Individual reef supplements Vs. All in one supplement

[TRDfan]

Are there any pros or cons in adding an all in one supplement Vs. doing individual supplements?? I’m currently using Marc Weiss coral vital (all the coral seem to love) and I was wondering if I should try out individual supplements of calc, mag, kdh...ect. Is there such a thing as "too much" dosing when it comes to reef suppliements??

What do you guys/girl use?? Is there more of a monitoring process when adding individual supplements?? Please give me your input on reef supplements and why do you use the supplements you use

 

[Schism]

Are there any pros or cons in adding an all in one supplement Vs. doing individual supplements?? I’m currently using Marc Weiss coral vital (all the coral seem to love) and I was wondering if I should try out individual supplements of calc, mag, kdh...ect. Is there such a thing as "too much" dosing when it comes to reef suppliements??

What do you guys/girl use?? Is there more of a monitoring process when adding individual supplements?? Please give me your input on reef supplements and why do you use the supplements you use

Yes in fact too much is very easy to do. Personally i dont use much in the way of supplements. If i cant test for it then i dont dose it. And as far as vitamin supplements etc i do not use them. Most do not realize that all of these products contain many impurities including phosphorus (phosphate).

Proper feeding of various foods and a good saltmix with weekly water changes can accomplish much more than these products claim. supplements are just marketing or the most part. The 'supplements' on my shelf consist of Kalk and Brightwell Microbacter7. Basics is all thats needed. I do keep a bottle of trace elements on hand but its only ever used a couple times a year.

 

[jsmith]

Are there any pros or cons in adding an all in one supplement Vs. doing individual supplements?? I’m currently using Marc Weiss coral vital (all the coral seem to love) and I was wondering if I should try out individual supplements of calc, mag, kdh...ect. Is there such a thing as "too much" dosing when it comes to reef suppliements??

What do you guys/girl use?? Is there more of a monitoring process when adding individual supplements?? Please give me your input on reef supplements and why do you use the supplements you use

I like to use instant oceans reef inhancer i dose it between water changes ..thats all i put in my tank besides salt mix...note i do not use reef crystals only the normal mix. If i used reef cystals i wouldnt.

 

[TRDfan]

Yes in fact too much is very easy to do. Personally i dont use much in the way of supplements. If i cant test for it then i dont dose it. And as far as vitamin supplements etc i do not use them. Most do not realize that all of these products contain many impurities including phosphorus (phosphate).

Proper feeding of various foods and a good saltmix with weekly water changes can accomplish much more than these products claim. supplements are just marketing or the most part. The 'supplements' on my shelf consist of Kalk and Brightwell Microbacter7. Basics is all thats needed. I do keep a bottle of trace elements on hand but its only ever used a couple times a year.

I too would like to not to use any supplements, but i did encounter abit of a problem with some of my palys when i stop dosing coral vital for a week.
When i stop dosing for a week, my palys started to shrivle up and look bad. I took a water sample to the lfs to check out my cal, mag and kdh to find out that all my #'s were pretty low. It read 360 on my cal and 7 on my kdh . This was after doing a 15% water change acouple days prior. I use Tropic marine reef salt which ive been told by acouple ppl and the lfs that it is one of the best salts out there.

So im not too sure what my next step should be. I might wait another week or two and stop dosing acouple of days/week to check out the results.

How do you like microbacter7?? how often do you dose the tank?? I was debaiting on using Microbe-Lift Bacterial everytime i do a pwc.

 

[TRDfan]

I like to use instant oceans reef inhancer i dose it between water changes ..thats all i put in my tank besides salt mix...note i do not use reef crystals only the normal mix. If i used reef cystals i wouldnt.

That makes sense. If you dont mind me asking, why not just use the reef crystal version??

 

[Rustik]

I use reef foundation abc+ added to my weekly water changes, but the only reason I dose with this stuff is because I went a cheap option with my salt mix. I have been told if you use a salt product like "Red Sea Coral Pro Salt" there is no need for additives as it's already added in the mix. So there's my 2 cents worth, hope it was of some help.

 

[Schism]

I too would like to not to use any supplements, but i did encounter abit of a problem with some of my palys when i stop dosing coral vital for a week.
When i stop dosing for a week, my palys started to shrivle up and look bad. I took a water sample to the lfs to check out my cal, mag and kdh to find out that all my #'s were pretty low. It read 360 on my cal and 7 on my kdh . This was after doing a 15% water change acouple days prior. I use Tropic marine reef salt which ive been told by acouple ppl and the lfs that it is one of the best salts out there.

So im not too sure what my next step should be. I might wait another week or two and stop dosing acouple of days/week to check out the results.

How do you like microbacter7?? how often do you dose the tank?? I was debaiting on using Microbe-Lift Bacterial everytime i do a pwc.

Have you tried Kalk? I would suggest dosing kalk in your top off water to maintain calcium and alk. Usually this takes care of the problem.

Microbacter7 is a great product however i dont overuse it. After the initial dosing i now dose a few drops a week and thats. Helps with a few different things, but not needed.

 

[TRDfan]

Never used kalk. I did abit of digging up on it and want to give it a try. However i not have a ATO system. I will get a drip system going to try this out. Also i will order a API reef kit to monitor my system better than running to the lfs to get it tested once a week

BTW...which brand of kalk do you recommend?? kent, brightwell, seachem...ect

 

[carey]

I get my kalkwasser from bulk reef supply, cheap and it works. lol

i agree with all the above statements too. i don't dose anything I dont test for first off and when i do dose its only with soda ash for the alkalinity and that may be once or twice a week at most. Once you get into dosing it's like being chained to it and you have to really really monitor your tank to make sure you dont have any problems. Easier to just do water changes with a good salt mix and go from there. I tried kalk with my ato before but didnt have any luck with it really, my alkalinity still dropped pretty quickly so now i just dose when I need to. i do have to test once or twice a week though before I do.

 

[reefrunner69]

Never used kalk. I did abit of digging up on it and want to give it a try. However i not have a ATO system. I will get a drip system going to try this out. Also i will order a API reef kit to monitor my system better than running to the lfs to get it tested once a week

BTW...which brand of kalk do you recommend?? kent, brightwell, seachem...ect

Mrs wages pickling lime, you can get it in the canning section in Walmart. Costs a couple bucks per pound.

 

[Holygral]

125 mixed and dose nothing, weekly/bi weekly water changes, also the more you dose the more the cost of mainteance

 

[Chad36]

The only supplement i use is kh for my top off water.

 

[TRDfan]

I get my kalkwasser from bulk reef supply, cheap and it works. lol

i agree with all the above statements too. i don't dose anything I dont test for first off and when i do dose its only with soda ash for the alkalinity and that may be once or twice a week at most. Once you get into dosing it's like being chained to it and you have to really really monitor your tank to make sure you dont have any problems. Easier to just do water changes with a good salt mix and go from there. I tried kalk with my ato before but didnt have any luck with it really, my alkalinity still dropped pretty quickly so now i just dose when I need to. i do have to test once or twice a week though before I do.

If im reading your post correctly, you dose with soda ash to get the kdh up and then maintain it with kalkwasser??

125 mixed and dose nothing, weekly/bi weekly water changes, also the more you dose the more the cost of mainteance

With a 15%+ water change weekly my #'s still drop pretty low . I just upped my water changers to 25% weekly last time around. Hopefully that might help abit more

The only supplement i use is kh for my top off water.

Do you have some kind of pump in your water pale turning around the water so that the kh supplement does not sit @ the bottom?? im considering getting a pump with an ATO system

 

[TRDfan]

Can some1 plz tell me how dangerous it might be getting my ca and kdh levels up with only kalkwasser?? with daily dosing of kalk over a week or 2, would my levels come to where i want them to be?? would that raise my PH level too high dosing it daily for a week?? last time i checked my #s were 360 and 7

or should i get soda ash and calcium chloride first and then move onto kalkwasser??

 

[Chad36]

If im reading your post correctly, you dose with soda ash to get the kdh up and then maintain it with kalkwasser??

With a 15%+ water change weekly my #'s still drop pretty low . I just upped my water changers to 25% weekly last time around. Hopefully that might help abit more

Do you have some kind of pump in your water pale turning around the water so that the kh supplement does not sit @ the bottom?? im considering getting a pump with an ATO system

No, i just shake it really well before adding any. In the summer i have to topp off alot and have found that by keeping my top off at 9 kh my levels stay consistent.

 

[Chad36]

Use magnesium to keep your ca levels up while you raise kh.

 

[carey]

I do not use Kalk in my ATO resewrvoir anymore, just dosing with soda ash ocassionally.

Bulk reef supply also carries products that can raise your alkalinity without raising your ph which is a worry when using soda ash. kalk is not used to raise levels of anything but to MAINTAIN levels once you get where you need to be.

 

[TRDfan]

Gottcha. Thanks for that clarification Carey. I will order the kalkwasser starter kit from BRS. This will give me a great learning experience manipulating my #s with the individual additives

 

[TRDfan]

Gottcha. Thanks for that clarification Carey. I will order the kalkwasser starter kit from BRS. This will give me a great learning experience manipulating my #s with the individual additives since it has the Calcium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, Magnesium Mix AND the kalkwasser