Strontium?

is it really all that important? i was looking at some coral care sites and strontium is listed as a necessary supplement for lots of corals. i do magnesium, calc and dont seem to be having any problems. what would you guys recommend. who doses with strontium?

 

I does it every other week.

Read here:
Chemistry and the Aquarium

 

I make a 32oz stock solution and I go through that every 2 weeks I pour in about 2 oz every day or so when I think about it .. No really go test for it at the hobby level.. I also have all my Calcium reactor effluent passing through what I used to keep Lime water in now I keep that supplied with Aragramight powder in place of the Hydrated lime powder . The Agramight contains a lot of strontium also ..

 

whoa, ok tangster. you gotta slow down when you're dealing with guys like me. Aragramight, hydrated lime powder.... effluent? c'mon, i need a reefer to english dictionary. would i be wrong to assume that "hydrated lime powder" is pickling lime?

right now i just dump a bit of kents liquid calcium every other day and magnesium sulfide twice a week. i've finally got respectable calcium levels. would buying a liquid strontium supplement like kent or brightwell be sufficient? do you think i even need the stuff for what i have? [see signature]

 

oh shoot, i forgot to ask! since i've got a couple of pros on the line... once a guy gets his calcium up to where he likes it, would it be wise to use a kalk mix to maintain that? or is kalk used for raising calcium? i've got a connection with BRS who says he can get me the two part mixes for cheap.

 

As a beginner, I wouldn't really get into dosing strontium just yet. Definitely read up about it and get a test kit for it if possible. Tangster and I have a tank full of sps corals so we do feel that it needs to be dosed but we've been doing this for decades so we know what our system needs and uses up just from our experience in the hobby. You don't have enough of a hard coral load in your tank to warrant dosing strontium, IMO.

 

I dont think it matters a whole lot but if you want to pick up a test kit and start dosing go for it.

 

I dose Strontium weekly. It is required for most coral. From my reading and talking to my LFS (trusted ones) the test kits are very inaccurate.

 

i've got a ways to go before i'm in the same league as you guys. i just moved into sps and have a million people telling me a million different things: "you need strontium" "you need iodine" "don't forget your trace elements" "you need to stand on your head and spit Jelly Beans." i suppose i need to remember my old coach's mantra K.I.S.S. = keep it simple, stupid. it's easy to get carried away when you're excited

 

That is the only "rule" that you've received so far that is really set in stone when it comes to keeping sps corals. And take pictures. And post them here. Seriously...not kidding