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To Dose or not to Dose?


Drewlonius

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Hello all i finally got my Pico all cycled and added some zoa's and shrooms i plan to stock it pretty heavy with softies i was just wondering i see alot of info about Modding and everything else dont get me wrong i could sit and read these forums for hours, question is does anyone use any chemicals in there tank Part A&B or any type of coral food or does the constant water changes take care of everything? Also id love to post pics but not sure how to shrink the picture size :(.

Thanx all

Drew

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If you are jam packed I think you're going to have to dose. Unless you are doing massive weekly water changes or twice weekly water changes to keep up with the trace elements. Of course we may have different ideas of jammed.

 

Just doing a water change, test right after then test a week later. This will tell you if you need to dose or you don't. Remember to try again when your corals grow significantly.

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also you mentioned feeding, the tank should be fed well it cannot live without feeding. I recommend cyclopeeze, it will feed everything in the tank and the soft corals can actively absorb its degratory nutrients from the water column. even soft corals who don't actively take in large prey like LPS must be fed in the sense the water needs dissolved compounds the coral can access for the building blocks its tissue requires. photosynthesis absolutely does not meet the total energy requirements of hard and soft corals, its an accessory. active feeding occurs in all corals, even zoathids, via passive and active absorbtion of chemicals from the immediate surroundings.

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Thanx guys i might Dose in the future maybe. Im currently doing water changes twice a week Wed and sundays. Ill definatly go get a bar of the cyclopleeze. Alsdo why do people reverse lite there refuge from there tank lite?

Drew

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igotreefermadness

I was going to just do biweekly WCs to my 10g. But I began testing and recently discovered my LFS' RO/DI water comes with an alkalinity of 7 dkh and a high Ph. So I need to adjust my water before i ever put it in unless I like slow growth. So biweekly WCs arent the end all solution for everyone.

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Funktastic Wint
I was going to just do biweekly WCs to my 10g. But I began testing and recently discovered my LFS' RO/DI water comes with an alkalinity of 7 dkh and a high Ph. So I need to adjust my water before i ever put it in unless I like slow growth. So biweekly WCs arent the end all solution for everyone.

 

zoas will not survive without feeding food such as oyster feast etc. i dose .3 ml oyster feast every morning in my tank for my zoas. they will die in a nutrient poor system like a pico with no fish.

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I have a tank that has been running for over a year with tons of softies, LPS, SPS, zoas, and everything in the book and I have never dosed. It is a 28 gallon with no skimmer, Evil's PAR38 lighting and all I do is a 2 gallon water change once a week with Reef Crystals. My coral has colored up, and I have had an explosion of SPS growth ever since I started with the Reef Crystals. In a small tank dosing is risky because it is difficult to get the amounts right or measure for everything. I feed flakes, pellets, and then some mysis every other day and things have been great and I have a heavy load. 4 Chromis, 2 fire fish, and a clown along with a cleaner shrimp and the assorted CUC. Hope this helps.

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Funktastic Wint
I have a tank that has been running for over a year with tons of softies, LPS, SPS, zoas, and everything in the book and I have never dosed. It is a 28 gallon with no skimmer, Evil's PAR38 lighting and all I do is a 2 gallon water change once a week with Reef Crystals. My coral has colored up, and I have had an explosion of SPS growth ever since I started with the Reef Crystals. In a small tank dosing is risky because it is difficult to get the amounts right or measure for everything. I feed flakes, pellets, and then some mysis every other day and things have been great and I have a heavy load. 4 Chromis, 2 fire fish, and a clown along with a cleaner shrimp and the assorted CUC. Hope this helps.

 

ur corals are surviving from the leftover fish food. when there are no fish and no fish food the stuff in a pico will die without dosing coral food.

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ur corals are surviving from the leftover fish food. when there are no fish and no fish food the stuff in a pico will die without dosing coral food.

I don't think so

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Funktastic Wint
I don't think so

 

yea the zoas/ palys will definately decline. i know this. mushrooms will be fine and some of the other softies but even they need phyto to really flourish.

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I don't think so either because SPS don't use flake food and mysis to grow. The LEDs have helped a lot, but my calcium, alkalinity, and everything else is well within normal ranges. The key has been the water changes. My levels were a bit low when I was using a different salt, but the Reef Crystals have a bit higher amounts of what I need, and since the tank isn't super heavy on SPS it works out well. I skipped a water change once though because of a trip and my levels changed a lot, but not enough to damage anything. The key is regular changes.

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yea the zoas/ palys will definately decline. i know this. mushrooms will be fine and some of the other softies but even they need phyto to really flourish.

 

Not saying they will not benefit from food......but ever heard of photosynthesis? Where do you think the color in coral comes from. Google zooxanthellae.

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Funktastic Wint
I don't think so either because SPS don't use flake food and mysis to grow. The LEDs have helped a lot, but my calcium, alkalinity, and everything else is well within normal ranges. The key has been the water changes. My levels were a bit low when I was using a different salt, but the Reef Crystals have a bit higher amounts of what I need, and since the tank isn't super heavy on SPS it works out well. I skipped a water change once though because of a trip and my levels changed a lot, but not enough to damage anything. The key is regular changes.

 

SPS can survive completely off of Photosynthesis. but will benefit greatly from phyto and zoo plankton

 

kthanks

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SPS can survive completely off of Photosynthesis. but will benefit greatly from phyto and zoo plankton

 

kthanks

 

So can all the other corals mentioned in this thread......

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Funktastic Wint
Not saying they will not benefit from food......but ever heard of photosynthesis? Where do you think the color in coral comes from. Google zooxanthellae.

 

yes the zooxanthellae will provide almost enough for the polyps. but not enough IMO especially in a pico aquarium. Polyps like zoas/ palys need supplemental feedings if u actually want to see them live/colonize.

 

My rose nebulas started out as a 3 polyp colony last month and now i am seeing 3-6 clones after only one month. my 3 polyps of pink galaxy are also budding at the same rate.

 

i had many polyps in my biocube 29 when i first started which all starved to death without daily feeding. even with a great deal of water changes.

 

So can all the other corals mentioned in this thread......

 

none of your aquariums even qualify as a pico tank so i dont know why u are even on this forum.

 

actually none of your tanks even qualify as nano.

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i had many polyps in my biocube 29 when i first started which all starved to death without daily feeding. even with a great deal of water changes.

Do you know for a fact that they starved. IME, all corals can survive without feedings, exept those that are non-photosynthetic.

 

I wouldn't start dumping nutrients into a pico aquarium unless you are absolutely positive you can handle the extra bioload. I wouldn't spot feed them until you are sure that they need it.

 

 

Oh, And arguing semantics is stupid.

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none of your aquariums even qualify as a pico tank so i dont know why u are even on this forum.

 

actually none of your tanks even qualify as nano.

 

Dude, you are such a jackass. Just thought it needed to be said.

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Mr. Microscope

+1. Feeding and water changes! Dosing is not necessary unless you've got hard stuff. Corals will live with only light, but it will not thrive and will eventually degrade into nothing. The reason that a lot of people think corals will live without feeding is because they have larger tanks with fish. Fish waste is one of the best sources of nutrients for softies. So, some can get away without it. In picos, most people don't have fish. Hence, there needs to be some sort of supplementation.

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none of your aquariums even qualify as a pico tank so i dont know why u are even on this forum.

 

actually none of your tanks even qualify as nano.

 

Because I am talking about light, not tank size. 300 PAR in a nano is the same as 300 PAR in a 250G tank :) Thanks for playing though. You are talking nutrients while I am talking and "light" feeding the corals with sugar produced by the zooxanthellae.

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We are all trying to help each other out with experiences we have had and what worked for us, so don't get all high and mighty thinking you are the only one that is right when we have living proof that our way has worked well too. And certainly don't think you are god that you can say our tanks don't even qualify as a nano!

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Funktastic Wint
+1. Feeding, water changes, dosing not necessary unless you've got hard stuff. Stuff will live with only light, but it will not thrive and will eventually degrade into nothing.

 

yup. thanks micro. :)

 

^^ he knows his stuff.

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yup. thanks micro. :)

 

^^ he knows his stuff.

 

Maybe in your experience but I have purple death and green dragon eye colonies that put out at least a bud or two a week in my tank and have been doing that for over eight months and I don't dose or feed them anything. Nothing has degraded or died, so obviously, your experience is just your experience, and it can work doing it other ways.

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yup. thanks micro. :)

 

^^ he knows his stuff.

 

You are contradicting yourself. You JUST said "SPS can survive completely off of Photosynthesis" and then agreed with somebody who said that "Feeding, water changes, dosing not necessary unless you've got hard stuff".

 

You need to shut up.

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