Opinions on LFS advise

[jpawson]

I went to a LFS last night and think I am going to make a few changes to the chemicals I add to my tank. Can the experts tell me what you think?
My tank has been running for 1 yr. Detail: 120gal/20gal sump/18gal refugium 15 to 20 soft corals(leathers, mushrooms, polyps, hammers....About 8 fish. Everythig is healthy.....no coraline growth though. Calcium stays at 350. I dont know about dkh- never tested this. Nitrates/Amonia/PH all on target.
What I am currently adding:
1. Constant Kalkwasser drip- from 5 gal aquadose..When this empties I add a dose of Kent Pro Buffer dkh wait a day then start the drip back up....
2. Iodine- Once a week
3. Strontium/Molybdenum- Once a week
4. Phytoplankton- powder mix- Once a week
15-20% water changes once a month.
What was suggested by LFS:
1. Stop everything for 2 weeks....No chemicals at all. In this 2 week period do 2 water changes using Coralife Scientific Grade Salt (I have been using Instant Ocean) Supposedly the Coralife is much better in his opinion and will make a huge difference alone)
2. Use C-Balance by Two Little Fishes to maintain Calcium and dkh.
He sold me some liquid Phytoplankton to use for the corals which I should add once a week.
3. Water Changes monthly.
That is it. No other chemicals. He said the changes in my tank would be huge. He said there is no need for the other stuff I have been adding. There was a thread a while back about this "new" fish store in Raleigh, NC which was amazing. This is where I got this advise. He does it on his tanks and gives this advise to everyone. He said Kalkwasser is old school and the C-Balance will provide much better results. I could see myself saving a lot of money not purchasing Strontium, Iodine and Kalkwasser anymore.
This guy was very knowledgable and seemed to know what he was talking about. I could look at his tanks and see results.
Let me know what you think and Thank You!

 

[j-cal]

If your are not testing for those trace elements i agree you are better off just getting them from salt. If you came into my LFS i would have told you to just do small h2o changes every 3-4 weeks with IO. Drip your calc but try to get it up to 400-450ish and dont add those trace elements unless you are testing for them. The change of way to add calc seemed fine too. The switch of salt seems ok, but IO has worked great for me and many of my customers (exceot the one that got a bad bucket and had tank crashage ) I would have just told u to stop adding the traces and do h2o changes more often. Seems like sound advice tho
Justin

 

[bdhough]

You can trust what they say. But keep in mind there is no one way to do a tank. There are alot of options out there. Those guys know me At least the one guy who likes to ramble knows me. If you want some other good advice go by fish pros on hillsborough after 6 on tuesdays or thursdays and talk to Brian Peterson. He runs the 120 display there as does another guy Kevin. Both keep SPS tanks at home and know what they are doing as well. Tell them Brian H. sent you As for fish world try and get a second opinion when you go there. They generally know their stuff but have an elitist attitude so you may not get the whole picture from them. BTW Brian and Kevin sell sps and lps frags so ask about them if you are interested.
Back to your tank. I don't see a liquid style doseing doing better than a kalk drip. I've never used one though. I do know if you want some solid calcium/alk results to use powders. It sounds as well like you didn't raise your calcium up to say 450 then run the kalk drip. A kalk drip won't raise calcium it will maintain it. I personally am having issues keeping things stable due to the corals i keep in my 20. Things are getting used rather quickly. There is more too it than calcium though for coralline algae. You need a salinity of .024 When i raised my levels to that or above the coralline took off. Another factor seems to be a decent amount of water flow through the whole tank. Case in point the front of my rock, which is swept by a single power head exploded in coralline when i set up the power head as well as maintaining the other factors.

 

[bdhough]

Don't you hate those TPS reports?

 

[jpawson]

Hey thanks for all the advise....I do hate TPS Reports. Watching Office Space is depressing to me because it hits home hard, but I am employed so I will shut up!
I decided I will use the liquid to get my CA and ALK up, then I will drip the limewater. I have been using C-Balance for about 2 weeks now and I have my CA at 450....I am starting my Kalk drip.
Things look great in my tank- Purple algae finally starting to grow!

 

[jferrier]

The Kent Liquid Calcium reactor is awesome for coralline growth also. My LFS recommended it as a replacement to the Kalk drip and I have seen great results. I still add iodine once every two weeks as well.

 

[jonthefb]

if you want to use kents liq reactor, skip it and go with caribSeas Aagamilk...much more concentrated
jp, sounds liek these guy sknow what theyre doing...you can continue to drip kalk, but dripping kallk will only MAINTAIN your ca alk levels....you need to get them where you want them first with come type of additivie (kent turbo cal works well just be careful with it!), then use kalk or a reactor to maintain it where you need it at!
good luck
jon