What Chemicals Do I Need?

[tent-tacal]

what are the basic things i need for sps reef tank.i know i need calcium what else do i need to supplement and also feed them.what are the best brands?im looking for the basics,the simplist ammount of bottles and hopefully all from the same brand.sometimes i get confused with all the differant kinds of stuff i have to add to the tank and how to use them(and what exactly do they do).basically its THE IDIOTS GUIDE TO SUPPLEMENTING AND FEEDING CORAL.thanx again!

 

[BurntOutReefer]

I would suggest you read up on things before you invest in $$....

 

[Cranbureefer]

had an LFS guy tell me, when starting a nano, "I would suggest dumping lots of chemicals in there!" Woah, bad advice...

with calcium, you'll need to supplement alkalinity, and eventually magnesium. Apart from that, you shouldn't need many other chemicals.

I agree, though... you gots some readin' to do.

 

[sassafrass]

B-ionic two part calcium and alk supplements nothing else is needed however many people will tell you different. From my experience fish poop will take care of the food for your corals.
Lee

 

[Playa-1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13007345#post13007345 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BurntOutReefer
I would suggest you read up on things before you invest in $$....

I agree with everybody above. You will eventually just need a balanced ALK and Calcium supplement program if your going to keep corals. You can just use limewater (aka Kalk) or a two part additive solution. The chemistry forum has lots of information that your looking for. Every once in a while you might need a specific product to make an adjustment but I would worry about that when the time comes.

 

[tent-tacal]

thanx!yeah ima have to do a whole lot of reading.im not even beginning to start my tank for another 5-8 months so i think i have time to learn a thing or two.just get ready for the millions of questions im gonna have for yall!

 

[Playa-1]

With the proper research you will be way ahead of the game when you get started.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/tips/index.php

 

[reefworm]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

and for other questions:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1031074

lots of good books out there, too. I think most of us that have been at this for a while have a decent library. can't read enough

 

[lloydkeller]

I have a 120ga I do 10ga sea water change a week use no additives at all it cost me 9.00 a week in the water change but worth it

 

[tent-tacal]

ok really quick really simple,,the basic idea...calcium and alkilinity must be added to tank to help coral grow.calcium and alkilinity kind of cancel each other out in a sense and so when there is a problem keeping them where you want them you add kalkwasser(limewater)but kalkwasser has a tendancy to mess with the ph so viniger is added to control that.,is that pretty much it?i know there is many other factors included but is that the basic idea??