What additives do you put in your tank?

[beast]

I'm curious on what people put in their tanks. I currently am not adding anything other than Cycle, but I've heard that you should add other additives to keep the corals happy(I have a Bubble and a FrogSpawn).

Thoughts?

 

[Anonymous]

I supplement both alkalinity and calcium w/ B-Ionic.

 

[Anonymous]

Kalk.

 

[danmhippo]

Whoa, why the heck are you adding cycle? Is the tank new setup? How long have you set it up. Bacteria innoculate shouldn't be necessary even for a entirely new setup with no liverock. Unless I am guessing wrong, otherwise whichever store that kept selling you the bacteria culture is ripping you off.

I don't add anything into my tank other than daily freshwater topoff with kalkwasser, and food fed to fish.

 

[Len]

I had the same question as danmhippo. I can't imagine a reason you're adding Cycle to the aquarium, even if it was new. It's a completely useless product, IMO.

All I add is kalkwasser and B-ionic. Frequent water changes is also a good idea.

 

[beast]

ok....no more Cycle, those bastards...well, I added that occasionally with water changes.

How important is it to add kalkwasser? Kalkwasser controls alkalinity, PH, and other ions in the aquarium. Do you just get the powder and mix a batch every week, or is there a solution that you can buy?

What about phytoplankton, strontium, iodine, and trace elements?

Is there any solutions that cover most of the bases?

M

 

[Len]

Kalkwasser is used primarily to provide additional calcium to the tank. For tanks that aren't heavily stocked with stony corals, B-ionic (and/or water changes alone) will suffice. If I only had one additive to choose from, it'd be the two part solutions like B-ionic and C-balance.

I do dose DT occassionall, but don't do it religiously. B-ionic pretty much covers all the other major and minor elements.

Len

 

[danmhippo]

Kalkwasser are useful in maintaining your calcium and help precipitate PO4 from solution. Iodine, Magnesium, and strontium are present in proper concentration in all salt mixes and does not need to be suplemented. Regular water changes will restore these values. Phytoplankton are only necessary if you have the right organisms to consume them, otherwise, lack of nutrient in most tanks means starvation of the phytoplankton and added nutrient to your tank. Do not purchase most trace elements on most petstore shelves. Most do not list their true ingredients and will likely lead to overdosing your tank and algae bloom. I have yet to find a truely useful additive other then the 2 part calcium and alkalinity solution.

 

[Anonymous]

Being that I am very irregular with changing water. I dose trace,iodine and stronium. I also make up with kalk.

 

[Reefguide]

I use B-Ionic, Iodine, Reef Vital, and Ph buffer w/ RO water for topoff...

 

[Carpentersreef]

I don't do water changes, and I find that my Mg depletes pretty quickly. So I test and then add as required. Other than that, my Ca reactor takes care of the rest.
Iodine (Lugol's Plus) once in a blue moon, after testing, of course.

Mitch

 

[reefland]

I add nothing but food, kalkwasser and use a calcium reactor.

 

[EmilyB]

20-30% water change every two weeks. And food.

Oops, and aragonite sand topups 2-3 times per year.