What are the neccessary supplements?besides calc? Is stronium a must?how about mag? Reason I’m asking is I’m getting ready to order some stuff and don’t want to waste money on things that aren’t needed.
don’t dose it if you don’t test for it.
Thanks paul but I test for all of the above,just not sure if I need it all.don’t want to waste money if I don’t need to
[quote=“moliken, post:2, topic:4707”]
don’t dose it if you don’t test for it.[/quote]
That’s centuries decades of wisdom speaking there. great advice.
Calcium and alkalinity are the two main ones to at least test weekly IMO. Mg is more of a once a month test for me. it doesn’t seem to drop much, and need supplementing, except for the couple times i really slacked on doing a w/c.
I use plain old baking soda for alk
seachem dry reef calcium
and magflake/epsom salt (9 : 1 ratio) for Mg
and lately experimenting with kalk, but thats another topic…
And i never follow bottle directions, i always use a reef calculator.
hope this helps.
[quote=“saltcreep, post:4, topic:4707”]
[quote=“moliken, post:2, topic:4707”]
don’t dose it if you don’t test for it.[/quote]
That’s centuries decades of wisdom speaking there. great advice.
Calcium and alkalinity are the two main ones to at least test weekly IMO. Mg is more of a once a month test for me. it doesn’t seem to drop much, and need supplementing, except for the couple times i really slacked on doing a w/c.
I use plain old baking soda for alk
seachem dry reef calcium
and magflake/epsom salt (9 : 1 ratio) for Mg
and lately experimenting with kalk, but thats another topic…
And i never follow bottle directions, i always use a reef calculator.
hope this helps.[/quote]
how much baking soda do you add per gallon ~?
PLUS 1
On testing first, you will get to a point when you get to know your tank and how much trace elements it uses per day, will vary with the type of corals that are in there. Some will suck alot more nutrients then others.[quote=“snupa, post:5, topic:4707”]
how much baking soda do you add per gallon ~?[/quote]
I always use this calculator 'Reef Chemistry Calculator FV'
For alk, i never change it more then .5 dkh in a 24hr period. For my tank thats about a tablespoon, ( or 1 1/2 teaspoons) about every other day…a year ago it used half that amount.
its a 125g display with a 30g sump. i estimate my tank volume at 120 on there.
If your still unsure about it, just try to shoot for raising a level a little bit, then re-test the next day. but if you get your water volume somewhat close, that calculator works great IMO.
you can change plain baking soda [sodium bicarbonate] into the better sodium carbonate by heating it in a baking dish to about 375 for 15 mins
the obvious difference is in the PH levels. Sodium carbonate is around 10, while sodium bicarbonate has a ph of around 6.3.
from a site i found, maybe more than your small mind can absorb, jason, YahoO but for regular repeated dosing, use the baked baking soda [carbonate]. it will not lower yr ph. i even have some that i could give ya. i don’t need it any more, since i use the ca reactor. and a huge +1 on using a reef calculator. it’s a must!
When adding sodium BICARBONATE to the system, if there were no other ions, the pH would only be 8.2, not a lot to affect a pH of 8.1 much to start with. If there are significant amounts of organic acids in the water column, they will quickly react with the bicarbonate ion to form the neutral form of that acid and release carbon dioxide gas into the water column. This results in a rapid drop of the pH of the water column due to the formation of carbonic acid and a depletion of the buffer capacity of the solution, not what we might expect when adding baking soda. However, in the presence of adequate amounts of calcium, and the presence of carbonate ions, the pH would be maintained, and bicarbonate is conserved rather than consumed to maintain alkalinity/buffer of the water column. This is why most reef buffer builders contain 8 parts sodium bicarbonate and 1 part sodium carbonate The high pH of the carbonate helps offset the resulting release of carbon dioxide which leads to the formation of carbonic acid in seawater reactions. Sodium Bicarbonate by itself is so slightly alkaline that it fails to turn phenolphthalein indicator red. Sodium Carbonate, on the other hand, turns phenolphthalein dark red due to it’s extensive ionization in water. In addition, the carbonate is now available to replenish the bicarbonate ion in the water column, further conserving alkalinity of our seawater.
All good advice above for someone that is new to the hobby. Alk typically drops the fastest followed by calcium. Keeping Mg in line is required to keep the other levels where they should be, but corals only use a little bit at a time so it doesn’t drop quickly.
Salinity, temp, pH, and Nitrates should all be kept where they should be.
If you’ve had a thriving SPS dominant tank for a year and everything has been kept very steady during that time there are some others you can consider adding. You need to understand what the effects of each of these elements will be, what the effects of over dosing could be and so on. These include potassium, iron, iodine, and others. Those stated above typically never need to be tested for as long as regular water changes are performed. They are only to be added by well experienced hobbyist for a tiny tweak to well established healthy systems.