Are inverts as hard as corals?

So I'm curious: if I'm able to keep an invert or some other kind of shrimp in a tank successfully, could I keep a few softies by doing the same maintenance for the invert (we're talking 10 gallon tank, and I would also have the lights for the corals.)?

 

Pretty much should.

 

Oh all right. Just curious because of the calcium and magnesium; I do WC's with reef crystals every Friday

 

Softies require little to no mineral supplementation so you should be able to replace with water changes. LPS you will need to add periodically. Clams and SPS daily.

 

I'd think that WC's in such a small system would supplement the corals and clams for most of the time.

 

You'd then be surprised. A 2g water change @ 440 calcium with tank water at 400 calcium will only ever bring the tank up to 410. I have an excel spreadsheet hat will help you calculate your demand, but realize that as corals grow, especially SPS, their demands increase (as high as exponential growth for some SPS species), and even this calculator won't help you with that eventuality.

The calculator is designed to let someone see whether water changes alone can sustain a steady calcium (or alkalinity) level once they know the demand of their tank, but you can play around with it and see that only under the least demanding circumstances can water changes alone cut it long term.

 

you should be fine with softies

 

Well then how about LPS?

 

It depends on the size of colonies, how much coral is in the tank relative to the tank's volume, what kinds of corals, and all sorts of other stuff. People use the label "LPS" to refer to quite a few corals that are very different from one another.

What I can tell you is that clams and SPS suck calcium and alkalinity out of the water very quickly. Softies need no supplementation at all, so if that's a concern, stick with those guys.

 

Here's the Excel spreadsheet. Feel free to use and share, but don't claim it as your own work.

. View attachment demand calculator.zip