theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 So now that I'm starting to expand my horizons as far as coral species go, I'm starting to wonder if my critters will get everything that they need from just water changes. This was the original plan as I only thought I wanted softies. Now I'm starting to think about looking towards more sps, and maybe someday a clam. So here's my question, should I be supplementing my tank with anything? If so, what? How often? What are the benefits and risks of supplementing? I've heard everything from supplementing will destroy my tank to nothing will survive without it. What are your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 A little more info would be helpful. Size of tank. Heavily stocked or lightly stocked. Clams? IMO, this is the general rule of thumb. If you cannot maintain your calc, alk, and mag through water changes, then you will need to dose or use a kalk/calcium reactor. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 With sps and clams you will want to keep a closer eye on calcium, ALK, PH, and Mg. They will use up calcium more then lps and softies. And they will like it as stable as possible. You will need to test to see how often you will need to add. Start out using supplements like the Kent products and follow the directions. Or you can talk to the LFS and see if they sell bulk supplements. Some other reefer use to say this and it is true. S = stability P = promotes S = success Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Sorry just read your other thread. Here are the details: 16g pacific coast cube. I pulled the AIO part out of the back of it and trashed that, then I removed the lid that housed pc bulbs and replaced it with a 150w sunpod with a 20k bulb. -7 gallon sump with LRR and a gravity fed ATO -soap dish fuge with chaeto -about 2 inches of sand in the display and about 15 lbs LR -2 koralia nanos coral: -various zoas -superman mushrooms -blue shrooms -green tonga shrooms -unknown sps frag -striped palys -ricordea floridas -ricordea yuma (neon orange and splitting like crazy!) I agree with Michael. Testing will tell you how much to dose. Always start slowly. With only 23 gallons of volume, you will need to take it really slow. Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Thanks for the info guys. Someone told me once that you should never dose anything that you're not testing for.....which is part of why I haven't supplemented anything! I'm not in any hurry to add anything else, I'm just curious. Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 WC's on a small tank should keep params. good but I would test before doing any dosing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 With sps and clams you will want to keep a closer eye on calcium, ALK, PH, and Mg. They will use up calcium more then lps and softies. And they will like it as stable as possible. You will need to test to see how often you will need to add. Start out using supplements like the Kent products and follow the directions. Or you can talk to the LFS and see if they sell bulk supplements. Some other reefer use to say this and it is true. S = stability P = promotes S = success Nice....I will remember that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Water changes on my nano were not able to keep my params in line (I've tried a few different salts). I found I was always low on my Ca and Mg. Currently I use kent Tech CB part a and b - and for my mg I dose bulk (way cheaper than the bottled stuff) Magnesium Chloride. Once I managed to get these levels up and maintain my growth was much better, and my coraline is going nuts. I have found this site to be very helpful in my dosing, check it out: http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 That's a fantastic website mark! Thanks for that. I'll definitely use it to see what the needs of my tank are looking like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 I needed to use bionic for my 10gal nano as well. My 29gal needed a CA reactor. My 75gal is fine with just WCs and kalk. I think smaller tanks make it tough. But if you monitor it regularly there is no reason it can't be done with success. Remember to start with smaller doses and work it up to the tanks needs. Bad things happen faster in smaller volumes. I keep a notepad when i do dips or when i am trying to figure out my tanks needs. It will take daily tests for a few weeks until you get it down, but its part of the fun and worth it in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdadof2 Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 I test my nano every few days, and I have a notebook handy with how much I dose and what my tested parameters are. I hope that when I move up to my 60g it will be easier to keep stable with the params. I'm considering a calcium reactor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted February 7, 2009 Share Posted February 7, 2009 What's the opinion on the Kent Essential Elements? We just bought that for our 14g Biocube, but haven't dosed it yet. Currently the only thing I'm dosing is Purple Up. I don't have a ton of corals yet (shrooms, few zoas, and some small LPS frags), but I do have a TON of coralline. We dose 1ml twice a week and it keeps the calcium in check. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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