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Coral Vue Hydros

Salt and supplement for less than 4 gallon tank


Anais

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Hi, I am new member here. I stay in Asian country where the temperature is about 28-32 C degree all year long. We don't use heater, we use chiller here.

 

I am starting a new tank, it's length is 1.5 feet, about 18 litres (less than 4 gallons). It has been running for 6 months. It has a cluster of zoanthids, a ricordea, small patch of Gsp, a saltwater molly, a coral banded shrimp, 3 sps frags : 2 montipora, and a birdnest coral.

 

Biological filtration is through live rocks and a bunch of macro algae. Water movement is created by using small wavemaker. I do large water change (about 12 litres) weekly.

 

Currently I am using aquacraft salt, without any dosing or supplement. However, as I plan this tank to be an Sps dominated, I am thinking about what is the best system for color and growth of the coral.

 

Are all salt suitable for large water change method? I've read about some probiotic salt (aquaforest, tropic marin, fauna marin), and usually used together with protein skimmer. Would these salt suitable for small tank with frequent water change? Will I need to dose and give supplements? I hope you can share some of your experience with me. Thanks!

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Welcome to N-R.com.

 

You can be successful with any number of salt mixes. None of them require small water changes.

 

As far as supplements, you'll just have to test and determine if levels are getting low. However, some people with picos change out all the water every week so they don't have to test levels.

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Hi, thanks for the warm welcome, and thank you for replying my question?. I think I need to clarify it a bit, I am not asking about general reef salt here, but specifically about prebiotic salt with ultra low nutrients system. As far as I understand, these probiotic salt encourage growth of beneficial bacteria, then as the bacterias dies they need to be removed through protein skimmer. Now my question is: does it work in pico tank without skimmer, where built up is removed only through weekly large water change?

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Oh sorry; I kind of skimmed right past that (pun intended).

 

To be honest, I'm not all that familiar with probiotic salt mixes. The way that I understand them is, at their heart, they are adding a carbon source (I suppose that this could even be sugar). I haven't read what type of carbon is used.

 

Carbon dosing is typically done on a daily basis, so I'm a little at a loss as to why it would be included in a salt mix. Maybe this just shows my ignorance, IDK.

 

And you are right that protein skimming is considered necessary when adding carbon. Without a protein skimmer, I can only imagine that you would want to perform large water changes daily. I'm speculating here of course.

 

But without a protein skimmer, I probably wouldn't consider carbon dosing of any sort. I would stick with more traditional salt mixes and large water changes (and a two part solution like B-Ionic, if supplements are necessary).

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