Additives

so anyways i started to dose strontium and iodine once weekly , since i dont test these parameters ... can one overdose ? how much r the rest of u dosing ?

 

Would also like to know

 

Or at least how often ... and also if there are any other additives u guys would recommend.

 

I personally dose these additives daily in small amounts , iodine, strontium, calcium, magnesium, kH buffer and kalkwasser via a stirrer and auto-top up unit. Certain elements are very unstable in sea water especially iodine and to a lesser extent strontium and it is prefferable to dose small amounts daily rather than a once a week dose.

 

Midas, how much Strontium, Trace Elements and Iodine would you recommend be dosed per x L per week evaporation say for a 100L tank? Or is it not that simple?

 

And which ones would you dose via which method ie. kalkstirrer vs ATO?

 

Well not that complicated actually, i dose 1ml of each for every 100litres tank water per day as per instructions on Pure Reef Supplements.
Different systems use a varying amounts of elements, sps tanks as opposed to a few softies in a system but bear in mind some elements like iodine have a `life` of 24 hrs irrespective of which coral species we are keeping.
Testing is of course advised to gauge exact amounts needed.
As for kalk i run an auto-top up unit which runs thru a kalk stirrer for compensation of evaporation and find this method works well.

 

Currently I have mostly softies, getting a monti sps Wednesday, and don't have too many fish. I dose Red Sea Calsium +3 once weekly, as per directions, as well as Red Sea Marine Trace, also once weekly. What else do I need to look at, and should I also look at daily dosing rather?

If if do dose daily, can I mix the supplements into one container, and dose say, instead of 1 ml from 5 different bottles, just 5 ml from the mix? Or is there too many variables that can go wrong then - ie dosing too much of one and nothing of the other. Mmmm, just answered my own question.

 

You can't mix buffer or kalk powder with other suppplements. Also depends on the make up, but mixing magnesium and calcium supplements can also not be done (most magnesium supplemets contain sulphates whick will precipitate out as calcium sulphate).

In short, do not mix them.


Just to add to what Midas has said. I would dose calcium and alkalinity regularly, iodine at least twice a week if you got lots of softies, mag when necessary (it's not used up that quickly), trace is debatable - can be covered by decent regualt water changes, if you don't do this there may be soem benefit in dosing a trace element solution as well.

Splitting your weekly supplement requirement into seven smaller doses as per Midas is obviously a very good way to go, but it also depends on your system - you may only need to dose once or twice a week, maybe less even.

 

Hi Midasblenny, I have been dosing magnesium,strontiumand iodine manually every day. Can the three of them be added to the topup water at the same time(mixed).

 

Cool, thanx for the info. I don't have much stock yet, in a 500l system, so I'll go less on the trace. Water changes is sometimes a bit of a mission, staying about 50 km's from decent water, and with 2 kids the time is also a factor...

I'll have to start looking at iodine, but not yet. Only have zoas (7 colonies, 1 big 6 small to tiny), star polyps, brain, frogspawn, mushroom, and a nennie, so not too many corals in there now.

 

hey guys thanx for the input , so where in the sump do i add the dossage or can i had directly to the main display ?

 

I usually add into the last chamber of my sump by the return pump if it is something a bit harsh like buffer, otherwise I just add directly into my tank near a powerhead.

 

I hope you don't mind me butting in here joe, but you may find this helpful as well.

I want to dose my tank using Lugols iodene, as it is readily available from the pharmacy and pretty cheap. But I am unsure of its concentration. I was hoping that Palmerc or Midasblenny could shed some light on dosing amounts per 100l.

Thanks

 

i dont mind Hill , especially if its gonna save some $$$$

 

Preferably not herkie.
Magnesium and strontium together you could but iodine rather dose separately.

 

Great info guys, thanks

Last question from my side. I have (if I remember correctly) 8 supplement:

* Calcium
* Magnesium
* Strontium
* Trace
* Iodine
* kH
* Liquid Phosphate Remover
* Kalk

My problem is that for my small system (planning on stocking corals heavily soon), I want to add (for example) 0.5ml of say iodine daily. But I find it difficult and a hassle to measure 0.5ml and easy to make a mistake. Now the question is, can I mix the above supplements with RO/DI water and store? The reason is simple; it is easier for me to measure out 1 tot glass of a solution than 0.5ml. So I could rather mix 10ml of Iodine with 630ml of RO/DI. Then adding 1 tot glass of the solution will effectively add 0.5ml of iodine. (Only using Iodine as an example.) This way my daily dosing is literally as easy as: "Add 1 tot glass of each of the bottles on that shelf, every day."

Can I do this with all the above supplements and if no, which ones?

 

You could do this without affecting any of the elements. Store the diluted additives in a cool dark place and keep away from sunlight and excessive heat. Some guys keep the iodine in the fridge as our SA summer can be brutal but i personally feel this is a bit of overkill.