Additives

[ice-qube]

Just to help this ***** get going here is another question. My tank is fairly new about 1 month old. What kind of additives should I use in it at this time. It has about 40 pounds of manado live rock. Do i need calcium? or anything of that sort to help the corraline growth?

Q

[ajx22]

First off - - - Welcome to the Forum Q!! :dance:

The addition of additives depends on what livestock you have in your tank. I have a 100Gal tank w/35Gal sump and a Berlin Classic skimmer that I am letting condition (about 3-months old now). I only have LR and 4 Damsels (2-Domino, and 2-Yellowtail) in the tank, with 5 small Red Scarlet Hermit Crabs.

To help the Coralline growth, you should add Calcium and Alk. I use Seachem Reef Complete & Reef Carbonate. I dose 2-capfulls once a week (calcium on Saturday and Carbonate on Sunday) - DON'T dose them at the same time! I just add the additives to my RO/DI top-off water, and then add it directly to the tank.

Where as I have the hermit crabs in the tank, and I run a skimmer, I dose daily with Seachem Reef Iodine. I dose 5-drops a day, directly into the tank. The hermits NEED the iodine, and the skimmer will remove it almost as quickly as you add it.

You can read up on the Seachem products @ http://www.seachem.com/

Also, you should be using RO/DI water and have good circulation in your tank. You will also want to make sure that your nusence algae (diatoms, hair, etc.) are at a minimum, as they will win the battle for space against the Coralline. Be sure to NOT overfeed.

Hope that this helps, and it's great to have you on-board!

Ciao,