Essential Additives

[shaywood]

I know this is a broad question, but I'll give it a try anyway. Other than regular water changes, calcium, and kalk, what essential additives do you recommend for reef tanks? I see so much sold these days, I don't know what is really necessary for a great tank. I see things like prodibio, iodine, coral-vite, strontium, etc.

[Samper]

I don't dose iodine or strontium...my iodine is higher than nsw levels through the foods that I feed. Strontium I've never worried about. I do do frequent water changes to replenish trace elements and I use a 2 part Ca and Alk from Oceans Blend to get things where I want them. I run reactors to hold those levels where they need to be after getting them within range. I also dose Magnesium. That's it.

[120gallons]

I only add a bit of iron for my refugium and Koralin-S which is magnesium and trace elements. I think water changes with a good salt should provide most of what you need.

[Ninong]

If you're dosing Kalkwasser, that will maintain your calcium and alkalinity levels. However, you will want to test for magnesium on a regular basis as you will probably need to dose a Mg supplement unless you are doing very frequent water changes with a salt mix that has decent Mg levels.

I wouldn't dose iodine or strontium UNLESS you test first and determine a deficiency. NSW levels of Sr are ~9 ppm and total iodine 0.06 ppm. I have never tested for Sr but I did test for iodine on a regular basis. In spite of never adding any iodine, I always tested above 0.06 ppm. There is a lot of iodine in the foods we feed.

Both iodine and strontium are toxic at elevated levels.

P.S. -- I didn't notice the calcium reactor either. When you listed that you were dosing Kalkwasser, I just assumed you didn't have a calcium reactor. Anyway, if you're running a calcium reactor, you magnesium level should be in good shape but check it every now and then just to be sure. And, the fact that you're running a calcium reactor, makes it less likely that your strontium level is deficient.

[Samper]

I didn't see that you had reactors sorry for the edit.