a salt with a little extra goodies inside?

[alten78]

For awhile I used Instant Ocean, when I started to move towards a sps dominated tank is when I switched to Reef Crystals. Even now after rebuilding the tank last year and only having mostly small sps frags I still don't have to dose a 2 part system, kalk does me well and has more benefits than just dosing an equal part of alk and cal.

edit to add: kalk is in my top off water so I don't consider that as conventional dosing or needing extra equipement...

[Reeferz412]

I don't dose. But I do feed a generous amount and use Pohl's if you consider that dosing. I grow all sorts of lps, softies, and montipora.

[Reef Frog]

Your water changes may give you the ca-alK-mg you need while the corals are small frags. As you add more and they grow, you are likely to need to replenish them more frequently.

Dosing is no big deal, Kalk in an ATO is very easy & cheap. Yes, I believe you should switch to a good "reef grade" salt mix if you're going to get into stony corals. Many LPS species can suck down the minerals just as quickly as some SPS.

[3dees]

my 120 gal. is full of softies and a few lps. I don't dose anything and use IO. two years and everything is good. no sps for me.

[Art13]

with just softies and lps you should be just fine without dosing, you could switch salts if you really wanted to, but i don't think it is necessary, i think the only thing that IO runs slightly low on if i'm not mistaken is calcium, i think it comes in at 410, which shouldn't be a problem at all.

[Reef Frog]

The corals you list can grow quickly. Your need to dose or not to dose (that is the question), will be determined by your total stony coral population and its growth rate. The need can sneak up on you quickly, especially if water changes become less frequent for whatever reason. So testing periodically is a good idea and the only way to know for sure.

Some LPS seem to do well with low Ca-Alk-Mg. Others seem to suffer. Stability with numbers approximating the natural reef is the best policy no matter how you do it. The method is usually dictated by convenience. If it's convenient folks tend to stay on top of it.