[jtravapd]

hello everyone, im just curious what people add to their to tank if anything to help with growth and health of their corals ect. which products do you use, how often, is there a chance of overdosing?...the only things i add to my tank other then fish food is a cube of rotifers a day, and twice a week i add live phytoplankton...i see ads everywhere and in readings that adding iodine helps , but nowhere can i find out how much to add. i have a iodine test kit, and it seems way to hard just ot test to see what your idoine levels are never mind adding some more to the tank..

are there certain vitamins or something you can add ot the water that has a small chance of overdosing?..

[dinor2]

Originally Posted by jtravapd

hello everyone, im just curious what people add to their to tank if anything to help with growth and health of their corals ect. which products do you use, how often, is there a chance of overdosing?...the only things i add to my tank other then fish food is a cube of rotifers a day, and twice a week i add live phytoplankton...i see ads everywhere and in readings that adding iodine helps , but nowhere can i find out how much to add. i have a iodine test kit, and it seems way to hard just ot test to see what your idoine levels are never mind adding some more to the tank..

are there certain vitamins or something you can add ot the water that has a small chance of overdosing?..

you can always overdose on additives! Think of all the elements in your water as marbles, you can only add so many marbles to a jar (or tank in our case) that when one type of marble is too many it either overflows or other marbles have to give way. Check out this article on water chemistry, it helped me ALOT with my calc, mag and alk levels.

CalcAlkMar

But to answer your question, I do add 15 drops of iodine a day but only after gradually increasing it. First few days was 8 drops, then 10, then 12 and finally 15 is where my iodine levels are at .05-.06 and my corals are definitly happier for it! I know I'm not overdosing iodine by using my test kit and also I have no problem with algae (too much iodine makes for more algae). I also do a kalkwasser drip at night which is nice because it tops off the tank as well.

I won't get into it but I believe it all depends on what kind of salt you're using as well as how much livestock you have using what's in the water.

I have the Seachem iodine test kit, it took me a while to figure out how to use it but, once I did I'm glad because it was the last thing about my water quality that needed attention and my corals are much, much happier with the right level of iodine.

I'm still a little new at this so I'm sure you'll get more seasoned people answering your questions as well, just thought I'd share what I'vd learned so far, seems to work well in my system. Each system is different though, that's the fun part of this hobby imho, figuring out what each system needs to be at it's best!

[pogodzib]

The only thing I add besides fish food is kalk and magnesium. I used to add other chemicals, but as I got more experienced, I learned that they were not necessary, was a waste of money, and risk the chance of overdosing when all that most corals really need is good lighting, clean water, and proper calcium, alk, and mag levels.

[boba40]

what test kits are you guys using to figure out your mag levels?i have checked several lfs and could not find a mag test kit>

[boba40]

oh yeah,for what it is worth i use purple up.about four capfulls a week

[dinor2]

Just my .02 but, I would get that magnesium and iodine test kits and concentrate on those and calcium rather than adding the purple up. I haven't personally used purple up before but I've heard nothing but bad things about the effects of it... after I tested my water for iodine and learned it was too low, I slowly raised it to the proper level and, low and behold, coraline everywhere!!! I really don't think you need the purple up, if it's not hurting anything then great but it sounds like you might want to concentrate on calcium, mag and iodine levels. Just my opinion...

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by dinor2

Just my .02 but, I would get that magnesium and iodine test kits and concentrate on those and calcium rather than adding the purple up. I haven't personally used purple up before but I've heard nothing but bad things about the effects of it... after I tested my water for iodine and learned it was too low, I slowly raised it to the proper level and, low and behold, coraline everywhere!!! I really don't think you need the purple up, if it's not hurting anything then great but it sounds like you might want to concentrate on calcium, mag and iodine levels. Just my opinion...

Good luck with the iodine dosing. I bet those corals look great!

[dinor2]

Originally Posted by jimw369

Good luck with the iodine dosing. I bet those corals look great!

Ya know, they really do look tons better! They're starting to grow well too. I took some video and put it onto my thread in reef building, lights are really bright but corals are looking great! So far holding steady at .05 and all other levels are good and stable.

[Jason L]

I dose Cal,Alk.Mag Amino Acid,Iron.idoine.plus 20 Gal h20 change every week. HAs worked for me here

[nunch]

I dosed w/ B-Ionic for calcium and alkalinity and do 15 gal water changes every week. haven't had to dose anything for about 3 months, besides pH buffer. My LFS gets real salt water from the ocean so it already contains most trace elements.

[Taras1]

The KISS principle works for me. Technically, if you do regular water changes, you're supposed to get away without supplements. I like 2 part Calcium/Alkalinity solutions, and Mg solutions on a weekly basis (and then only to keep my levels stable). Rarely do I add trace elements and then very little.