A lot of info floats about RC, much of it good---inexpensive products that can be helpful in your tank. Myself, I feed my corals Mrs. Wages' Pickling Lime.
BUT! and a big but---you have to be sure you got the right advice for YOUR situation and the right PRODUCT from your store.
If you have reliable advice that x-substance will work in your situation, and you look at the combined experience of the people telling you---ok---but when you go to the store, know exactly what you're looking for, and read the ingredients label. Be sure that what you're buying is the exact and PURE substance, no additives, no coloring, nada but the chemical itself.
An example of what to avoid: things that say 'antimicrobial' or 'antibiotic' or 'kills germs.' Microbes are bacteria. Germs are bacteria. Antibiotics kill germs. Your sandbed--is bacterially active. Bad news!
Additives for color, scent, or the like: no-no. Oils---not good: you want to see your whole sump converted to a foamy mass---
The tiny syringes you use in testing are marked in milliliters. That's 1/1000th liter. A liter is a big Coca-Cola bottle. These measurements are useful to know in this hobby, but there are conversion tables on the internet (google, say, cups 'to' liters) and you will find them) and I recommend you do your math more than once if you are not used to conversions.
If you have made a big mistake there are several 'do quicklies'---run carbon (that means have a bag of it in your water flow), PolyFilter if you've got it (and I recommend it for metals, another no-no); water changes (always have sufficient salt for a water change) --- plus moving threatened livestock to a bare quarantine ASAP---getting them OUT of the troubled waters is a very good measure.
The next do-quickly is to get on RC and post both here (which gets a lot of traffic) and in the Chemistry forum (where there are many knowledgeable people). Ordinarily we ask you not to double-post for obvious reasons, but the survival of your tank is a good reason.
If there's a word on a label you don't understand---ask us. Ask Chemistry. Don't do it until you know for sure.
Remember the FDA does NOT protect or govern the world of fish meds from outright fraud---unless you plan to eat the fish. Then there are regulations. Your tank is fair game for scammers. So have a very clear idea what you're adding before you add it.
BUT! and a big but---you have to be sure you got the right advice for YOUR situation and the right PRODUCT from your store.
If you have reliable advice that x-substance will work in your situation, and you look at the combined experience of the people telling you---ok---but when you go to the store, know exactly what you're looking for, and read the ingredients label. Be sure that what you're buying is the exact and PURE substance, no additives, no coloring, nada but the chemical itself.
An example of what to avoid: things that say 'antimicrobial' or 'antibiotic' or 'kills germs.' Microbes are bacteria. Germs are bacteria. Antibiotics kill germs. Your sandbed--is bacterially active. Bad news!
Additives for color, scent, or the like: no-no. Oils---not good: you want to see your whole sump converted to a foamy mass---
The tiny syringes you use in testing are marked in milliliters. That's 1/1000th liter. A liter is a big Coca-Cola bottle. These measurements are useful to know in this hobby, but there are conversion tables on the internet (google, say, cups 'to' liters) and you will find them) and I recommend you do your math more than once if you are not used to conversions.
If you have made a big mistake there are several 'do quicklies'---run carbon (that means have a bag of it in your water flow), PolyFilter if you've got it (and I recommend it for metals, another no-no); water changes (always have sufficient salt for a water change) --- plus moving threatened livestock to a bare quarantine ASAP---getting them OUT of the troubled waters is a very good measure.
The next do-quickly is to get on RC and post both here (which gets a lot of traffic) and in the Chemistry forum (where there are many knowledgeable people). Ordinarily we ask you not to double-post for obvious reasons, but the survival of your tank is a good reason.
If there's a word on a label you don't understand---ask us. Ask Chemistry. Don't do it until you know for sure.
Remember the FDA does NOT protect or govern the world of fish meds from outright fraud---unless you plan to eat the fish. Then there are regulations. Your tank is fair game for scammers. So have a very clear idea what you're adding before you add it.
