When to add additives

[magyk]

Reef's been going for about a month and a half. When should I start adding the additives such as Kent's essential elements and others?

 

[djessem]

From what i have been able to learn, the essentail elements are to be added based on tank load. Those elements exist in small amounts in the live sand and salt; however, tank loads and other variables such as skimming will deplete these elements. The following areas are what i tend to emphasize initially:
Ca = 400 - 450
DKH (alk) near 10-12
nitrites @ 0
temp @ 78 - 82
salinity @ 1.025-1.026
ammonia @ 0
ph at or near 8.2 - 8.4
Now that I have monitored these levels ( and depending opn the tank load i add based on the information on the bottles the following:
Reef builder to maintain DKH ( which seems to do quite well) per test results
kent cb part a and b for Ca maintainance per test results
Coral-vite as recommended on the bottle
essentail elements as recommended on the bottle
Im sure you can get more information from some of the mopre experienced reefers in here but i hope i have helped
This may not be for everyone but it seems to work well for me

 

[djessem]

p.s.....i forgot to add that I add kent I for iodine supplements as well per bottles instructions