Retired doc 2 years into reefing

[drblakjak55]

90 gallon. 20 gallon sump with Bubble Magus 170 skimmer, filter sock, lots of chaeto growing fast
under a Home Depot 7000K Halogen. My main question is about additives. If a 25% water change is done every two weeks are any additives needed. 1.024, ph at 8, kh at 8.2(hanna), Ca 385, Mg 1350,
Phos 0.15. I give a half shot of vodka daily, twenty drops iodide (seems to keep the zoos happy), and a spoon of Kent superbuffer. Softies doing fine but sps did not under Marineland and Current Orbit leds. Bit the bullet for the 48" Razor and a half dozen Foxx acros from Reefapalooza. We'll see.
But there are so many additives available.....needed?

 

[CodyRVA]

What do you mean by additives, trace? I'm sure you'll get a wide array of answers. I don't do water changes at all and i dose trace elements, but when i was doing water changes I didn't dose trace elements. I've dosed red seas's coloration program and honestly saw no difference. I don't see much of a difference even now when i dose trace; it's more of peace of mind I guess...

In regards to ALK, CA, MG... depends on your demand. You can only determine if and by how much you should dose based on what results you get from testing your chemistry. Stability is king.

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R. Dosing Alk, Cal and Mag is definitely dependent upon consumption.

 

[drblakjak55]

What do you mean by additives, trace? I'm sure you'll get a wide array of answers. I don't do water changes at all and i dose trace elements, but when i was doing water changes I didn't dose trace elements. I've dosed red seas's coloration program and honestly saw no difference. I don't see much of a difference even now when i dose trace; it's more of peace of mind I guess...

In regards to ALK, CA, MG... depends on your demand. You can only determine if and by how much you should dose based on what results you get from testing your chemistry. Stability is king.

What would be the reason to not do water changes?
So if I test day after water change and test again day before I'm not seeing much change in these tests.

 

[drawman]

+2 if you're maintaining the big 3 then other additives will only get you so far. I guess it all depends on how much you like to experiment. Trace elements can bring out certain colors in some coral other additives can be crap. Looks like things are going well regardless for you.

 

[Hogan]

That's a lot of iodine for sps. The zoas love it, but it's toxic to the sps.

 

[CodyRVA]

What would be the reason to not do water changes?
So if I test day after water change and test again day before I'm not seeing much change in these tests.

If you're not seeing a change in those tests that means your water changes are replenishing whatever it is that you're testing... hopefully ALK, CA and MG. I don't do water changes because I beefed up my filtration to the point that it's not necessary.

 

[Big G]

Welcome to R2R. Very colorful tank. Nice work. What brand of salt are you using at this time? Did you ever change brands? If so why?

 

[drblakjak55]

Instant Ocean Reef. Never tried anything else.
Never tried kalk. Thoughts?
If you're trying to recreate an infinite ocean in a small box, without any water changes, are you replacing trace elements? Can you describe beefing up filtration? Thanks

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[CodyRVA]

If you're trying to recreate an infinite ocean in a small box, without any water changes, are you replacing trace elements? Can you describe beefing up filtration? Thanks

I do, but have seen very little change from dosing trace. Beefing up filtration meaning running and replacing dual socks daily, over sized skimmer, large volume of media for biological, large fuge, oversized return pump for faster turn over, carbon dosing, GFO reactor, etc.

 

[drblakjak55]

Never change water. Just add for evap?

 

[drblakjak55]

Next question relates to coralline algae. I don't seem to grow it on rocks. Just the glass. Good, bad or indifferent?

 

[Maacc]

I would say test for the big 3, and dose only for them. You can do iodine or iron but only if you have a test kit. A good rule of thumb is, don't dose it if you can't / don't test for it.
You might want to consider a 20% or so change per month just for trace elements you don't test for.
Coraline only on your glass is indifferent, unless the reason is heavy gha/bryopsis/valonia. If you scape some flakes from your glass on the rock it may seed quickly.

 

[CodyRVA]

Never change water. Just add for evap?

Yep, just ATO

Next question relates to coralline algae. I don't seem to grow it on rocks. Just the glass. Good, bad or indifferent?

I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep the glass clean, eventually it'll hit the rocks. If you plan on keeping coral, the coral will cover the rocks anyways so who cares right?

I would say test for the big 3, and dose only for them. You can do iodine or iron but only if you have a test kit. A good rule of thumb is, don't dose it if you can't / don't test for it.
You might want to consider a 20% or so change per month just for trace elements you don't test for.
Coraline only on your glass is indifferent, unless the reason is heavy gha/bryopsis/valonia. If you scape some flakes from your glass on the rock it may seed quickly.

+1 test the big three (ALK, CA, MG). Generally speaking I disagree in regards to don't dose it if you can't test it; with in exception something like Copper or Iron which you can test for. By dosing trace or even doing a water change, which share similarities, you are technically introducing elements in many cases that common test kits just can't adequately test for at all. You can still dose trace on top of water changes if you feel the need. I personally only dose trace for peace of mind. I used to do red seas coloration program and honestly saw no difference from before dosing, while dosing, or after finishing dosing.

 

[Maacc]

Water changes tend to be different in that they should introduce trace elements in the right dosage, if a high quality salt is used. The danger with trace elements (iron, potassium, etc) is that they can either be toxic when overdosed, at worst or lead to strange blooms of various algaes and pests that you can pull your hair out for months trying to track down. You may be able to dose traces with no issues, but I would urge caution.

 

[drblakjak55]

True, the goal is for the coral to cover the rocks. In the meantime I'll scrape some off to see.
I wanted to add a success story. A year into it I developed a pretty heavy bryopsis,gha growth. I had allowed phos to stay in the 0.4 to 0.6 range for some time with mild algae growth. Usual story. Went away for a week and the sump went down to a couple inches of water killing the chaeto, red macro, and bryopsis went nuts.
Learned about Killing it with with Mg at 1600 but like so many things in the hobby was temporary. I started GFO and vigorously wire brushing the stuff off. I also turkey basted all the debris from the nooks and crannies after daily scraping attacks. I felt that removed the bryopsis food. Took only couple months but 100% gone now. Good husbandry wins over drastic tank changes.

 

[CodyRVA]

Water changes tend to be different in that they should introduce trace elements in the right dosage, if a high quality salt is used. The danger with trace elements (iron, potassium, etc) is that they can either be toxic when overdosed, at worst or lead to strange blooms of various algaes and pests that you can pull your hair out for months trying to track down. You may be able to dose traces with no issues, but I would urge caution.

I won't and can't disagree with any of that, but IME using Fluval Trace, Red Sea Coloration Program and most recently Brightwell Aquatics Replenish and specifically Vitamin C and my feedback across the board is you'd really have to do something stupid to over dose any of these products. To the extent of... you might have to dump the entire bottle(s) into your system; it's quite simple to dose and from my understanding the doses are very low quantities and they are utilized at very high rates. Not saying you can't mess up your system, I agree you can, but it would take a bone head move, but i'm sure we've all done just that in this hobby before.

 

[drblakjak55]

But....how many Reefers don't dose at all given the expense, potential toxicity, and all the unknowns. And just do 20% water changes bimonthly. With good mechanical filtration and chaeto.

 

[drblakjak55]

. From bryopsis overgrowth to none by lowering phos and aggressive physical removal.