Additives

[flangers]

Is an all in one additive ok for starting off with yellow polyps, devil hand coral and the Floridian recordia??


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[bribo12]

With just softies there is no need to dose anything. Unless you're testing and monitoring and seeing levels drop enough you have no need to dose. Water changes will keep all your trace elements replenished.


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[flangers]

So only for hard coral really ya need to dose? Do u think it might be early for them tank running about 12/13 weeks??


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[Sniperhank]

There is almost no reason to dose anything unless you have a tank filled to the brim with SPS.

 

[flangers]

Nice one, so other than nitrate and amonia what other tests are vital? Alkalinity and ph??


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[Sniperhank]

Depends what you are doing. If it is a FOWLR tank, there is no need to ever test for things corals use.

 

[flangers]

It's a Zumba tank 130ltr maybe 4 5 more fish and some other small softies? But weekly test would be what exactly? I do nitrate/nitrite and amonia


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[Mebbid]

For a reef tank it's good to test for Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH, Phosphate, Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium.

In softy only tanks alkalinity will be harder to manage. In hard coral tanks calcium will be hardest to manage but alkalinity will be used as well.

Magnesium doesn't change much. However, it's good to keep an eye on.

Sadly, the API test kits are next to useless for a reef tank when it comes to phosphate, calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium (I don't even think API has a mag test kit) I would suggest either Hannah checkers or the Red sea test kits.

 

[flangers]

So the softies will use up alkalinity but not much? Prob won't go for any more coral til get hang of it. I test for ammonia and nitrates so mag,calc, and alk/ph are important to monitor?


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[Mebbid]

So the softies will use up alkalinity but not much? Prob won't go for any more coral til get hang of it. I test for ammonia and nitrates so mag,calc, and alk/ph are important to monitor?


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Following what these guys said, in a lightly stocked tank it's unlikely that your alk / calcium will fluctuate much. However, it's still a good idea to test for them.

If you notice things becoming imbalanced you can either try more water changes or dive into the realm of additives. The additives can be tricky though and can really cause problems if you make a mistake so it's best to stay away from them if possible.

 

[flangers]

Yeah Definately let nature do it's thing as long as water is crystal not really much to worry about! I won't be heavily stocking it for that reason


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[Amphibious]

Hey flangers, here’s my two cents worth based on 48 years of SW experience...

Looking at your SW aquarium’s crystal clear water tells you only one thing, that your “water is crystal”, nothing more. Even when your tank crashes do to an imbalance of parameters, you will likely have crystal water because you can’t see the imbalance without the chemicals in test kits. That’s why they make test kits and why we test regularly.

You are doing things right by testing. Congratulations! Keep up the good work.

Dick

 

[flangers]

Cheers bud, that's what was thinking but water changes help keep the balance, right?


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[Gregcoyote]

Water exchanges with a good quality salt is 95% of the game with a softie tank. Newer tanks generally don't need additives, but watching parameters is something you really should do with Ph, alkalinity and phosphates. With regular water exchanges alkalinity and calcium should be fine, but watch Ph as we don't like that to fluctuate very quickly. Watching ammonia and phosphates will indicate if there is a die off or too much feeding. Nitrates should be okay as they will be reduced by the exchanges.


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[flangers]

Just tested water for nitrates and it's hi around 40ish and clown seems a little funny? I haven't purchased many test kits need to get phos and ph kits next week


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[Amphibious]

Cheers bud, that's what was thinking but water changes help keep the balance, right?
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Yes, water changes help keep the balance. Yes, your Nitrates at 40 are a little high. Water changes will not make a big dent in your Nitrates until you find the source. Think of it this way...

Doing a 10% water change would reduce your Nitrates from 40 ppm to 36 ppm. Not much of a change. Then since you haven’t addressed the source of the climbing Nitrates it’s going to hit 40 again in a few days. Miss a water change and it keeps climbing to say 50 ppm. Get the idea? You need to find the source of the Nitrate and eliminate it to really reduce it. One way to help is to keep Chaetomorpha growing in your sump. Cheato consumes Nitrates and along with water changes will reduce your Nitrates down to zero over time. Remember, even at zero you are producing Nitrates all the time.

By-the-way, a small amount of Nitrates are good for some animals such as clams.

Dick

 

[flangers]

I don't have a sump it's a Zumba tank 130ltr or 32gallon on a small cabinet, I only have it up and running about 2 months I'd say. There's some green algae dieing off on the back of the tank I did a partial change last night and got a lot if the algae but some left I'm thinking maybe that's the source???


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[Gregcoyote]

Anything organic is algae food. Watch your feeding regime and use a harvestable algae like Chaeto as mentioned, water exchanges and basic good tank husbandry and you'll be fine.
Every ball of algae you remove from the tank and put in the trash carries those organics you are trying to eliminate. Algae is your friend...


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[flangers]

Ok cheers bud I figured out my feeding is causing the nitrate spike so taking back seat for a min, I taught algae dying might have caused but think it's down to feeding! Cheers for the info


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[Gregcoyote]

Have a great fishy day.


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