If you're new: the heart of the game is water quality

[Sk8r]

Every problem you'll have boils down to water quality. Algae, oxygenation, supplementation, dosing, 'blooms' of odd creatures.

Think of it this way: feeding is important. But breathing is more so. And what breathable air is to us, water is more so to fish: their breathing is also their fluid intake and a source of the calcium for their bones and muscle---their 'food', in other words. Ditto for corals.

Water conditioners v ro/di: water conditioners render chlorine and chloramine and heavy metals like lead and arsenic as zero. They don't, however, touch phosphate, a common contaminant of drinking water that is ok for people and livestock. If you live near farmland, and get your water from an aquifer, you are probably getting a real dose of it. It is algae fertilizer. Bigtime. It is unpleasant for fish and corals. This is one reason we preach ro/di.

Copper or brass in your pipes and connections is another problem. There are a few others that water conditioners don't touch: more exotic stuff, including some that are toxic to fish in incredibly small amounts---rare but not unknown in drinking water. Ro/di is pricey to start: but the filter replacements are (in better units) infrequent and fairly cheap. Once you have the unit, you have it for life, and you can recharge the cylinders inexpensively.

Salinity: The ocean has salinity changes, in rainstorms, etc. But fish can vote with their fins---ie, if uncomfortable, they move. And corals sit generally below the storm. So your tank does not offer choices. What it can offer is stability. Waiting until your salinity is off, then dumping in a bucket of water---is not optimum. An ato (autotopoff) is nothing more than a float switch, a small pump, and a bucket of fresh water. This bucket (topoff reservoir, kept full, is going to guarantee a very stable salinity. Lid it and provide 2 tsp per gallon of powdered lime (Mrs Wages) and it doubles as an automatic coral feeder that will keep your alkalinity and calcium levels as steady as the fresh water keeps your salinity---for months, if you have a big enough reservoir. Three for the price of one. To make it work, YOU have to add magnesium. But that's another topic. And having a refractometer is a really, really good investment. Always check bag salinity and recheck tank salinity when introducing a fish to qt: be within .002 and you should be fine.

Chemical Balance The big three are alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium. Your salt mix contains all three plus salt, plus trace elements like boron and selenium. If you have fish only or softies, you only need worry about the first. Alkalinity. The catch is, neither alkalinity nor calcium can be stable without magnesium---which you have to add; and neither alk nor cal can be stable if the 3 aren't in balance. Check out my sig, and you'll see suggested levels for those 3. These three tests are important, because they're interlocked. Everything uses up calcium: snails, clams, crabs, fish, all use it---and stony coral uses it up amazingly fast once it starts growing. Calcium powers muscles and contractile tissue; composes snail shells; and limestone rock; and living things also use a little magnesium. Once what magnesium arrived in your salt mix is depleted, the Big Three Triad collapses---and the availability of calcium and the alkalinity of the water just goes south fast. That's why, when you want to correct this balance, magnesium is the one to fix first. Then alk. Then cal. And you cannot dose straight buffer and calcium at the same time, or they just glom onto each other and you get a snowstorm of precipitate in your tank. 8 hours apart is a good rule. That's also why there's a 2 part. And when you get to where you need more calcium than you can conveniently supply---that little trick of putting lime (Mrs Wages) in your topoff reservoir will save your sanity. Beyond that, for big reefs, there's the calcium reactor, which is spendy, and more complex; and a neat piece of equipment; but the humble limewater drip from your topoff is a good bridge for some, and all many others will ever need.

Dosing: During your first year, I don't recommend dosing anything. Your tank is new, your salt water changes supply the traces, and that's enough. When you feel you need to start dosing, stay to the Big Three. If, as your tank grows more complex and specialized, and mature, you feel dosing something else might be good, do a lot of research and have a test for it. Lemme tell you, a new reefer who, along with his fish, has been sold every supplement and every test kit in the industry, is both low on funds and a very scary figure. Just stay to the 3 your tank really needs. Do your water changes. And you'll be fine.

[thebkramer]

Awesome Info... As Always !!!

[Matthewbrian316]

Very helpful info here you saved me a couple hundred bucks
It's kinda a new tank but I will be stripping it down too much stuff went on and I would like to start fresh

[Sk8r]

Good luck---glad it helped!

[shakar72]

Thanks Sk8r! For one who will be setting my tank soon, I know you can never have enough info.