supplements for reef and fish tank

[Guest]

Hello,

I have a 120 gal tank with the following inhabitants.

pulsing xenias
green brain
4 headed flame
some brown grassy looking thing
anomoe
50 lbs live rock

with assorted fish.

Currently I add,
Monday - iodine / reef pure and DT phytoplankon.
Tuesdday - Coral lite / Kent
Wednesday - DT
THursday - Tech.M / Kent
Friday - Essental elements / Kent and DT

Is there anyting else I can get to help my corals blow up?
I've been changing over to reef pure from kent. What is everyone else using?

I have some cool pics of my tank to show but there all 1600 x 1200 and they won't post here. I'm looking for a place to host them.

Thanks,

--mike

 

[zenn]

Here's how you can post your big pics on here:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=4880

 

[Brenden]

Please tell me you are testing levels and not just adding stuff to your water. NEVER add anything unless you test for it first.

 

[zenn]

that's adding a lot of stuff. I think you could maybe cut back on some of those supplements and just dose kalk or something. I've never kept corals but i know i've read of people being very successful with many different kinds of coral by just doing regular PWC's and dosing C-Balance and kalk.

 

[afilter]

I do add calc twice a week and Iodine 3-4 times a week and trace elements once a week between pwc, but I test as well.

As Brenden said do not add anything you are not testing for. Many get by with no supplements and only do PWC and are very successful.

Unfortunatley 2x a month is about the best I can do for pwc due to my schedule. Hoping that will change with purchase of ro unit. I recently switched to oceanic salt and have found that I do not need to add as much calc.

Bottom line make sure you are testing before you add anything.

HTH,

 

[Guest]

testing

I test the water for amonia, nitrite, nitrates and such but I did not know there was a test for calcium and trace elements.

Let me know what you all use for testing.

As far as wate changes I do 20% every 3 weeks.

My levels are always ideal.

--mike

 

[Brenden]

You are throwing money away adding all that without testing. With regular water changes you probably need none of it. Buffer may be only exception. I use salifert for true readings. They are much more specific/accurate. I use cheaper test in between just to see if I am on track. Once you do it for a while you will see a pattern of use and will not have to test as often. I dose iodine occasionally but I have a large invert population. I test about once every 3 weeks to make sure I am still dosing correctly. MG will probably be fine with your WC's. The essential elements etc. should not be needed with regular water changes period. I would stop them all together. Worst case maybe add a little in between your WC's. You are dosing DT pretty often. Are you target feeding or dumping it into the water? Over time this can very easily cause you phosphate problems. I would stop everything but the DT until you get your water checked out. I would slow that down and also target feed it when you use it so you do not use as much (twice a week). You will save enough by stopping all this un-needed dosing to buy some more corals.

 

[lando]

I have to agree. Dosing ANY trace elements without knowing your baseline first is pretty dangerous. This is especially ture with iodine. As mentioned, most "reef suppliments" are simply a waste of money. LFS do a wonderful job at scaring you into buying these expensive additives. With regular PWC you will be able to replensih any depleted trace elements. As for the DTs, this is not a suppliment, rather a food. I do not really see any filter feeders in your list that will benefit from it's addition. Your LPS will benefit from the addition of zooplankton, but not really from phytoplankton.

 

[Brenden]

I did not notice the stocking list. I would stop the DT also. Now you are just down to WC so think of the corals you can buy.

 

[Guest]

sups

ok.
Sounds like I might be over supplementing my tank.
I'll try cutting back on some of the chems.
I've attached some pictures of my tank.

Its doing really well and I kind of nervous to change the routine but I deffinately would rather send $ on corals rather then sups.

I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

Thanks for the assistance.

--Mike

 

[DragonForce]

nccmike, I recently picked up a product called Fiji Gold coral and rock supplement. You dose it 2x a week and it keeps your CA levels right at 480. It also has all the minor and major trace elements you need. This stuff is made right from coral so you can't go wrong. After 3 weeks of use, my branching frog spawn is growing another head, and my bubble coral and flower pot are opening larger than ever. HTH