What to supplement?

[rutz81]

I was just wondering what all you SPS guys dose?? I have my calcium/alkalinity taken care of by my Geo Cal. Reactor. What else should I dose, is the calcium reactor enough by itself? I only have SPS in my tank(with a bunch of fish)

Thanks in Advance,

Dave

[rutz81]

anyone??

[mg]

Only addition I have is my calcium reactor. All trace elements are replaced via weekly or bi weekly water chnges. I was thinking about monitoring my magnesium levels a little more closly and possibly dosing a magnesium suppliment to see if I can get better color maybe up around 1400. I have only measured mag a few times and has always been around 1100.

[rutz81]

I never really test for magnesium, what would I notice if my magnesium were low? I do weekly 10 % water changes.

[Twitterbait]

if you do regular WC and your levels look fine then don't worry about dosing anything else.

[redwinger]

I find that even with a good water change regimen I still need to add Mg to keep the levels up. Otherwise nothing else gets dosed in the tank.

[rutz81]

Would low levels of magnesium affect my growth??

[Loverotties]

I add Kalk in my top-off.and sometimes alk.

[Krux]

be very carfeful with magnesium supplementation. it is important to keep the levels up and constant, but spiking it to bring it back up can lead to tank wide tip down recession. if you do dose it, go VERY slowly.

[Fly Guy]

Originally Posted by Krux

be very carfeful with magnesium supplementation. it is important to keep the levels up and constant, but spiking it to bring it back up can lead to tank wide tip down recession. if you do dose it, go VERY slowly.

i just checked my magnesium levels for the first time and although i have been "thinking" i have been getting good growth, my levels were at 900-950. Ironically, i just finished the last dosing of Interceptor LRB treatments and I have performed 30-35% water changes twice a week for the last 3 weeks. Thats at least 3 times as often as usual.

Im curious to see how low the mg levels are under my "normal" water change program.

2 questions(sorry for the slight hijack rutz)

1. I use Reef Crystals....How is it possible that my levels were so low, ESPECIALLY under the water change regimen of late???

2. Krux, you warn of bringing the levels up too fast. Define what a reasonable level of increase/timeframe please.

[Krux]

you may want to test the magnesium in your salt, just mix up a fresh batch and go from there.

there are a lot of folks who have problems with oceanic salt, but one of the nice things about it was that it has a high magnesium content, so your water changes alone are usually sufficent to keep them at regular levels.

i think if you are trying to raise them with an addative, you probably dont want to go up more than 100 per week, 50 would be easier. a couple of notable reefs brought up their levels as little as 50 per day and started to see recession.

[Mike O'Brien]

A calcium reator supply's the whole host of element's, you really don't need to add anything else. The only thing lacking is usually magnesium because the ocean didn't have as much mag when the media was formed. Most media is really old. I just use dolomite in my reactor to make up the difference. About 10% of the total media will keep you're level's stable.

[rutz81]

Mike: You use dolomite in the same chamber as your aragonite(or other choice media)??

[Mike O'Brien]

Yep, I use a more pure dolomite then the normal garden store variety, but yes in the same chamber.

[Casey]

Good water changes and a kalk drip and Alkalinity booster and Advantage calcium is all I use and all levels come out fine nothing else ever added.