if you can only dose 1 supplement

[dnsfpl]

what will you choose and why?

 

[Nanook]

Saltmix and because

 

[buy_baff]

Dose my ca reactor count?

 

[flyyyguy]

if you are talking to things like trace elements as "supplements", I woudl say alk if I cold only do one............. although if that were the only thing to dose I wouldnt keep reef tanks becasue your tank would suck and nothing would ever grow and everything would be unhealthy. Its a three part "supplement" to keep your water balanced. alk/calcium/mag

If by supplements you mean other stuff like food.........if I could omnly dose one I would dose aminos....although I only dose 2 things now and only one every single day....being aminos

 

[dnsfpl]

actually i am referring to those addictive

like seachem reef builder etc

 

[flyyyguy]

That would be the alk part I described above.

while it is no doubt the most important one to keep up, it doesnt really work by itself to maintain healthy water parameters in a tank with any stony coral or calcareous algae growth

 

[allsps40]

Kalk

 

[nbsdsailor]

I have to second kalk, takes care of ca and alk

 

[flyyyguy]

takes care of it to a point, but a healthy sps tank will quickly outgrow being able to use kalk alone to maintain

and even if your tank is lightly stocked or otherwise can live within what kalk can provide, you still must also maintain mag levels for it to work

 

[ludnix]

You can't get away with any one single product, so they are all going to have their drawbacks. But if I'm stuck with one it's either going to be kalkwasser or an alkalinity supplement.

 

[dnsfpl]

to be honest i am trying to make this simple

so that my tank will not "crash" when i go for long holidays

 

[bmiller1234]

If your wanting a away from tank supplement then kalk would probably be your best bet. When I am away from tank for a week or two I just do kalk top off to help maintain levels. Then when I come back I test everything do a few five percent water changes and start back to my normal dosing of two part aminos etc.

You have to expect things to go a little out of whack but just be sure to bring them back slowly.

 

[sslak]

I wouldn't dose any "Product"

I would do what I do now, which is a 2part dosing of Ca/Alk/Mg.

If that counts as 3, and I can only pick one....then salt mix.

 

[glennr1978]

Not to jack the thread, but how 'bout we take alk/ca/mg out of the equation since we all agree that all three are vital to keeping a healthy SPS tank. So, since those three are handled, what would be the one thing your tank couldn't live without?

Personally, I would go with fish poop, but I don't exactly dose that lol. Sooooo, I suppose I would go with Kent's Coral Accel or Brightwell's MB7.

 

[beeker]

the most benificial product i've ever used has been Vodka

It is the only product other than the Standard 2 part BRS solution that i think has any positive and noticeable effect on corals sps mainly but lps as well

i've dosed aminos before without the instant positive effect that Vodka has and honestly even with long term amino dosing i have never seen great results on my own tank, my corals didnt color up more and werent growing any faster than without it being added so i stopped

this is not to say i'd ever dose Vodka everyday or even for extended periods of time, but from everything i've ever added to my tank Vodka was the single most influencial at getting corals to grow faster, getting them to color up better and overall improving their health if done correctly and water clarity as well as improved skimate removal and reduced algea

 

[Mr. Right]

I’d have to jump on the kalk wagon aswell.