Need additive advice

[robertfah]

Hi,

I just got a 90g reef tank that has about 100+lbs of LR, about a 3" sand bed and it has all sorts of corals (zoa's to SPS, etc.). I am new to reef keeping but not to the SW hobby. I've had several tanks over the past 10 years but need some advice on what salt to buy and what to test for (Calcium, magnesium, etc.)

1.) What is a good salt to buy for my tank setup? I currently use Oceanic but I've heard that Reef Crystals is good as well.

2.) I have Calcium and Alk., but no mag. Can someone recommend what mag. I need for dosing? I see there is mg. cholride and mg. sulfate, which one?

3.) what is a good test kit to get for these levels? I see Salifert but man they are expensive....and I need all of them so buying 6-8 kits at ~$20 each would kill my bank right now....lol.

4.) My cal & alk directions says to dose 1ml for every 4g of water. So for 90g I shuold be dosing ~23ml of each, correct? and is that every day?

5.) Where is the best place (online) to get all this from?

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this. I'm excited about my new tank and am looking forward to making it look beautiful.

[NirvanaFan]

I use additives from Bulk Reef Supply. I'm not sure what magnesium it is. You're going to need magnesium, alkalinity, calcium and nitrate. It has been a long time since I tested ammonia or nitrite. Salifert is a good brand and what I would recommend.

You can't just dump in 23ml every day and have the levels be good. You have to know how much your tank is using by testing every day or every other day for a week or so. Then you just replace what is being used.

I use Reef Crystals, but there are a bunch of salts that are good.

[Chris27]

1.) What is a good salt to buy for my tank setup? I currently use Oceanic but I've heard that Reef Crystals is good as well.

They are all basically good, the most widely used is Instant Ocean, it's cheap, readily available, and consistent from the manufacturer.

2.) I have Calcium and Alk., but no mag. Can someone recommend what mag. I need for dosing? I see there is mg. cholride and mg. sulfate, which one?

Check out some of the DIY articles on Magnesium Dosing, you'll find the receipes. Basically you want a mix of Chloride and Sulfate, and not one or the other.

3.) what is a good test kit to get for these levels? I see Salifert but man they are expensive....and I need all of them so buying 6-8 kits at ~$20 each would kill my bank right now....lol.

API kits are accurate, cheap and easy to use, you can get them for things like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium and alk. You're stuck on Magnesium, you'll need to shell out some money for one.

4.) My cal & alk directions says to dose 1ml for every 4g of water. So for 90g I shuold be dosing ~23ml of each, correct? and is that every day?

You'll want to guesstimate your actual water volume, a 90 gallon tank won't have 90 gallons of water in there after you fill it with rock and sand. Also, you'll need to take into account the size of your sump. Check out the Reef Calculator to determine how much of what product you would likely need to dose.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

5.) Where is the best place (online) to get all this from?

Start a good relationship with a LFS owner - you'll learn that a good one will come in handy down the road when you have an emergency, need everyday advise, or just need a hand moving a tank.

If you must order online, check out the Reef Central Sponsor Forums, there are a ton of them that are competitively priced.

[robertfah]

Originally Posted by Chris27

1.) What is a good salt to buy for my tank setup? I currently use Oceanic but I've heard that Reef Crystals is good as well.

They are all basically good, the most widely used is Instant Ocean, it's cheap, readily available, and consistent from the manufacturer.

2.) I have Calcium and Alk., but no mag. Can someone recommend what mag. I need for dosing? I see there is mg. cholride and mg. sulfate, which one?

Check out some of the DIY articles on Magnesium Dosing, you'll find the receipes. Basically you want a mix of Chloride and Sulfate, and not one or the other.

3.) what is a good test kit to get for these levels? I see Salifert but man they are expensive....and I need all of them so buying 6-8 kits at ~$20 each would kill my bank right now....lol.

API kits are accurate, cheap and easy to use, you can get them for things like ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, calcium and alk. You're stuck on Magnesium, you'll need to shell out some money for one.

4.) My cal & alk directions says to dose 1ml for every 4g of water. So for 90g I shuold be dosing ~23ml of each, correct? and is that every day?

You'll want to guesstimate your actual water volume, a 90 gallon tank won't have 90 gallons of water in there after you fill it with rock and sand. Also, you'll need to take into account the size of your sump. Check out the Reef Calculator to determine how much of what product you would likely need to dose.

http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

5.) Where is the best place (online) to get all this from?

Start a good relationship with a LFS owner - you'll learn that a good one will come in handy down the road when you have an emergency, need everyday advise, or just need a hand moving a tank.

If you must order online, check out the Reef Central Sponsor Forums, there are a ton of them that are competitively priced.

Thank you for this information....very helpful.

[sedor]

I suggest buying your additive stuff from bulkreefsupply.com. True, shopping with a local store is good for your community, but in my area they don't carry half the brands I want and when they do its triple or even quadruple the price of online. I prefer to buy drygoods from specialty website who know what they are talking about. That being said, API makes decent test kits, but I try to stick to a higher end kit for Ca, Alk, and Mg. If your keeping LPS or SPS this is probably the best way to go. Also, you can make your own Magnesium solution, but its fairly inexpensive on the site I mentioned earlier. You can buy starter kits that have everything already perfectly measured out to make a gallon of solutions, very easy to use.

[Pufferpunk]

I use Reef Crystals. I make my own additives: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#4