Reef with coralline algae, please reply
- Thread starter tetra
- Start date
My experiences are the same Emperator, when I started replacing all my evaporation with kalkwasser, coralline growth just exploded. I've used many other methods to keep calcium and alk at exactly the same levels I have now with kalkwasser and some occasional additions of buffer, but the coralline growth paled compared to now. Kalkwasser is king for coralline growth.
I work at a shop, so i get these for cheap.
Knop additives
Coral vit j
Coral vit combi
Strontium & Molybendum
Iodene
Mark Weiss
Spectra Vital
Black Powder
preveous to using the spectra vital and the black powder i was using LSB & Reef DNA which seemed to yeald better results.
My rocks seem to be allmost 50 % corraline and 50 % small calcious red fan worms.
I only have a 25 gallon tank so the suppliments last a long time, i am also using a Titan protien skimmer, so i feel that the water is heavily skimmed and therefore these additives are more benificial to me than if i were running a seaclone for example. The only additive i test for is Iodene but i find the test kit very hard to use, and more recently have been trying to dose intuitively as my torch coral seems to react quickly to the addition of this trace element. This is also in conjunction with a calcium reactor and re-mineral m. I am soon to exchange the remineral-m for kalkwasser. Hopefully i should be able to cultivate some branching corraline algie. I have heard allot of reef keepers that only use a calcium reactor and kalkwasser though, but i suppose that greatly depends on the quality of your salt, i use reef crystals, but in future i want to try a two part salt mix as i have heard that the reef crystals can give uequal ammounts in every solution mixed.
You could say that my tank has more dope running through it than an LA hooker on Friday night. But im just playing around with them at the moment. I want to use less in the future when i get the kalkwasser sorted.
Knop additives
Coral vit j
Coral vit combi
Strontium & Molybendum
Iodene
Mark Weiss
Spectra Vital
Black Powder
preveous to using the spectra vital and the black powder i was using LSB & Reef DNA which seemed to yeald better results.
My rocks seem to be allmost 50 % corraline and 50 % small calcious red fan worms.
I only have a 25 gallon tank so the suppliments last a long time, i am also using a Titan protien skimmer, so i feel that the water is heavily skimmed and therefore these additives are more benificial to me than if i were running a seaclone for example. The only additive i test for is Iodene but i find the test kit very hard to use, and more recently have been trying to dose intuitively as my torch coral seems to react quickly to the addition of this trace element. This is also in conjunction with a calcium reactor and re-mineral m. I am soon to exchange the remineral-m for kalkwasser. Hopefully i should be able to cultivate some branching corraline algie. I have heard allot of reef keepers that only use a calcium reactor and kalkwasser though, but i suppose that greatly depends on the quality of your salt, i use reef crystals, but in future i want to try a two part salt mix as i have heard that the reef crystals can give uequal ammounts in every solution mixed.
You could say that my tank has more dope running through it than an LA hooker on Friday night. But im just playing around with them at the moment. I want to use less in the future when i get the kalkwasser sorted.
Damnhippo, I don't test for anything except for Ca and Alk. I dose b-ionic daily with kalwasser twice a week for topping off. I guess it is going to take time cause I've just upgraded to a 60gal. I am still going through the algae cycle I guess. Looks like everyone got a different formula. This grasshopper has to be a little more patient...hehehehe....
Mouse, wow you put everything. I got to find myself a job at the lfs or something. It is way cool to get all the discount.
Thank for the replies boys and girls...anyone else?
Mouse, wow you put everything. I got to find myself a job at the lfs or something. It is way cool to get all the discount.
Thank for the replies boys and girls...anyone else?
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by tetra:
<STRONG>What are your additives?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I monitor calcium and alkalinity. I perform regular water changes. My tank is fairly new and I see coralline specs popping up in the tank.
<STRONG>What are your additives?</STRONG><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I monitor calcium and alkalinity. I perform regular water changes. My tank is fairly new and I see coralline specs popping up in the tank.
I have a 90 gal reef, set up a year ago.Corals and coralline algae growing great.
I dose Seachem Reef Advantage twice a week, and drip Seachem Reef calcium in my topoff water at 30 ml/hr. I may add additional calcium if my testing shows levels are dropping.
Once a week I tweak the pH with Seachem Marine Buffer if needed.
I'm setting up a refugium to grow macroalgae that I hope will reduce the day/night pH fluctuations. I hope that will reduce my pH tweaking as well.
I also add 2 cc of iodine once every week or two. I can't seem to get a good reading on the test kit, so I'm using intuition on that.
HTH,
Ed
[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: DaktariEd ]
I dose Seachem Reef Advantage twice a week, and drip Seachem Reef calcium in my topoff water at 30 ml/hr. I may add additional calcium if my testing shows levels are dropping.
Once a week I tweak the pH with Seachem Marine Buffer if needed.
I'm setting up a refugium to grow macroalgae that I hope will reduce the day/night pH fluctuations. I hope that will reduce my pH tweaking as well.
I also add 2 cc of iodine once every week or two. I can't seem to get a good reading on the test kit, so I'm using intuition on that.
HTH,
Ed
[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: DaktariEd ]
I think the most important comment being:
Don't just throw stuff in your tank. If you throw in kalk without testing and have extremely high levels, because three of the general additives (like to your food) have high levels of that.. lol. There may be a problem. I don't dose kalk, for this reason.
Don't just throw stuff in your tank. If you throw in kalk without testing and have extremely high levels, because three of the general additives (like to your food) have high levels of that.. lol. There may be a problem. I don't dose kalk, for this reason.
For what it's worth, I have a 6 gallon eclipse tank that houses a sexy shrimp. I haven't done a water change on it in three months and I rarely add make up water. Yet I have huge plate like coraline growth all over the tank. Meanwhile in my 55 with regular additions of additives I have relatively little. Go figure.
Glenn
Glenn
38 gal tank. I dose kalkwasser 24/7 in topoff water. In a year's time I went through a pound of calcium hydroxide. I've been using garden variety hydrated lime for the past few months. I do 10% H20 change and monitor calcium, alk, and pH twice a month. If I scrape the back glass it takes about three months to cover again.
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