What do you really need to add?

[ReeferMedic]

Hey all! I'm a bit new to this forum. I've been keeping reef tanks for a few years now and I can't help but wonder if i'm throwing all kinds of money away on all the supplements i buy for it. I was wondering if any one had an answer to the never ending question. What do you actually need to add to a reef tank with some fish also. I add Strontium 2x a week, Potassium iodide 2x a week, Magnessium 1x a week, Kalkwasser with all top off water(deionized of course), Bicarb when needed, Boyds Vita Chem 1x a week, Vitamin C every day, trace elements for corals, trace elements for fish. I keep every thing that I can test for at optimun levels. I just feel like some of this stuff must be unnecessary. Any info on this would be a great help..................

 

[JohnK]

personally I would dump all that stuff and just keep the kalk additions. Dosing mg is only good if your testing it and keeping a specific level. Anything else you can't test for I would avoid [Just do regular water changes and monitor the Ca and Alk]

 

[ReeferMedic]

You don't add any thing else to yours? Just curious, what do you keep? I have a 200 gallon tank and it's expensive to keep up with all this stuff if I don't need it.

 

[dima96]

the only things i add to my reefs are ca/alk supplements(kalkwasser and ca reactor in the sps tank and b-ionic in the others), food and phyto. my sps tank also gets mg supplements when needed. i truely belive regular water changes take care of the rest of the trace elelment needs.

 

[starrfish]

I agree with the above - I only add calc/alk through kalk top-off and 2-part supplements when needed. I also add phyto, vitamins, cyclop-eeze and garlic to the fish goo that I make - takes care of the corals and the fish with every feeding. Regular water changes should take care of the rest.

 

[dima96]

yeah i forgot to mention the selcon and garlic, i add to the food. i feed mysis, brine, cyclop-eeze, several different flavors of ocean nutrition foods and fresh or frozen seafood.

 

[JohnK]

I add Kalk, use a Ca reactor, and do water changes. I also feed my fish now and then. I keep all SPS in one tank and BTA's and softies in the other tank.

 

[ReeferMedic]

Thanks, you've saved me a ton of money in the future............

 

[Moe_K]

I agree with the above.
In my SPS loaded 125, I'll monitor calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. I'll run a calcium reactor and supplement those three as needed. Everything else will be maintained by water changes and by feeding the fish.

 

[NateHanson]

I'll hop on the popular answer too, just in case you're ever tempted to start buyin all those little bottles again.

In my mainly SPS tank, I only supplement Ca and Alk (mostly with Kalk), and I test those very often. I test magnesium a few times a year, and supplement with MgCl2 if needed. I let water changes take care of the rest. I try to do a 10% change every other week (but sometimes I'm bad).

Nate

 

[Reef55]

with a 200 gallon I would invest in a calcium reactor real quick

 

[me2003]

I use to add Calcium Hydroxide,Iodine and strontium. After I started using a calcium reactor I stoped all additives except Calcium Hydroxide. I believe that the media you
select for your calcium reactor can have additives others do not. Examples below



Hydro-carbonate is a natural product and is used in Calcium reactors. German made, pure Calcium carbonate, phosphate free media. 15lbs bulk box.

ARM media
A complete aragonite reactor media containing not only calcium and carbonate but essential trace elements as well. In fact, A.R.M. has nearly 50 times the strontium of other brands (7390ppm). A.R.M. is processed for immediate use - no rinsing required, and has double the surface area of regular aragonite. Precision grading allows for maximum carbon dioxide penetration, and teh exclusion of shells insures the lowest phosphate and silica (about 1/2 that of other brands) content. This grading also carries in the halimeda incrassate, an aragonite so pure it has been used as a laboratory standard. A.R.M. has the highest solubility of any reactor media available.

 

[wrassefan]

I still add vita-chem to the frozen brine and other frozen foods before I feed the fish and corals. If you add it to the water, your fouling it and making the skimmer work harder.

 

[JohnK]

FWIW and correct me if I'm wrong,

the Ca reactor is actually best for maintaining high Alk and the kalk drip will keep the Ca up. The kalk also helps to precipitate phosphate and the Ca reactor will supplement a couple of other factors.

Join the club and start your own collection of "crap I bought but don't need after all". Anybody want to buy some Kent Nitrate sponge?

 

[wsonner]

This is really a good thread!

 

[NateHanson]

FWIW and correct me if I'm wrong,

the Ca reactor is actually best for maintaining high Alk and the kalk drip will keep the Ca up. The kalk also helps to precipitate phosphate and the Ca reactor will supplement a couple of other factors.

Well, you asked for it - a correction that is.

The calcium reactor supplements Ca and Alk in a balanced proportion. To a much lesser extent, it may also add trace minerals depending on the conditions of the reactor and the media used.

Kalk also supplements BOTH Ca and Alk in a balanced proportion, and as you say, might help precipitate phosphate.

Nate

 

[Shallowwaters]

How about Iron?

How about dosing iron?

Randy Holmes-Farley wrote an interesting article on it a while back in Advanced Aquarist. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Has anybody tried it? What happened?

I am a heavy fish feeder and quality foods must have iron going into solution at some point, right? I tested my system for iron with a good test kit and it measured absolutely zero. Doesn't that mean that something is using iron?

 

[denvig]

I agree with the above.
In my SPS loaded 125, I'll monitor calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. I'll run a calcium reactor and supplement those three as needed. Everything else will be maintained by water changes and by feeding the fish.

This is what I do as well.

 

[JohnK]

Didn't mean to imply otherwise, meant that Ca reactor's tend to drive the Alk up in relation to the Ca. Both Ca reactor and Kalk drip will help to maintain both levels but IME the Ca reactor alone tends to push the Alk up which will eventually limit the Ca level your able to maintain. IMO they work best when used together.

 

[nunofs]

I agree with the view that water changes replenish most trace elements... that said, and I'm not suggesting this is good practice, what (if anything) should someone be dosing if they're not doing regular water changes?

Nuno