Reef crystals?

[Mudzie]

Ive been dosing lugols iodine just once a week and having a hard time keeping calcium over 380 if i switched to to io reef crystals does anyone think i could omit the iodine dose?

[ccCapt]

Iodine and calcium are not related and 1 does not affect the other. What is your iodine level at now? You should never dose anything you aren't testing for.

[Krypt]

Larry already pointed out the big one, iodine does not affect calc levels. To answer your question about reef crystals, I use that type of salt and my calc levels are always 460-480 with 8-9 dKh alk. It's been a good salt to use for me.

[Fishguy2727]

Reef Crystals is one of the best reef salts out there, it is cheap and easy to find. The only thing I would recommend over it is Tropic Marin (regular, not the Pro Reef).

Trace elements like Iodine should only be dosed if needed and proven by test kits, not added blindly.

[Mudzie]

Ive been adding reef builder &reef advantage a couple times a week to keep ph and calc up ? Just by premade salt right now from lfs but they just use instant ocean salt was looking at instant ocean reef crystals to get better results??? Dont know yet why just checked and dkh is like 14??? Dont have iodine test yet but didnt think one dose per week could possibly over dose? But that what i was wondering about the reef crystals if it would stabilize calc...etc???

[Fishguy2727]

Are you asking all that, to see if we agree?

Reef crystals should help in general. As stated, I wouldn't add anything like iodine without testing for it and dosing only as needed, which is usually nothing if you are doing enough water changes. It is possible to overdose iodine, it can actually cause things like shrimp to molt sooner than they should. It will help with the calcium.

You need to test for things that you dose. Blindly adding iodine, Ca, Alk, etc. will cause imbalances and overdoses.

[Mudzie]

I do test for calc and ph a couple times a week, just wondering why they both fluctuate so much & if the dkh at 14 had any effect on those params?also what if anything i should be doing to get those stabilized short of limewater or calc reactor?1 thanks.

[Fishguy2727]

What size tank is it?
What test kits are you using?
What corals do you have?

[Mudzie]

75gal w/30gal sump,api test kits. Torch,mushrooms,finger leather, frogspawn,anthelia,xenia,gsp,st. Thomas,duncan colony,zoanthids&feather duster. Jbj fixture4x54w thanks