do regular water changes, maintain calcium, magnesium and other element levels?

[Hats_]

With a setup like this. But i use a 1000L ICB on my trailer and fill it to 780L at an isolated beach. It takes 30 minutes to set up, fill then pack up. Im only 20 minutes to that beach. I then heat it to match tank temp with two 300w heaters and a inkbird temp controller. Ive got a dedicated line through my window and into my return pump. It takes about an hour to drain through a retractable hose and about 20 minutes to fill up. I do fill and empty at the same time when it gets down to 20cm to flush the water through old to new wile maintaining that level so the fish aren't flopping around . Im also rigging up a sprinkler system to run so my corals dont bleach as i noticed a few very small patches from last time i filed. They recovered over two weeks but i don't want to risk it happening again.

Wow... literally all i can say lol. thats a lot of effort tho, you must be pretty dang sure about the benefits!

 

[Brad Wilkins]

Wow... literally all i can say lol. thats a lot of effort tho, you must be pretty dang sure about the benefits!

Wow... literally all i can say lol. thats a lot of effort tho, you must be pretty dang sure about the benefits!

Its just a nice Sunday drive and a hour at the beach once a month. Tank maintenance for 2 hours not much really. With the price you pay for salt and dosing this and supplementing that over the years it would well and truly pay for itself and it shows with how healthy my fish are and how puffy and colourful my corals are.

 

[Brad Wilkins]

I appreciate allot of folks in the U.S. and other countries are land locked and if they are on the cost the water quality is pretty dubious but here in Australia we are in salt water heaven and pretty spoilt. Why not use the resources at our fingertips. Mind you we do have plenty of people willing to pay for convenience.

 

[Hats_]

Its just a nice Sunday drive and a hour at the beach once a month. Tank maintenance for 2 hours not much really. With the price you pay for salt and dosing this and supplementing that over the years it would well and truly pay for itself and it shows with how healthy my fish are and how puffy and colourful my corals are.

I run my tanks on allforreef with almost no water changes (unless i wanma clean the sandbed or something) natural seawater is quite polluted here and i dont live near. I find the costs very manageable for running my tank tbh, i pay maybe 80 euros per year for supplements right now, tank has been running for nearly 4 years now with some rather large colonies that grow pretty quick

 

[Ballyhoo]

I learned about something new to me yesterday at LFS, in those long talks we get in with the store reps( as they are salivating at my ponderance of buying a large new tank.) Well, I Am thinking about two new tanks, one smaller for Nems, and one larger, like about 36" so I can keep my juv Tang fora while longer and just so I can keep collecting etc. But the rep discouraged me from having a smaller 30'sh size tank for Nems saying they are not large enough to be stabile for nems, and eventually one will get sick, causing a cascade of nem deaths. IDK about that. But then he was talking about his own SPS tank, and he pointed me to the stores CA+ reactor. Actually I think it is not just CA but several forms of similar media. He was saying those are expensive, like $1000 US.
Just wondering how many of you have these and are they really needed for SPS. Maybe I am kidding myself that I will ever for example get SPS stable overtime they way he describes that SPC tanks require a certain fanaticism in daily testing and resolute if not obsessive daily husbandry. And I like to travel once in a while.

Also is is true that a 30 gal tank would be too small to keep the chem stable for nems? or is that for another forum?

Whenever I go to LFS I see the beautiful Nem tanks, but they are like forbidden fruit.
Thanks all.

 

[Hats_]

I learned about something new to me yesterday at LFS, in those long talks we get in with the store reps( as they are salivating at my ponderance of buying a large new tank.) Well, I Am thinking about two new tanks, one smaller for Nems, and one larger, like about 36" so I can keep my juv Tang fora while longer and just so I can keep collecting etc. But the rep discouraged me from having a smaller 30'sh size tank for Nems saying they are not large enough to be stabile for nems, and eventually one will get sick, causing a cascade of nem deaths. IDK about that. But then he was talking about his own SPS tank, and he pointed me to the stores CA+ reactor. Actually I think it is not just CA but several forms of similar media. He was saying those are expensive, like $1000 US.
Just wondering how many of you have these and are they really needed for SPS. Maybe I am kidding myself that I will ever for example get SPS stable overtime they way he describes that SPC tanks require a certain fanaticism in daily testing and resolute resolute if not obsessive daily husbandry. And I like to travel once in a while.

Also is is true that a 30 gal tank would be too small to keep the chem stable for nems? or is that for another forum?
Thanks all.

i wouldnt say you need a calcium reactor to run an sps tank, something to keep in mind if you have wall to wall sps is that you can only dose to the maximum amount of water that is evaporated daily. otherwise you slowly raise your water level. that's how calcium reactors have an edge, since they don't add any water when dosing calcium and alkalinity

 

[Ballyhoo]

anyone here have a calcium reactor?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

anyone here have a calcium reactor?

Lots of folks do. Do you have a question about them?

 

[exnisstech]

anyone here have a calcium reactor?

I have one sitting in storage that I won here. I find it intimidating and start up costs prohibitive. But I can keep up with consumption using 2 part or AFR on my tanks.

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

well, this brings up a very important topic. When should a new reef keeper begin to supplement calcium, magnesium, etc.? Anyways, I'm still not clear on what you meant? Water changes help replenish calcium , magnesium that may have been uptaken by the coral? Confused here I know that with big tanks or with tanks that have a lot of thriving large coral growth that they need to supplement. but what about for newer tanks with smaller coral populations?

This is where husbandry comes in. Test regularly (my pH is constantly monitored, I test Alk daily at the same time, and Mag & Ca weekly. I also like to check Alk at other times of the day when I get a chance just to get a handle on the swing in a 24 hour period.
I also test Nitrate and Phosphate weekly, trace elements via Triton ICP monthly. More importantly though - RECORD YOUR RESULTS. Whether old school on a diary or (better) in a free app, then you know what the uptake of these is, and how your tank behaves as ‘normal’. Armed with that information you can then decide how much needs dosing, if anything.

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

i wouldnt say you need a calcium reactor to run an sps tank, something to keep in mind if you have wall to wall sps is that you can only dose to the maximum amount of water that is evaporated daily. otherwise you slowly raise your water level. that's how calcium reactors have an edge, since they don't add any water when dosing calcium and alkalinity

I can’t see that scenario actually occurring; however if it did you can just rig up another peri pump removing a set amount of water from the tank daily…

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

Having used both dosing and calcium reactor (including the full modern reef method), I am back to Calcium Reactor and trace element addition on my 680L Acropora dominant tank… using Ecotech Versa peri pump to feed the reactor, and a pH controller running CO2. Recirc CO2 scrubber on skimmer to raise pH.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I can’t see that scenario actually occurring; however if it did you can just rig up another peri pump removing a set amount of water from the tank daily…

The water added is only a limitation when using kalkwasser. All other methods add small amounts of water.

 

[Hats_]

I can’t see that scenario actually occurring; however if it did you can just rig up another peri pump removing a set amount of water from the tank daily…

I mean removing salt water from the tank to dose seems counter intuitive... Since that would change the whole salinity

This can occur on small tanks and tanks with a glass lid or canopy but indeed quite a small chance of it becoming a problem.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

interesting. But alkalinity is not an element. I learned in basic chemistry and most people know just like when we measure PH, something is either more acidic or more base, and that is the less acidic the more alkaline I thought. So are we just trying to keep things higher on the PH scale? but then, why would we measure both the PH and alkalinity because how are the scales different?.

you realize that Randy is a chemist, right? You might want to listen to what he has to say.

 

[VintageReefer]

anyone here have a calcium reactor?

You don’t need a calcium reactor for sps

What you need is (among other things, but trying to stay on topic) stable alkalinity and sufficient calcium

These values need to be checked regularly. And sps will consume them. And they need to be replaced.

How you choose to replace them - it’s up to you, pick a method and go with it

Weekly Water changes might suffice if your sps load is low

2 part mix (literally one liquid for calcium and one for alkalinity) can be manually added, or connected to dosing pumps on timers

Calcium reactor can be used

All for reef is a single product that replenishes both

I kept sps for several years using dosing pumps and jugs of ca/alk mix. Worked fine

You don’t need a calcium reactor, it’s just one of the many options / methods out there.

And yes, many many people on here use them. And many people use alternate methods

 

[Ballyhoo]

i have all for reef but i only use a few ML bc i don't really know what im doing w the chemistry and how it might affect alk. i added a few ml a couple days straight and tested my Kh and it went down to 7.5 which is lower then usual for my tank. wrapping my head around all the chemistry elements and tracking them is difficult to start with. I really have just one to Achro that I like and I would like to keep it alive. it's nighttime so corals are sleeping but this one is a beaut.
btw that beautiful acro was only like $35 at one LFS where i got her. another is $150 for a small branch bc of brand name. I would really like it to live, but I know I have to keep everything dialed in..
the Trachy on the left baloons up during the day. the second one is my fav too though it's LPS i think it's called goniopora

 

[reef’r]

what are you dosing for exactly? I’ve read back through a few of your posts and it seems like you’re just not sure what direction to go, you’re trying to force your tank into “maturity” if that makes sense. Just do 10% weekly water changes, it really is very simple, that will replenish everything you need based off the amount of corals I see in that picture. You just turned your lights up bright enough to see the tank after it’s been running for 4 months, now your dumping in afr and adding a calcium reactor. And you want to start up two more tanks? One being bigger!?!?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

i have all for reef but i only use a few ML bc i don't really know what im doing w the chemistry and how it might affect alk. i added a few ml a couple days straight and tested my Kh and it went down to 7.5 which is lower then usual for my tank. wrapping my head around all the chemistry elements and tracking them is difficult to start with. I really have just one to Achro that I like and I would like to keep it alive. it's nighttime so corals are sleeping but this one is a beaut.
btw that beautiful acro was only like $35 at one LFS where i got her. another is $150 for a small branch bc of brand name. I would really like it to live, but I know I have to keep everything dialed in..
the Trachy on the left baloons up during the day. the second one is my fav too though it's LPS i think it's called goniopora

If alk is lower than your target, keep upping the AFR dose until it does get to your alk target and stay near it.

 

[Ballyhoo]

okay so just to be clear AFR shouldn't lower my alk but it may raise it?
no #38 point wasn't to make my tank more mature. Please show where i implied that? I doubt AFR would do that but rather provide a trace element for my coral growth.