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salonsuzy
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Posted 3/6/2013 4:36:04 AM
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 3/23/2013 3:36:04 AM
Posts: 4,
Visits: 21
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I have had my fish/reef tank (that I purchased already established) for about 9 months. It has been a struggle to say the least. My local fish store owner has helped me and his employee had been cleaning it once a month. I started getting red hair algae, then green. Well I decided to take the water changes and cleaning into my own hands. I have been doing 10 gal water changes weekly, been adding Phosban every 2 days to lower my phosphates, so far it is looking much better, I also changed my lightbulbs 2 blue, 1 purple, 1 white. The local fish store owner had me purchase Iodide, strontium, essential elements, zooplex, chromoplex, calcium and PH buffer to be used weekly. When I started with all the algae I was advised to stop supplements and concentrate on lighting, phosphates and nitrates, after doing so my tank is really coming along. So my question is; are supplements really necessary other than fish food and feeding anemones? Thanks for any answers.
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argi
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Posted 3/7/2013 9:17:19 PM
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Group: Administrators
Last Active: Yesterday @ 4:46:59 PM
Posts: 7,157,
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I personally only use a two part (calcium and alkalinity) supplement on my tank and have found that works great for me. I also make sure I keep up on water changes to help replenish lost nutrients as well.
As far as all the "other" supplements, lots of people use them with great results. I have also seen tanks that look awesome without using the extra supplements.
If you find that not using them your tank looks great, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you find the corals/fish just don't seem to look as good as you feel they could, you can try experimenting with different supplements.
If you aren't testing your water (especially for calcium, alkalinity, pH, nitrates, phosphates, magnesium) then I wouldn't add some of the supplements. If there is a test kit available for a supplement, I would suggest getting the kit instead of dosing blindly.
HTH,
________________________________________________
Keith
"Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer
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salonsuzy
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Posted 3/10/2013 7:09:38 AM
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Group: Forum Members
Last Active: 3/23/2013 3:36:04 AM
Posts: 4,
Visits: 21
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thanks so much for the input, I do test the water except I never have checked magnesium.
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