questions on supplements

[wenszoo]

wanting to know if I need to add any suplements to my reef tank such as calcium, iodine, ect.. . I saw Kent make a variety of them. I have a 75 gallon tank and the little viels are set up for 50 gallon tanks. any and all suggestions and comments very welcome.

 

[thugmebaby]

Calcium and Iodine are the common ones added.

 

[leeweber85]

Don't add anything without testing for it first! I'm dead serious.

Iodine is really NOT needed. It has been proven that dosing iodine hasn't had any benefits as long as you are doing waterchanges. It's really easy to overdose and will cause more problems than it's worth.

 

[Coralfreak]

Iodine is really NOT needed.

Agreed, I've been down the road of adding this and that, you dont need to add all of this stuff if you are performing regular water changes. Calcium, however, you may need to add, depends on your system, what you are keeping etc. It, along with you alkalinity, should be tested on a regular basis to determine if and how much of each you need to add. In some cases, Magnesium can be something to keep an eye on, this generally is only an issue if you are heavily dosing limewater(kalkwasser).

HTH,

Allen

 

[llebcire]

Agreed.

I've dosed various things in the past but now only do regular water changes and dose limewater (because of a greater consumption of calcium).

If I didn't have some of the hard corals that I do, I wouldn't dose anything.

I don't even feed anything other than the fish!

Eric

 

[wenszoo]

well we have 3 fish, 1 shrimp unknown amount of crab and snails. as for everything else we have zoes, star polyps mushrooms, green galaxia, green fungia coral, and a few anenomes. about 60 -70 pounds of live rock. oh forgot to mention the sponges ( we have white sponge and purple sponges.
we do plan on doing more corals but unknown if soft, lps, sps, or a combonation of them

 

[Coralfreak]

With the couple LPS you have, you'll want to keep an eye on your calcium and alk levels. If you dont already have them, look at getting some good test kits, I'd recommend Salifert for both of these. Aim for a calcium level of around 400 and an alk of around 3.5-4 meq/L. The main thing here is to keep the two balanced, until you have numbers its hard to advise much more. If you are ordering online, you may also want to pick up the additives needed to save on shipping, there are of course, lots of options here, the Kent brand is fine. I have used Seachem products in the past with good results, Reef Advantage calcium and Reef Builder. I would try and stay away from the liquid additives as they are more expensive long term, though some do like the Bionic product from ESV as its easier to dose and may not be a bad option on a 75.

Allen

 

[D. Mitchell]

I use C-Balance, Combisan, and Sea Elements by Two Little Fishes and they work great. These are all natural products. I use them once a week. Once a month, I use Reef Plus and Reef Complete by Seachem. I never put any of the two trace elements/vitamins in on the same day.