Things they might try to sell you that you don't need... - Page 2

rustyjames · 01/04/2010, 10:21 AM

I have catalogs from MD and F+S in my, uh, reading room and am amazed at the pages and pages of additives!

Sk8r · 01/04/2010, 10:31 AM

I agree: getting a scoop of sand from a friend's biodiverse tank can really jumpstart an ecosystem with micro-critters. Be sure, however, that you have a 'safe' (no disease or parasites) donor tank, so you don't pick up something you'd rather not have...
I am not personally in favor of paying big prices for plastic bags of 'live' sand. Washed! aragonite is my own choice---(washed, because otherwise your tank goes milky white with microdust).

Sk8r · 01/04/2010, 10:38 AM

Re carbon: very valuable for removing ammonia and coral-spit (leathers are particularly good at anti-neighbor warfare) from your water. HOWEVER---carbon has a nasty secret trick. Depending on the level of crud it's absorbing, it will 'fill up' within as little as 5 days (or 5 hours if it's dealing with toxic waste)---and MUST BE REMOVED---because after it's saturated with waste, it begins to release what it absorbed right back into your water. Mr Carbon is your good friend for 5 days. After that, watch him carefully, test, until you learn how much he can take in your system.

Remember that ammonia is NOBODY'S friend. Just a very little will start doing damage.

Sk8r · 01/04/2010, 10:50 AM

Oh, re the additives: read the fine print on them: they don't supply anything a good salt doesn't have. IE, do your 10% water changes: that actually provides more trace elements than the additives. Also, before you invest in salt, get a magnifying glass, and sit down at the lfs and READ the contents and proportions. There is a reason cheap salt is cheaper. You're better off, IME, buying the better stuff, than in buying bottle after bottle of super-dandy additives to dump in (often with the risk of mistakes). My own brand of salt mix is Oceanic, and it's done quite well. Certain salts are higher in calcium, which is really nice for corals. But you know why you're s'posed to drink your milk, right? Even fishes need an adequate supply of calcium...because they have bones and muscle, which use calcium. Certainly snails do, or their shells go thin, and they die. So pick a good salt and stick with it. If you possibly can, buy salt in the big buckets: it's a significant savings---and you get a free lidded bucket to boot: I used one for my first topoff reservoir. BUT!!!! lid it tightly after each use. If your salt bucket is exposed to air the contents will solidify into a brick, and solidified salt is unusable and should be thrown out. Reason? The buffer in the salt is shot: cannot buffer. So you will have alkalinity problems. (Marine salt is not just NaCl, but a whole array of chemicals, ranging into the tiny, tiny traces, but is a whole lot of stuff, including a LOT of buffer. This is why, when I open a new bucket, I go to some pains to mix it---including removing part to an older bucket and rolling the lidded buckets across the floor, to be sure the 'salt' has not settled into layers of say, buffer, versus actual salt, during the vibration of shipping. I don't know if this is necessary or even sane, but to me, it comes under the heading of: couldn't hurt.)

01/04/2010, 10:21 AM	#26
rustyjames EMT-B Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Virginia Posts: 879	I have catalogs from MD and F+S in my, uh, reading room and am amazed at the pages and pages of additives! __________________ I see your Schwartz is as big as mine. Current Tank Info: 20 long

01/04/2010, 10:31 AM	#27
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	I agree: getting a scoop of sand from a friend's biodiverse tank can really jumpstart an ecosystem with micro-critters. Be sure, however, that you have a 'safe' (no disease or parasites) donor tank, so you don't pick up something you'd rather not have... I am not personally in favor of paying big prices for plastic bags of 'live' sand. Washed! aragonite is my own choice---(washed, because otherwise your tank goes milky white with microdust). __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/04/2010, 10:38 AM	#28
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Re carbon: very valuable for removing ammonia and coral-spit (leathers are particularly good at anti-neighbor warfare) from your water. HOWEVER---carbon has a nasty secret trick. Depending on the level of crud it's absorbing, it will 'fill up' within as little as 5 days (or 5 hours if it's dealing with toxic waste)---and MUST BE REMOVED---because after it's saturated with waste, it begins to release what it absorbed right back into your water. Mr Carbon is your good friend for 5 days. After that, watch him carefully, test, until you learn how much he can take in your system. Remember that ammonia is NOBODY'S friend. Just a very little will start doing damage. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

01/04/2010, 10:50 AM	#29
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Oh, re the additives: read the fine print on them: they don't supply anything a good salt doesn't have. IE, do your 10% water changes: that actually provides more trace elements than the additives. Also, before you invest in salt, get a magnifying glass, and sit down at the lfs and READ the contents and proportions. There is a reason cheap salt is cheaper. You're better off, IME, buying the better stuff, than in buying bottle after bottle of super-dandy additives to dump in (often with the risk of mistakes). My own brand of salt mix is Oceanic, and it's done quite well. Certain salts are higher in calcium, which is really nice for corals. But you know why you're s'posed to drink your milk, right? Even fishes need an adequate supply of calcium...because they have bones and muscle, which use calcium. Certainly snails do, or their shells go thin, and they die. So pick a good salt and stick with it. If you possibly can, buy salt in the big buckets: it's a significant savings---and you get a free lidded bucket to boot: I used one for my first topoff reservoir. BUT!!!! lid it tightly after each use. If your salt bucket is exposed to air the contents will solidify into a brick, and solidified salt is unusable and should be thrown out. Reason? The buffer in the salt is shot: cannot buffer. So you will have alkalinity problems. (Marine salt is not just NaCl, but a whole array of chemicals, ranging into the tiny, tiny traces, but is a whole lot of stuff, including a LOT of buffer. This is why, when I open a new bucket, I go to some pains to mix it---including removing part to an older bucket and rolling the lidded buckets across the floor, to be sure the 'salt' has not settled into layers of say, buffer, versus actual salt, during the vibration of shipping. I don't know if this is necessary or even sane, but to me, it comes under the heading of: couldn't hurt.) __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.