Supplements for Reef Tank...

[Alex1524]

Hey guys, I hate to make a whole post on this stupid question but I have a 57 gallon aquarium with live rock and sand. I have 2 ocellaris clownfish and a torch coral that I got a week ago (Seems to be doing awesome and growing). I am totally new to the hobby and I obviously need supplements now. What supplements should I buy for my corals? My local fish store and everyone I talk to says something different. All my levels are fine except my calcium. It is at 380 and would like to raise to to 420-450. My LFS sold me Tropic Marin Bio Calcium and Magnesium but I've been reading peoples threads and they say their alkalinity sky rockets! And I don't want that. So I will probably return what I bought. I've read many of Randy's threads and have been learning a lot. Can someone please guide me the right way? What Supplements do I need to maintain my particular tank more specifically which products???

From my research I'm assuming the two major ones are calcium and magnesium with trace elements of strontium and iodine. I know there are many ways to dose calcium but I'd like to just add it through a bottle or something without getting complicated. My goal is to raise it the easiest and most cost effective way.Thanks for your help guys. Sorry to be a bother. Im just really aggravated from hearing so many different answers and not getting anywhere.

Ammonia-0
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ph-8.3
Phosphate-0-.25
dKh- 11
Calcium- 380
Magnesium- (I need to buy a test kit)

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[Steve Wright2]

Nothing wrong with a calcium level of 380 Alex
It is within the range of acceptable levels 380 - 450 anyway so IMO no need to do anything

what salt mix are you using?
You could if you wanted , go for one of the brands with higher calcium levels such as RS Coral pro , Reef Crystals and others
and whilst performing your regular water changes with these elevated calcium level brands, your own tank water would gradually increase in terms of it's calcium level

with the inhabitants you have, you have minimal demand at present, and in all probability regular water changes with said salt mix, would maintain those levels for you, without the need to supplement

the magnesium test is important as magnesium does to an extent govern what levels of calcium and alkalinity you can maintain, with a very low Mag level for example, everytime you tried to dose Calcium, you may find your alkalinity level drops, and when you try and add alkalinity, your calcium level drops

other than calcium, alkalinity and magnesium, there is no proven need to dose anything else so I would not bother with strontium or Iodide at this stage

if you did want to boost your calcium with a simple and convenient method
then you could use any one of the bottled calcium additives, by Kent, Brightwell, or Seachem etc
but IMHO , you do not need to, just use a quality salt mix, do regular partial water changes and allow it to increase slowly over a period of a few weeks

Steve

 

[Alex1524]

Great answer Steve. I really appreciate it. You confirmed my thoughts about dosing just calcium, alkalinity, and mangesium when needed. And as you stated 380 I guess is OK but I would like to raise to into the 400's to be on the safe side for my torch and my coralline. I am going to return what the LFS sold me and I am considering buying...

1) E.S.V. B-Ionic 2 Part Calcium/Alkalinity Buffer

2) E.S.V. B-Ionic Mangesium

3) Kent Essential Elements

Also quick question... dKh and alkalinity... are those synonymous terms??

 

[Steve Wright2]

Yes they are different ways of measuring the same thing

there are 2.8 degrees of carbonate hardness DKH in 1 Milliequivelent of Alk

so if your DKH is 11 - divide by 2.8 = and your Alk is 3.9

But DKH is my preffered method of measuring , I just find it an easier scale to relate to and to make adjustments in accordance with.

 

[Alex1524]

Gotcha. So normally when you add calcium you also dose with alkalinity. But seeing my dKh is 11 I wouldn't want to dose any more alkalinity right? Just add calcium then once my alkalinity drops, next time around equally dose both calcium and alkalinity correct? Oh and I forgot to answer your question! I get my water already made from the LFS.

 

[Steve Wright2]

Hi Alex

demand is often but not always linear
but in general most people would dose both Calcium and Alkalinity (at different times or into different locations to avoid localised precipitation which means if the 2 ions meet in a small volume of fluid, some of them fall out of solution )
many who manually dose would dose the calcium part in the AM and then maybe the Alk part PM or at very least a few minutes apart from each other thus allowing what has been added to fully disperse through the system

you are correct in that if your figures are as stated, you do not need to dose any alkalinity additive

380 and 11 are OK so there is no real need to do anything IMO
you might want to consider purchasing your own salt mix and then you can get a brand with more desirable (for you) parameters and allow the water to naturally adjust, as you make each succesive water change


you may find , as we do not know your Mag level, that if you tried to increase your calcium from 380 - 400 for example, your alk may drop from 11 to 10
it is possible for DKH to drop by 1 part for every 20ppm of calcium increased
just as it then becomes possible for calcium to drop by 20ppm, should you later then try and increase the DHK up to 11 from 10 ( not suggesting you would as 10 or 9 or 8 are perfectly good DKH levels anyway)


Steve

 

[Alex1524]

Thanks Steve! Very useful information that I have yet to get a straight answer to.

 

[Steve Wright2]

Welcome Alex

whatever you decide to do, slowly is the best method of achieving it
your parameters are fine as they are
no need to go from 380 - 450 in a single dose, and in fact your inhabitants may not appreciate it if you do ( many a problem has resulted from good intentions to improve things)

if you do decide to use supplements to increase do so in stages and take 2 or 3 days to reach your desired level so the change is subtle and the inhabitants hardly notice it occuring.

Steve

 

[bertoni]

The Tropic Marin Bio-Calcium is fine, but it does have the limitation that it's not possible to dose calcium and alkalinity separately. The two-parts are a bit more flexible. Also, the Bio-Calcium must be dosed in the dry form, which can leave solid particles in the system. All in all, I think it's an okay product, but I think two-parts are easier to use.

Alkalinity and calcium are consumed by corals, etc, at the fixed rate of 2.8 dKH per 20 ppm calcium, and that's the rate at which Bio-Calcium and the two-parts add them. For our purposes, alkalinity and dKH are close enough to identical, but, technically, alkalinity refers to all the acid neutralizing capacity of the water, and dKH refers only to carbonate and bicarbonate ios, if you want to be more precise.

 

[MCsaxmaster]

Great answers above. The only thing I'll add is a bit of clarification of the meaning of the terms alkalinity vs. dKH.

Alkalinity is a property of a solution (like salinity, temperature, etc.). Alkalinity, technically, is the capacity of the solution to resist an expected change in pH upon the addition of an acid. Another way to think of it is that alkalinity is the 'excess' of bases relative to acids. There are more bases in sea water than acids, and that excess is the alkalinity. If you add acid to the sea water you will get closer to an even base:acid ratio, until you reach the endpoint where they are equal. More imporatantly, however, most of the alkalinity in sea water (~97%) is provided by bicarbonate and carbonate ions, which are necessary building blocks for calcified structures (coral skeletons, coralline algae skeletons, shells, etc.). Hence, measuring the alkalinity gives us an indication of the availability of bicarbonate and carbonate available to organisms.

Alkalinity is expressed on several different scales of measure, just as temperature is expressed on different scales. Degrees of carbonate hardness (dKH) is one scale of measure for alkalinity. Miliequivalents per liter (meq/L) is another scale of measure. The difference between the two is precisely analagous to the difference between degrees F and degrees C: same property, two scales.

As mentioned, to convert you can divide dKH by 2.8 to get meq/L, or multiply by meq/L by 2.8 to get dKH. Either is a measurement of alkalinity, but on two different scales.

cj

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This might help decide what supplements you think you need, and which you do not:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php