ca /
alk are important. I would go with
kalk mix if you want a sort of '1 shot cures all' in the
ca dept. However, when dosing
ca its important to remember that
mg acts as a sort of buffer for
ca. Your
mg levels should run 3 x the amount of
ca (ex most folks run around 400 - 450
ppm ca, your desired
mg level would be 1350
ppm which is very close to
nsw) Letting the
mg slip can cause
ca depression and
alk issues.
ca/
alk/
mg and
ph are your major concerns. Falling in right behind them are sr and ki. These are 2 very popular trace elements believed to help corals grow in a closed system. Since they are present in very small amounts, it is believed they are easily skimmed or filtered out and therefore must be replinished on a regular basis. Only testing with good quality test kits will lead you where your tank needs you to go. Some folks have great success with little or no additives..others, like me, test on a regular basis and adjust accordingly. I have never heard of Calcium +3 (Sounds too good to be true) but I will be looking into. Lotta folks use the b ionic type additives which is a 2 part system that you dose in equal amounts. Alledgedly they provide proper balance between
ca/
alk/
mg. This method is probably closest to fool proof, but from what I have read expensive long term. I use
kalk (Main tank) for
ca/
alk and dose
mg, ki, sr as needed. I use reef complete (Seachem) in my 29G '
frag' tank.
hth
GL!
