simplifying additatives

[benni]

Hello Everyone,

I have had my 75gal reef tank for three and a half years. i have a variety of sps and lps corals, some fish and other invertabretes. now that i feel like i know what i am doing more, i want to advance and simplify my additives. my tank has a deep sandbed (over six inches), 131 pounds of live rock with most in tank, some in sump and some in refugium. I have my sump setup with a refugiuam section that includes macroalgae, live rock, plenty of shells and mud. the refugiam is set up similiar but hangs on my tank and is separate from the sump. I have my sump with refugium area on an alternate lighting cycle as compared to my tank lighting (when it is day in my tank it is night in my sump and vice versa). my skimmer is an octopus 150 and it is in my sump-i know it is big but i love it! I have a simple water sypon top off that drips into my sump. so to sum it up, i have a natural system that does not require mechanical filtration and water changes are only done to make me feel better, but i am convinced i don't need them anymore, but i occasionally do them anyways usually because the synthetic mix i use supplies great elements. Here is the thing, my calicium is very, very stable and i rarely need to add calcium to my tank (once a month or so) i think that is from the sandbed and large amount of shells i have in the system, but my magnesium and Alk continue to be in fluctuation. they stay a proper levels but i need to be on top of the testing and adding of supplements which is working fine but, i would like to automate this realm of my system so that i can start putting my attention to a seahorse tank that i have been dreaming of since my childhood. i have my system on a good automatic coast except the mag and alk-by the way, my ph has remained stable for over two years at 8.5. so, i am looking for simple solutions to help me get my mag and alk more on auto pilot too. i thought of adding the mag and alk supplements to my water top off jug but have read that if you add the two at similiar times, they will deplete each other very quickly. anyone have any ideas, thoughts, etc..i would bet grateful-especially simple solutions to the problem. thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

To me the simplest solution is to do water changes to replace those trace elements. After having done tanks for a decade or two, I still don't buy into the "tank is self perpetuating so why change the water" theory and mixing a fresh batch of salt water is a whole lot cheaper than buying expensive bottled supplements and complex dosing routines

 

[Anonymous]

I like the diy two part.

Here:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

$50 worth of those chemicals will be enough to last literally for decades. I give them away at our local club meetings/frag swaps.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh yea

even with water changes you will have to add calcium/alk/magnesium

my .02

 

[rbursek]

Benni,
sounds odd! First what salt are you using? The odd thing is if Mg is low, it is hard to get and keep Ca up. Once Mg is up, in a tank like yours it tends to stay up with only little additves, but the corals use up Ca and Alk at a faster rate then Mg. What test kits are you using for those chems? Second, go to Bulk Reef Supply for additives and Reef Central Chem forum for Randy Holmes-Farley's home mix recipes for Ca, Alk, Mg, actually go there first then BRS fo the additives.
Bob

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW

I was able to get calcium from 250-300ppm to 400ppm plus by adding crushed oyster shells as a filter media in a wet/dry.

I used (and still do use) 20 pounds or so in a wastbasket as my wet/dry.

But after a few months alk began to drop and after a year I finally tested mag and found it low also.

So to maintain alk I started dosing baking soda and then the calcium dropped down also.

So I ended up doing the fully diy two part.

FWIW my 55g took pounds of Epsom Salts to raise magnesium from 700-800 to 1350ppm. Literally 4-5 pounds.

JME

Worth at most .02

 

[rbursek]

Using Espon salts is concidered OK with regular water changes, but can raise sulfate levels too high with out the WC.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php
good reading on Mg!

 

[Ben1]

Be careful with that formula if it is using DowFlake, in 2007 Dowflake changed their formula and it contained more Bromide, which will build up in your system.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthrea ... id=1201233

 

[Ben1]

Using Espon salts is concidered OK with regular water changes, but can raise sulfate levels too high with out the WC.

This is why I use a mix of Magnesium Sulfate and Magnesium Chloride. I just buy my stuff from Bulkreefsupply.com. Feels safer to me and is stil cheap enough.

 

[rbursek]

Ya Ben I agree, BRS is as cheap as can be except the shipping, even there Kalk is about the same as Mrs. Wages at WM per pound. That is the Mg recipe I use too.