Additives help

[Jedrod56]

Hello everyone. I am fairly new to the sps and LPS world and need assistance as what is considered the absolute must have additives and what the best brand is along with what to feed corals and what test kit to use.

I currently only add calcium which is at 400, alk which is at 11, strontium and iodine as well as reef roids for food.

I have a 150 high with AI hydra 52. Light settings are white 15, red and green off and blues at 85, uv is at 60

Have a small algae problem as well.

Thanks in advance for your help

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[organism]

Your alk is a little high imo but it depends on what you're keeping.

As far as additives all you need to worry about when you're starting out is calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. If you keep those in check and just do regular water changes you can have a Tank of the Month, there's not much else to it. Bulk Reef Supply has them pretty cheap. While you can use other additives you don't necessarily need to, it's a big distinction that I think a lot of people miss. Personally aside from calc/alk/mag I just add amino acids but would recommend you wait on those for a while since they work in a super stable tank.

Adding things you don't test for like iodine and strontium isn't a great plan, also iodine can give you some algae. So can reef roids. Nothing in your tank needs reef roids or any coral food at all, imo newer hobbyists shouldn't be feeding corals until they get everything in check since it's an easy way to get some crazy algae blooms. My guess is if you cut out the reef roids and iodine and stick to water changes for a few months your algae should start disappearing.

I like your light settings, whites are low and blues are high should give you some nice colors.

 

[Jedrod56]

Thank you so much for the reply. I appreciate the help

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