Chemicals? Do you need them?

Hey guys, so i have my 75 gall going. Was pondering over the question of if i wanted to use any chems or keep it natural.

What does everyone think about this? I would honestly prefer to keep the tank all natural and just do weekly water changes. But what are the pros and cons of this?

Pros and cons of using chems?

 

Totally dependent on the type of corals your keeping and your tank maintenance methods. I do bi-weekly 10% water changes but because of the amount of LPS and having a Clam I must dose for calcium. Does this make my tank unnatural?

If someone's tank is being over taken with hair algae and everything they've tried thus far hasn't worked, they then decide to use chemical warfare against this very invasive algae. Does this make their tank unnatural?

IMO there are NO con's about doing water changes. However there are some tanks out here that water changes just aren't enough to sustain their live stock. Nothing unnatural about it

 

2 10% water changes a week? That sucks.

 

How fast would a 4in clam suck up the nutrients in a 6gallon tank? Or a 75 gallon?

 

In a 6 gallon (assuming strong enough lighting), a 4 in clam would suck up Calcium, alkalinity, and Magnesium fairly quickly. You would want to do a pretty good sized water change every 7 days (like 30% as opposed to 10%) or dose supplements.

In a 75 gallon it won't affect anything.

BTW, replacing Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, Strontium and such IS NATURAL. Our tanks are a semi-closed system with a slightly less water volume than the oceans.

 

That totally depends on the species, growth rate, amount of light, ect..

 

dersea clam. 2 orphek pr-3 led bulbs. Long light cycle. Coral only tank.

Seems to be doing awesome! Opens fully and seems to be growing. lol

 

So you have no fish in there creating dissolved organics (also natural) and you're not feeding "chemicals" because you want a natural tank?

Neither corals nor clams feed 100% on photosynthesis. I tried an experiment once and when I saw the results, I ended the experiment early and saved the animals.

 

I put phyto plankton in. I am talking like putting stuff like copper in a tank.

 

You're putting copper into your tank every time you do a waterchange. It's a trace element that is in your salt mix. Luckily, it's not in the concentration that will kill inverts.

The above is the technical answer. Here's my real answer. I'm glad you are doing supplemental feeding.