Should I be adding any of these to my reef tank

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by Rscomia

I wasnt sure what all was contained in my salt I use coralife and the only thing I see on it is that it contains calcium and magnesium

Most saltwater mixes contain at least 89 different salts in the salt mix. All those you mentioned can be achieved thru PWC`s.

[Rscomia]

Thanks melosu I do water changes every week in hopes that my tank will one day look like yours

[Gregcoyote]

Are all other parameters in order, salinity, nitrate, phosphate, ph? Improper lighting can sure cause them to die, but bad water parameters are usually the reason they won't deploy at all. Current in the tank?

[slitherbomb]

All parameters are fine. 0,0,0,0. Am, trite, trate, phos. Salinity 1.025. I have 1 800gph ph and 1 550gph ph. Neither are hitting the corals with much force. I think they may be acclimating but idk.

[Gregcoyote]

How long have they been closed up?

[slitherbomb]

2 days now and they have only been in for 2 days lol.

[Gregcoyote]

You might still be okay, the mushroom disintegrating doesn't sound good. As a last resort, run some carbon to remove any mystery substances. You use RO/DI water, right?

[slitherbomb]

I'm using NSW, but have always used it. Also have no place to put carbon, but can I put some on my overflow? I'll attach a pic

[Tank2379]

Originally Posted by Gregcoyote

How do you get a calcium level of 500 without dosing? New saltwater mix isn't that high.

Depends on the salt mix some salt mixes run high cal and Alk or just cal... I know for sure Oceanic runs high calcium. But if you want to keep it high you would dose the amount of cal and Alk that is needed... But again depends on what type of coral you specifically want to keep...

[slitherbomb]

All pics are upside down....

[Ricksreef]

I use instant ocean reef crystals and do PWC every two weeks.I have to dose alk every other day to stay between 7 to 8 range.But my calcium stays in 440 to 460 range between water changes.I do have a mixed coral reef.Depends really on your corals.

[Gregcoyote]

You could just put the carbon in a mesh bag in the overflow, not optimum, but should work fine. Rinse the carbon well.

[slitherbomb]

Alright will do.

[deepseadan]

Originally Posted by Tank2379

Depends on the salt mix some salt mixes run high cal and Alk or just cal... I know for sure Oceanic runs high calcium. But if you want to keep it high you would dose the amount of cal and Alk that is needed... But again depends on what type of coral you specifically want to keep...

When I first started my old tank, I used oceanic. I had no corals, just live rock and doing my cycle. Around 1 week in, just for the heak of it, I tested calcium and mag. Calcium 740. Magnesium 1720. So I agree, oceanic is high.

[deepseadan]

Originally Posted by slitherbomb

All parameters are fine. 0,0,0,0. Am, trite, trate, phos. Salinity 1.025. I have 1 800gph ph and 1 550gph ph. Neither are hitting the corals with much force. I think they may be acclimating but idk.

How old is your tank? If it's only a few weeks, I would bet your nitrate and phosphate levels aren't zero. Maybe other algae or cyano are consuming the nitrates and phosphates. That could be why your testing zero. All my new tanks always had at least a 30 - 40 day battle period with nitrates and phosphates.

[slitherbomb]

Originally Posted by deepseadan

How old is your tank? If it's only a few weeks, I would bet your nitrate and phosphate levels aren't zero. Maybe other algae or cyano are consuming the nitrates and phosphates. That could be why your testing zero. All my new tanks always had at least a 30 - 40 day battle period with nitrates and phosphates.

It's 3 weeks old and it's all zero because I run a refugium with chaeto algae.

[deepseadan]

Originally Posted by slitherbomb

It's 3 weeks old and it's all zero because I run a refugium with chaeto algae.

Do you have any other algae, cyano or diatoms growing inside the tank?