GARF Bullet Proof reef/ Seachem adds

[biggdriver]

Does anyone or has anyone used Garf's bullet proof reef calculator to figure out how much sea chem additives to put in your reef? I just order the larges bottles of everything they recommend and at looking at Seachem's dosing and comparing it to Garf's recommended dosing there are great differences. For instance I am supposed to add per Garf for a 65 reef
2tblsp Reef plus twice week
2tblsp reef complete twice week
2 tblsp reef calcium twice week
1tblsp reef advantage calcium to each gallon makeup water the 2nd and 4 weeks of the month
1tblsp reef builder to each gallon makeup water the 3rd week of the month
That is a lot!!!! now seachem directions are as follows
reef plus 10ml/40gall twice a week
reef complete 10ml/40gal twice a week
reef calcium 10ml/40gal twice a week
reef advantage calcium 1tsp/40gallons twice a week
reef builder 1/2tsp/40gal twice a week.

I was told that they (Garf) dose this much from day one of tank set-up no matter what the load. This makes me very leery as I don't want my KH and calcium levels to skyrocket. My tank is about 3yrs old and I only have soft corals at the moment. I wanted to start adding SPS so I bought the seachem based on their recommendations. At the rate they recommend It will prob cost me $50 a month to add all this. What do you guys recommend. Thanks for any help!!

 

[AJ69]

I did that recipe and now I regretted.
My Ca is 700
Alk is 14
DKH is 40.
My tank is 2yrs old
IMO is not worthless.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IIRC, this recipe has aquarists add supplements without measuring concentrations. That, IMO, is not a good plan with any method except perhaps limewater, which is not nearly as likely to cause imbalances.

It also looks like an excessively large number of additives.

 

[herefishyfishy2]

I believe I heard somewhere that GARF's "bullet proof" reef crashed awhile back. Hmmmmmmmm

 

[Horace]

I think its would be crazy to just add supplements without knowing what the levels are and what you want to keep them at. Those dosage amounts are fairly large IMO, especially for a 65g tank. Also like Randy points out, I dont see why you would need all that stuff. Pretty much the basics are Alk/Calc/Mag. Other than that I wouldnt worry about it. Water changes will cover the rest.

 

[GARFVolunteer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6536849#post6536849 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by herefishyfishy2
I believe I heard somewhere that GARF's "bullet proof" reef crashed awhile back. Hmmmmmmmm

The 300 gallon "Bullet Proof Reef" in the lab crashed due to the concrete floor cracking which in turn cracked the tank. It had nothing to due with the recipe.

Originally posted by biggdriver
What do you guys recommend.

I use a modification of GARF's recipe. I basically add Reef Builder and Reef Calcium Advantage supplements while measuring Ca and Alk daily. I try to maintain Ca at 440 and Alk at 9dKH so I add or subract from the supplements as needed to maintain that level. Once both measurements become stable for a week or so, I know how much of each supplement is needed. Using this method, it costs around $90 for around 18 months of supplements for my 120 gallon tank. I buy the supplements it 4kg tubs which greatly reduces the cost.

Dosing as GARF recommends will work but it will also cost a whole lot more than is needed. Since I tend to be frugal, I just figure out what the tank consumes and use that as my recipe. I retest every 6 months or so and make changes to the recipe as needed.

Originally posted by Randy Holmes-Farley
That, IMO, is not a good plan with any method except perhaps limewater, which is not nearly as likely to cause imbalances..

When I am broke I drip kalk wasser which tends to raise Ca well above 500 and the Alk will drop and hover around 5.6 dKH. I use the same theory here as I do with the seachem supplements and find out how much baking soda is needed to maintain the Alk levels that I like.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[biggdriver]

Ok thanks everyone..I wish I would have asked BEFORE I ordered all the Seachem that I did. Well live and learn..How does Garf's plenum system work. I have a friend who is setting up a 90 and was going to do their plenum recommendations. He had a DSB in this tank with SILICA sand as he didn't want to spend the cash at the time but now he is regretting it. Apparently he can't keep any sand sifters like pearly jaws etc they die. His final conclusion is the silica sand? So he is tearing out the silica and replacing with argonite sand.

 

[GARFVolunteer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6541157#post6541157 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by biggdriver
Ok thanks everyone..I wish I would have asked BEFORE I ordered all the Seachem that I did. Well live and learn..How does Garf's plenum system work. I have a friend who is setting up a 90 and was going to do their plenum recommendations. He had a DSB in this tank with SILICA sand as he didn't want to spend the cash at the time but now he is regretting it. Apparently he can't keep any sand sifters like pearly jaws etc they die. His final conclusion is the silica sand? So he is tearing out the silica and replacing with argonite sand.

The Seachem supplements you ordered will still work fine.

I have set up a lot of systems with plenums and they are all thriving. My system is almost 7 years old and has a plenum. The only bad thing about a plenum is that they make one ugly sand bed.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[herefishyfishy2]

Thanks for the clarification on the "crash" reason. Can't control a concrete flooring issue like that. Take care

 

[Crystal Sea TX]

Why use supplements at all, when the plenum is doing the heavy lifting?

Just seems to create a lot of imbalance so that the "numbers" add up.

 

[SBV]

Dang bro. Talk about digging one from the silent era.