*Corals Should I add Calcium or other elements??*

[xxnonamexx]

55 Gal. Wet/Dry filter, 260watt Compact Lighting, 50lbs. live rock, 4in deep sand bed live sand with crushed coral and fine live sand. I have feather duster, bubble anemone, frog toadstool anemone, sun polyps, few other types of polyps. Maxima Clam, clown fish, firefish, heater, protein skimmer, powerheads, moonlights. My corals are doing fine I was just curious if there was anything out there that I should use to help them grow or thrive with color? I feed them liquid Plankton, frozen brine shrimp, plankton. Someone told me to start the 2 stage of calcium and I think it was magnesium? Not dosing but just to add to the tank to help it grow etc. Thanks

 

[IfoundNemo]

I use Kent Marine Reef Starter Kit. It contains liquid calcium, strontium, molybdenum,and iodine which provide bio-available calcium for healthier,more beautiful corals. Corals will open more, and attached to their skeletons better.

 

[oyf709]

about the liquid calcium, plz watch out donnot over dose it.More doesn't mean better all the time.It could lower the Alk.Try use some Alk buffer sometimes if you donno change water often.Usually Kent Marine's salt will do a good job on putting trace element back to the water.=)just my 2 cents

 

[xxnonamexx]

The dosing is the scary thing I get concerned about i don't want to do anything with dosing. I mean where certain levels besides Nitrates, Rites, PH, Salt, need to be checked like too high of a calcium, Iodine? Is it possible to have high levels? Thanks

 

[oyf709]

You could have too high calcium lvl which on the other hand will make Alk to be too low.Iodine can also be too much if you over dose it.So basicly try to follow the instruction and for a better resault , you should ask your LFS if you really not sure how much you should dose,they usually will help you on that.

 

[xxnonamexx]

Basically if you follow the directions you shouldn't need to worry about overdosing? Is there a test kit to check for too high calcium/Iodine? If so what would you do to correct it?

 

[skipm]

The best thing to do is not dose anything that you haven't tested for. With a light calcium demand you may be able to maintain your calcium level with regular water changes alone. The biggest calcium demand you have is the clam and with the lighting you have I don't think he will be growing very rapidly. Try to get some test kits and check before adding anything to your tank, some things like iodine can be toxic at too high of levels. HTH, Skip

 

[xxnonamexx]

Dosing seems like a scary process. I just want to give whatever it is to keep my corals healthy. I see Kent has a product out called Coral excel and another about Trace elements. I have seen the Reef starter kit. From what you said about the calcium and iodine it gets scary. How can it be overdosed it I follow the directions? What if I do less then the intended dose? Thanks

 

[xxnonamexx]

I have purchased Coral Accel and Essential Elements from Kent. What do you think about this? 55 Gal. Wet/Dry filter, 260watt Compact Lighting, 50lbs. live rock, 4in deep sand bed live sand with crushed coral and fine live sand. I have feather duster, bubble anemone, frog toadstool anemone, sun polyps, few other types of polyps. Maxima Clam, clown fish, firefish. When I tested my water last week they were pristine conditions. I didn't add anything new since last week and the Nitrates/Nitrites are high I did a 50% water change. What else can I do to control it? I thought The clam was supposed to filter the Nitrates.

 

[ellisz]

How long has your tank been cycled? I assume with the inhabitants you have, it must be pretty mature?

Clams are not the easiest to keep healthy and some clams are high light corals. I agree with the above statement about not dosing what you can't test for. Buy a Ca and Alk test kit. You do have some high demand Ca corals and depending on the salt you use, you might need to dose.

 

[malkore]

You shouldn't be dosing calcium or alkalinity (or anything for that matter) until you're testing both, and know for a fact that your levels are low and need to be increased.

 

[xxnonamexx]

So I see I might have to resort to dosing. I have a few questions. How can I make sure I do not overdose? Do you think Calcium is all I need? I know Kent makes a Calcium kit. Also Alkalinity why would this level change? What is a good alkalinity level? Thanks

 

[ellisz]

In order to make sure you don't overdose, you buy a test kit like mentioned more than once above. Sorry to be blunt but you need to get a Ca and Alk test kit. Those 2 are the basics besides ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and Ph.

I guess you could have the LFS do it for you as well. There is a balance between Ca and alk. It is not always as simple as dosing one thing.