Does Anemone only tanks need Alkalinity and Calcium dosing?

pecan2phat · Jan 28, 2020

So I have a few tanks and one in particular is an anemone only tank with clownfish and a few mushroom corals. It's been established for 14 months and currently receives little to no water changes. I did a bunch while the tank was having nuisance algae problems but have stopped since its eradication.
On my larger mixed reef tanks I utilize a doser with ESV 2-part to keep Alk and Ca stable but this anemone themed tank is just a 65g AIO tank so I was keeping the Alk adjusted with Seachem Reef Builder and Ca with Seachem Reef Complete. Over time the tank depletes a steady daily amount of 1/4 tsp of Reef Builder and 2ml of Reef Complete for a value of 8.1 DKH & 420 PPM.
So...... my question is: Do I need to daily dose these 2 components for the anemones?
I'm gathering that the draw is from the coralline algae and maybe a little from CUC inverts. Part of setting up this type of tank was the desire to eliminate or at least cut back on dosing. I also have another 24g cube that is Zoanthid themed and have not needed to regularly dose that tank though that tank exhibits far less coralline algae.

Spare time · Jan 28, 2020

I would keep alk in a suitable range to help keep ph stable. Calcium is not used in large numbers by the anemone. I would just keep the levels at a decent level for coralline

mfinn · Jan 28, 2020

I would say no.
I've always had anemones in my softy tanks and never dose.
Just water changes.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 28, 2020

I would maintain them. If the coralline drive values down too much, the anemone may not like it, especially alk.

But you will need a lot less dosing if you keep alk in the 6.5-7 dKH range, which is perfectly fine for an anemone.

pecan2phat · Jan 28, 2020

Thanks everyone!

Tanxalot · Jul 14, 2025

Sorry to add to such an old string, but I have a very similar tank to OP and am always surprised by the apparent alk consumption in this tank. Coraline mentioned in the string above makes sense but I don't see much at all in my anemone/mushroom/zoa/paly tank (mostly anemones). I had been using 3:1 RODI:Kalk in ATO to keep up with this alk "demand" and just tested alk at 6.4 dkh! What is consuming it? Conventional reefing wisdom suggests I should have little to no alk consumption in this system. Help me R2R.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 14, 2025

Ongoing precipitation of calcium carbonate uses some of the alk and calcium dosed, as do organisms you may not consider, such as snails to build their shells.

Accumulating nitrate consumes alkalinity.