What Supplements?

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by Frizza, May 15, 2006.

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  1. Frizza

    Frizza Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Hello,

    As you can see from my signature I have a few corals. Question is what would you recommend as far as adding supplements to keep my corals healthy and happy? There is such a huge range of products it is really confusing as to what I actually need. I use Reef Crystals as my salt mix in case that has any relevance.

    I can easily get hold of Kent Marine, Seachem and Salifert products.

    Any recommendations or advice would be great.

    Thanks
     
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  3. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    If you do regular water changes, I don't see the need for you to add anything besides calcium and buffer. If you kept a lot of clams and sps corals, you would probably need to add a few supplements but that's not the case.
     
  4. Frizza

    Frizza Coral Banded Shrimp

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    That's handy, my calcium levels have always been pretty good, however I haven't tested for a while.
    To be honest all of my corals are doing well, the only exception is the clove polyps. They are looking a little withered, I placed them higher up in my tank and they didn't like it so they are now on the substrate. They are the main reason for my post.

    Just thought I'd mention that my toadstalls since I bought them are now HUGE! One happy chap! :)
     
  5. amcarrig

    amcarrig Super Moderator

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    I kept a toadstool "back in the day" (you know us old folks just love using terms like that). :) It had two heads and used to get so huge that I had to lop the heads off every year or so and give them to my lfs for store credit.
     
  6. Frizza

    Frizza Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Hey, now thats a thought! If they start taking over my tank then I might just give that a go.

    Cheers for your advice and a quick response.

    P.S. I will get some pictures of my tank soon and see what everyone thinks.
     
  7. coral reefer

    coral reefer Giant Squid

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    As AMCARRIG stated perfectly, with your bioload, I don't really see the need to add supplements to your tank. The Reef Crystals salt mix is comporable to Kent's salt in that it has added supplements above most other salt brands. Especially calcium and strontium, however, trace minerals are also add to Kent's and Reef Crystals salt.
    If you had a larger quantity of corals and clams, then I would think about adding iodine, strontium and kalkwasser(calcium).
    Another thing to keep in mind is that alot of the different brands of synthetic salt mixes on the market are in fact made in the same lab/factories!
    Best of luck with your tank...Keep those corals growing!
     
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  9. My2heartboys

    My2heartboys Fire Worm

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    Frizza, the other thing I recommend is don't add a supplement if you cannot test for it.

    Are you keeping an eye on your magnesium levels?

    Anne
     
  10. Bruce

    Bruce Giant Squid

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    Well, I agree for the mostpart with ammcarrig. If you are going to be doing a regiment of water changes with proper levels of supplements then dosing for the most part wont be a problem, of course besides calcium buffers. But in my opinion I would rather test and be ready to dose additionally rather than just leaving it up to the water changes. Im sure ammcarrig was infering to that. Just want to make it clear :)

    Remember to test ;)
     
  11. Frizza

    Frizza Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Thanks for your comments. I will ensure that I test more frequently than I do. It's one of those things that if everything looks good and seems happy then dont mess around of it!

    Cheers again.
     
  12. karlas

    karlas Fire Goby

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    i like the seachem products calcium, reef complete, reef builder also you can buy them in 3 packs convenient