Additive Comparison

[Detri]

Thanks mangus! Now i am off to the dolor store in the morning hehe.

 

[pondfrog]

I agree with MikekS!
We spend $80 on a coral, but then try to skimp on additives that are not as pure as the more expensive stuff. But even then we are talking about saving 10-30$. I used to try to go the cheaper route until I woke up to the amount of $ I had in my tank in livestock and the miniscule amount I was saving by going with the cheaper stuff. There is very little arguement that the cheaper, non-reef stuff has impurities. The only argument is do those impurities cause harm. We don't really know, maybe use of something impure for a year will cause an accumulation of a trace element that results in a crash. Not slamming anyone who uses the non-reef stuff, just explaining my thought process in my evolution through reef keeping.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[My2heartboys]

Yea I thought about mixing my own, but, since this is my first time useing them I want to use pre-mixed so I can see the negative and positive before I try something on my own. This way I'll have a comparison. But I am willing to buy the Seachem flake or powder to try first off.

Kalkwasser...hmmm...I'll have to check it out. I thought you needed a reactor for that?

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When I started out (which was roughly 4 months ago), I started with the Kent brand of supplements. I was generally pretty happy with them, but like somebody has already said----it is cheaper to buy dry supplements and mix them yourself and drip them in if need be.

As a beginner I would recommend starting with Kent brand liquid stuff. I think, though, that very quickly you will begin to feel comfortable enough with the hobby that you can switch to dry supplements.

IMHOaE I would steer clear of non-aquarium product items for supplements. In a desperate attempt one day, I tried using epsom salt to bring my mg levels up and not too long after starting the drip, my 'shrooms curled up and my sarcophyton started acting really freaky along with the fish. I very quickly stopped the drip and within the hour things were starting to settle down. Found out what could have caused that reaction-epsom salt is not ionically balanced and it could have cause the water to feel kind of funky to the corals and fish. 2 of my 3 fish have been tank raised--so they could have been pretty picky--but that is the only problem I have had from them (other than being major pigs at feeding time ). With Kent's liquid Tech M, I found it nearly impossible to raise mg levels at all. I have since switched to Tropic Marin's Bio-Mag and Bio-Calcium and will soon use their Bio-Strotium. My mg levels are still not above 1200-but my tank is pretty happy so I try to maintain it at the level it is at. Also, I currently have a pretty light bio-load.

Anne