Adding Chemicals to Tank????

[kjord97]

So hear i am talkin to my buddy at the LFS here in virgina. I ask him, how does his pom pom's xenia and all his leathers grow so fast and spread? I mean his saltwater show reef tank at the store is very beautiful, everything grows so fast and is so healthy. He said it is all about the way you dose your chemicals, and add your freshwater. Stated that xenia's will slow there growth down alot when there is a big change in salinaty if freshwater is added to fast. I told him about every 3 days i just dump a gallon of freshwater slowly over a powerhead. I here that is not good. I also asked about how he added chemicals. I told him i added my chemicals, ie. calcium, iodine, etc, by filling cap and dumpin slowly over powerhead every few days as needed. that is if you use liquid chemicals like i do. He said big no no again. Told me to get or make an aqua doser. Also to switch to powder chemicals, all i would need is calk and strotium. He said alternate them every week, calk one week and strotium the next. Also i can use the aqua drip to refil my tank everyday with freshwater. Told me to try it for a month, and i would see a wonderful difference. I was just cuiour how you guys add your chem's and do your freshwater adds. I know someone in our club has POM POM's in there nano, and they spread like crazy, i have the same POM POM's but they have only branched 2 or 3 times. Please let me know, and i am going to try the aqua doser way and see how it goes. :thinking:

 

[reefnut]

Well here's the thing... one MAJOR thing he left out is testing. Adding kalk mix, strontium or anything else blindly is a bad idea. I do like his slow as you go approach but you HAVE to test your levels and add only what is needed to maintain those levels.
Alkalinity 8-12dkh
Calcium 400-440ppm
Strontium 7-9 mg/L
Magnesium 1300-1350ppm
Iodine .6 mg/L
but most people find that water changes will maintain most of these elements... calcium, alkalinity & sometimes magnesium being the exception.
IMHO using something like B-Ionic two part calcium/alkalinity additive is the easiest way for new hobbyists to maintain everything... that and water changes. It has trace elements in it and can be used effectively to maintain calcium/alkalinity.
Although I agree our tanks need some additives... keeping it simple is always the best.

 

[kjord97]

Originally Posted by ReefNut
Well here's the thing... one MAJOR thing he left out is testing. Adding kalk mix, strontium or anything else blindly is a bad idea. I do like his slow as you go approach but you HAVE to test your levels and add only what is needed to maintain those levels.
Although I agree our tanks need some additives... keeping it simple is always the best.

how do you go about addin fresh water, do you just dump or drip it? Also when you do you water change, you drain out about 5 gallans, and then replace it with premade saltwater, but how do you go about addin it? I just use the tube i drained with and add the water back. Should i be drippin the new saltwater into the tank as well. I have been reading about saltwer for 8 years and there is so many opionions. I have had my reef set up for well over 18 months. I have never had any problems, and everything seems to be doing well. I dont have to much coralin growin on glass, i was told cause calcium levels where low. My corals dont grow that fast eather. I have seem some peoples tank where the xenia's grow out of control in a month, mine dont really even grow. :notsure:

 

[reefnut]

My Xenia's grow very fast... they have even moved up the side of my tank.
My topoffs are set to replace the water as it evaporates... if you just topped off (all at once) once a day instead of every three you would be fine. Salinity swings are bad but it would be minimal.
During water changes I drain 5g from the display and add it back to the sump. One reason I'm a big believer in small weekly water changes is by adding 5g into my 110g or 55g doesn't have a stressful effect on anything. So I don't drip it... just add it to the sump.