Supplement Help, PLEASE! Calcium, Magnesium, Stronium ???

[LVhalosFAN]

I am pretty new to "reefing" and i recently adopted a 70 Gal. tank fully stocked with Corals(Mushrooms, Polyps, Acans & Montipora).

I understand that certain elements are necessary in the water for coral health like Calcium, Magnesium & Stronium. My question(s):

Should I really spend $50 on test kits for each of these elements so i know the currents levels and then "dose" respectively with concentrates?

OR; are these "dosing" tablets like Sea-Lab #28, that claim to safely maintain those levels, really good enough to keep Corals healthy?

My only other questions are if the Tablets are worthy, Is Sea Lab#28 the best choice and should i be adding anything else to the water?
(i.e. Phytoplankton) Also, What is Iodide?

Thanks for the help guys, i am looking forward to your suggestions and healthy corals !!!

P.S. Is it better to buy Ocean water from the fish store instead of RO water and adding salt? Thx again!

[fishman]

buy some cheap AP test kits 25 bucks for nitrate, calcium, alk

The easiest way and the cheapest way is to buy a box of salt and mix with RO/di water get salinity and temp close and do water changes.

Depending on how often u change your water this should be enough to stabilize your water parimeters.

The corals you have arent using a tremedous amount of calcium,mag , and stronium

as for sea lab product I dont know anything about them

good luck

[Narazbad]

A good magnesium test kit is elos. But with what you have currently, it doesn't matter. And use a high quality salt mix and good water over natural sea water. Its cheaper, easier and the levels are better.

[RickMartin]

I wouldn't worry about Magnesium and Strontium as long as you are doing regular water changes. Alk and calcium are a must have and must test at least weekly. There is no quick fix for these 2. Each system has different alk/ca requirements so there is no one tablet that fixes it all. You have to test and add supplements according to your system requirements and it changes. In a mature tank it is fairly common for alk to drop 2-3 dkh in 1-2 days so alk and ca need to be added daily for stability. Stability is key for sucess

[Ke0kea]

Those +28 cubes can overdose your reef....

[tomgl]

Just my opinion but there is more to adding MG than nice purple rocks. MG is the third part in the CA and ALk triangle. The MG molecules if at at the proper levels will bind with the ALK and Ca molecules to stop them from evaporating for the water. When all three are at proper levels less dosing of CA and ALK is needed as it's only taken be the coral and much less evaporation loss.

[LVhalosFAN]

Thanks for the help guys. I am really learning a lot. Please keep it coming.

So do regular water changes making my own water using reef crystals and RO/DI water, that will help maintain all the proper levels.
The only really needed supplements are Calcium/Alk & Magnesium. Keep those levels stable and add my choice of Phytoplankton...

BRING ON ANYMORE SUGGESTIONS. I will post a pic soon too, I am in love with this new tank.

(67 Solana XL; Clowns, Sail Fin Tang, Fox Face Lo, Blenny, Goby, Urchin, Shrimps, Conch, Serpent Star, Mushrooms, Polyps, Acans, Frogs Spawn, Montipora)

[Troylee]

that's a whole lot of fish!!!! sounds like trouble to me man.. you need to slow down and remove some of them like the foxface and tang...

[RickMartin]

Just my opinion but there is more to adding MG than nice purple rocks. MG is the third part in the CA and ALk triangle. The MG molecules if at at the proper levels will bind with the ALK and Ca molecules to stop them from evaporating for the water. When all three are at proper levels less dosing of CA and ALK is needed as it's only taken be the coral and much less evaporation loss.

It's not really a triangle. Mg will coat carbonate and keeps ca from attaching and precipitating out. Thats why low levels of Mag will make it difficult for you to sustain high levels of ca alk. But for this to happen your Mg has to be very low, while I haven't seen exact numbers its something below 900 ppm. Most reported demands range around 1-2 ppm per day. So if you use a salt with 1350 Mg after 2 weeks it would be 1322. With a 25 percent water change you raise it back to 1328. If you go a whole month your Mg level would be 1296 and a 25 percent change would put it back to 1310. At this rate after 6 months it still would be above 1250. A whole bottle of Mg additive probably wouldn't raise a 67 gallon tank but 20ppm. Thats why IMO large water changes are cheaper and better. A 20 dollar bottle of Mg to raise it 20ppm or a 10 dollar bag of salt to do a 50% water change and raise it halfway back to 1350 no matter what level it is at. That is if the salt you use has proper Mg levels

The people who try and keep their Mg levels unnaturally high also tend not to do many water changes as it works against them. It takes a whole lot of powdered Mg (chloride and sulfide) to raise Mg significantly. I forget the numbers exactly but something like 1 pound dry to raise 100g of tank water 100ppm.

[LVhalosFAN]

I didn't really think about having too many fish. The clowns get along fine, the tang and foxface lo are buddy buddy and the rest are rock dwellers, plus all the fish are pretty small. Not planning to add anymore fish but I will keep it in mind...

I'm now testing PH, KH, Calcium & Nitrate weekly and doing water changes(10% weekly). Will use SuperBuffer-dKH and C-balance A & B to maintain my levels.

Thanks a lot RickMartin and everyone else again, VERY informative. I'm hoping to make it to the next meet up.

[Troylee]

Watch out for these guys....
http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p160/aliyasue/work/4ac3b046.jpg

[mesafire]

Sweet Italian! :blob3:

[tbone74]

Nice!