Hi guys, I'm a newbie just starting to setup up my 65G reef and wanted help with the supplement side of this hobby. I wanted to hear suggestions on what supplements I
should start off with. I'll start off by saying I dont have any corals yet and wont begin dosing
until I both have corals and test kits for the elements I'll be supplementing. My
LFS just tested
my calcium level to be 370ppm. What they use in their tanks and their customers tanks is regular dosing of seachem marinebuffer ( for
ph and alkalinity) and kent marine's "reef starter kit" (calcium, stronium, and
iodine) along with frequent testing of clients water. My concern with there system is that they don't test for nor dose magnesium. After reading several discusions on here and reading several articles (such as this one
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com). It seems to me the 3 most important things for me to monitor and supplement for are calcium, magnesium and carbonate (alkalinity). That article also suggests not to dose for stronium or
iodine. I'm currently using seachem marine buffer to keep my
PH around 8.3, im yet to determine what effect this product has on my alkalinity (its advertised to increase alkalinity). My "plan" is to keep using the marine buffer and add seachems reef complete and reef carbonate. Reef complete is supposed to also contain magnesium in proportion to typical to calcium:magnesium usage ratios. I figure I can start off supplementing these 3 products and in the future add a magnesium test kit and if need be reef magnesium. Does this sound like a good "plan"? Better than what my
LFS typically suggests? Any better products out there I should consider? etc etc. Also would it be worthwhile to add any other supplements such as Reef plus ("iodide, bromide, molybdenum, iron, manganese, cobalt, potassium, inositol, choline; important vitamins such as C and B12; and beneficial amino acids, such as cysteine, proline, glycine, alanine, and lysine") Sorry for being so long winded. There are soo many supplement products out there its really easy to get confused and feel lost. Thanks in advance, this forum has added immensely to my enjoyment of this hobby.
