How to get the coraline to grow?

[brian90vette]

Hmm.. Phosphates inhibit coraline from growing.. I thoght the phosphate was absorbed so quickly it wasnt a factor. Anyways,
how often do you guys use calk? Everytime you topoff or once a week?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[chiton]

Daisy,
I think what Bang Guy was refering to was some recent articles about elevated Borate in Seachem salt. According to Seachem, Reef Builder and Advantage Calcium do not contain Boron at significant levels, only their salt mix for increased buffering capacity. I use Seachem Reef Builder, Advantage calcium and IO salt, and Boron levels are in check.
Still might be worth checking though
Brian

 

[daisy]

Hmm... I use Instant Ocean salt (until the bucket is empty...). The seachem additives I use are reefbuilder and reef advantage - one week I add one in top-off water, one week I add the other in top-off water. I also add three other seachem additives twice weekly. I don't remember what they're called and I'm not home right now to check, but I'll post it when I get home.
So do I have to check for Boron?

 

[enomadra]

I was recomended to use Feather Calluerpa in my Refugium. I was told that it really pulls P04 out of the water good.

 

[bang guy]

If Seachem has reformulated their reef advantage and reef builder without the Borate salts then I stand corrected.

 

[jimnlee]

I hope I'm not being rude...intruding on Daisies thread with a question of my own...but I think it's relevant. I also am having a difficult time getting my coralline to grow, but I just read somewhere that if you use a brush and "clean it" under water (inside your tank) it will release spores and therefore spread more readily. Has anyone ever heard this before? Thanks, please excuse the intrusion Daisy. :thinking:

 

[fishman830]

i've heard of that

 

[chiton]

Ok, Bang Guy scared me regarding Borate in certain Seachem products, so I wanted to ask again regarding the Seachem Reef Builder or Advantage Calcium containing Borate/Boron.
Here's their response;
No they do not simply because your reef does not consume borate so
there is no need to replenish it. However, our Marine Buffer does
contain some borate salts if you wish to increase your borate
alkalinity content. Our Reef Status Magnesium/Carbonate/Borate test
kit will help to determine what part of your total alkalinity is
carbonate based and what part of your alkalinity is borate.
--
Best Regards,
Seachem Technical Support,rb
Seachem Laboratories, Inc.
I actually disagree with the statement that your reef does not consume Borate.
Chiton

 

[bang guy]

OK great. It appears they've taken the Borate out of their additives except for the buffers.
A reef tank will consume Borate, but at a pretty slow rate.

 

[aarone]

do this dance

 

[neoreef]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
OK great. It appears they've taken the Borate out of their additives except for the buffers.
A reef tank will consume Borate, but at a pretty slow rate.
It's very confusing, but I think that Seachem's Reef Builder is considered a buffer since it "raises carbonate alkalinity without immediately impacting pH". This is one of the products that Seachem claimed had no borate in the above post.
I'm guessing that Reef Advantage Calcium is calcium chloride with some magnesium and strontium thrown in. Anyone have a clue what Seachem's Reef Buffer, which raises alk and ph, is? I would guess CaOH, but that shouldn't raise alk.

 

[chiton]

Reef Builder main components are Carbonate/Bicarbonate, Chloride and Sulfide salts, with mainly Sodium as the counter ion. The high percentage of Carbonate/Bicarbonate has to affect pH by definition as it is a buffer, but is probably at a ratio that will stabalize things around 8.1-8.2.
Advantage Calcium contains Sodium, Magnesium, Calcium, Strontium, and Potassium salts, with mainly Chloride as the counter ion. None of these are very good buffers, so there will be minimal effect on pH with this. No CaOH here, as with Kalk.
Reef Buffer, from what I gather from Seachem, is similar to Reef Builder, but loaded with NaBorate to effectively raise and/or stabalize tank pH around 8.3. It is meant to be used with Reef Builder to raise pH.
Chiton

 

[neoreef]

Thanks Chiton, and welcome to the board. In addition, a biochemist!