reef additives

kevine6678

kevine6678

Member
Just wondering what kind of additives to replenish trace elements some of you reef keepers use that have worked well for you. Right now I do regular water changes (about 10-20% every two weeks) with regular instant ocean (I used to use reef crystals but I did not see any differance so I switched back to IO) and I add Kent essential elements as directed between water changes.
This seems to really do well for most of my soft corals and most of my hard corals but I have a frogspawn coral that I would really like to see get huge and I would love to see my coralline spread faster. Basically I just am curious to know what some of you use or have used that your corals seemed to like.
 
fau8

fau8

Member
Water changes 15% weekly should eliminate any need for dosing. After that if you have a heavy coral load you may want to monitor your calcium.
The point is if everything is looking good don't mess with it.
Once you start chasing numbers you will start to create your own problems and upset the balence of your tank.
 
nitschke65

nitschke65

Member
Originally Posted by fau8
http:///forum/post/2869186
The point is if everything is looking good don't mess with it.

This is AWESOME ADVICE! It can be hard to follow, but don't go inventing problems you don't have. I think there must be a special form of Münchausen Syndrome just for reef keepers!
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by kevine6678
http:///forum/post/2869278
makes sense to me. Does anyone use live phytoplankton? Is the benefit worth it?
dont use phyto unless you have a dense stony (LPS and/or SPS) coral population. phyto is mainly used to increase the population of zooplankton so stony corals can feed off the zooplankton. there may be a few other things that feed directly off phyto (clams, gorgonians) but for the most part and most people it just serves to dirty up your water quality. if you do use it just a few ml once a week. if you want your frogspawn to grow fast target feed it mysis of simular frozen meaty food you'd use for small carnivorous fish. In general the best thing you can do for LPS growth is feed.
okay so the original question what do you dose. For corals (all) I feed 1ml of roti-feast (refrigerated rotifiers and eggs) 3 times a week, the tip of a teaspoon worth of coral frenzy once a week and 5ml of seachem reef plus every tuesday and friday. I feed the fish a little once a day as well (virtually all frozen san fransico bay stuff and formula pellets about once a week when I'm too lazy to grade frozen food). other than that I use reef complete and reef carbonate as needed to adjust calcium and alk. with this my LPS grow VERY well, my zoanthid spread like they should and my few SPS have colored up greatly since I went to this routine but growth is still not what it should be (I atest it to only 150w halides with so so bulbs). I do it this way because I've determined this is about as much as I can add wthout effectiig water quality (once a week 20-25% water changes). I dont have alot of corals (you can name them all on two hands) or a large tank (30g) so someone else may get away with more or less of what I do.
 
spyder78

spyder78

Member
Originally Posted by kevine6678
http:///forum/post/2869105
Just wondering what kind of additives to replenish trace elements some of you reef keepers use that have worked well for you. Right now I do regular water changes (about 10-20% every two weeks) with regular instant ocean (I used to use reef crystals but I did not see any differance so I switched back to IO) and I add Kent essential elements as directed between water changes.
This seems to really do well for most of my soft corals and most of my hard corals but I have a frogspawn coral that I would really like to see get huge and I would love to see my coralline spread faster. Basically I just am curious to know what some of you use or have used that your corals seemed to like.
Water changes with Oceanic salt works well for me. Instead of buying a less expensive salt and adding a bunch of additives, just spend the money on the Oceanic salt as it has just about everything you need.
 
D

dennis210

Guest
Okay for the "what do you dose" part - for the 210 Dt with lots of LPS and SPS I Drip 1/2 gallon Kalkwasser daily, every weekend I still have to add 2 or 3 tablespoons Turbo calcium and 6 or 7 tablespoons of Superbuffer dKH. Monthly I perform a 30 to 35 gallon water change and at that time I add Reef Complete. The Reef Complete is still becuase of the guy who got me started in salt says it's for the stuff you can't test for. Have just always used it. 1/4cup a month. Also have Iodine and Magnesium but only add when tests show a need. My fish and corals are healthy so this regime has been working for me for over 3 years and for the guy who started me off for another 5.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by kevine6678
http:///forum/post/2869105
I used to use reef crystals but I did not see any differance so I switched back to IO.
you should switch back to reef crystals, or oceanic. there is a difference. and don't add anything to the tank you haven't tested for.
in the beginning i used to pour kent coral vite in the tank every so often and my corals looked like hell.
i don't dose a single thing now and everything thrives.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by Dennis210
http:///forum/post/2870520
The Reef Complete is still becuase of the guy who got me started in salt says it's for the stuff you can't test for.
reef complete is almost all calcium chloride (the exact same thing kent turbo calcium your using is) with trace amounts of mg and sr. all easily testable but on a balanced system (calcium, mg and sr at proper levels) you shouldn't need to test anything but calcium because mg and sr are in the uptake ratio's proportionate to the calcium uptake(in other words its ionically balanced for calcium, sr and mg, if you maintain calcium using it, you'll maintain mg and sr using it. of course that doesn't apply since you also use limewater and turbo calcium). what you describe sounds more like reef plus. which ever it is if its working keep doing it. just wanted to clarify for anyone reading.
 
culp

culp

Active Member
what you should do is find one salt brand that you like and stick with it. additives are way over rated. the only time i would even think about add any thing to my tank would be through a Kalkreactor for top off.
 
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