Any real need to suppliment a small tank?

[Ram_Puppy]

so far I have noticed that I do need to put a buffer in my water to handle ph swings, so I have been using the Kent Super Buffer, recently though, I have started using the little 'dissolve as needed; blocks in my tank. I was told that while they may in some instances lead to in-balances, that since I am doing a 5 gallon a week water change on a 30 gallon tank, that is not something I need to worry about...

now that I am thinking adding my first hard corals, and thinking about dripping kalk and what not, I am wondering, if my 5 gallon a week water changes are going to take care of what I need done to the water? Right now no hard corals, and the build up will be light.

In late June/July the stand I am building should be done and the tank will then be about 60 gallon total volume (- space taken up by rocks and sand) wondering if that changes the scenario?

Thanks for all your advice guys... I was really nervous about putting corals in, but now that I have had great success with some softies, I am confident about moving up...

[JimD]

I would only add what my test kits indicate. Its important not to add chemicals arbitrarily, do what the test kits tell you to do,. With a 66% monthly water change, Id say you wont need to add much other than Kalk as long as your bio-load remains within reason.

[Ram_Puppy]

well there will only be 4 total vertebrates in the tank, the two pj cardinals allready in there, and two black Ocellaris clowns. plus corals, snails and a few micro hermits, one or two electric hermits, and an emerald crab for cleanup.. running a remora pro w/ mag 3 for skimming, plus a magnum 350 w/ carbon for chemical filtration. (change the carbon once every 2 weeks.)

Edit:

Oh, and I use Oceanic mix

[Henry]

When I had a 36gal tank, I didn't dose anything. Just weekly 10-15gal water changes.

[Ram_Puppy]

I am just doing 1 home depot bucket, which I think is closer to 7 - 8 gallons that 5 to be truthful... everything seems to be very happy.

[cvonseggern]

FWIW, I marked the inside of my Home Depot buckets so I can tell how much they contain. The 5-gallon mark is about 1.5" below the rim of the bucket, so I'm pretty sure the total volume is under 6 gallons.

[Ram_Puppy]

thanks, good info to know!

[Nano_Steve]

if yall are talking about the big orange buckets, they hold exactly 5 gallons. i just got done putting together my top off system and i poured my 5 gallon water bottle into the bucket, filled it up perfectly.

-steve