Necessary Chemicals????

[Willy18T]

First off i have had fowlr and a nana reef before so i know the basics, i know you never add what you cant measure.

I am starting all over with a 45 gallon reef, no sps or clams. I know that calcium is a must and that you want to keep the reading at 400 or so. I am not going to get a calcium reactor until i go bigger. I know that buffers are usually needed everytime you do a watter change to stabilize ph.

Anyways to sum it up last time i listened to my LFS and i think they were just trying to sell me as much stuff as possible. I want to know what is a necessity and what is over kill and please name specific brand names if you can.

Looking to keep sun coral, frog spawn, zoos, birdsnest, anemone, mushrooms, brain coral, 3 to 4 small none aggressive fish, and misc inverts etc....

[Frick-n-Frags]

measure:

alk
ca
pH
temp
salinity

the game is to keep them as constant as possible
can't name specific brands because there are many ways to maintain critical parameters

spend some time in the reef chemistry forum, especially reading the articles at the top. once you have read some, you should be able to really zero in your questions, which you can't right now (you just don't know what to ask, YET :) )
BUT..you definitely are on the right track and your instincts seem sound. so keep reading, and formulate a dosing plan which shouldn't include much more than Ca/alk really. a well setup ca reactor can almost give you freedom from any dosing.

usually when your alk is right on, and the other levels are good, the pH takes care of itself, but you still have to watch all that in case dosing ca/alk changes it (baking soda can drop it, kalk can raise it etc, 2-parts keep it steady)

don't even look at all the other additives like trace elements and purple up etc, or the matching test kits (LFS says CHA-CHING)
and if you PM me, I'll tell you where they can shove any bioballs they try to sell you :D

you might also want to run with Reefcrystals salt since it has good alk/ca/Mg right out of the chute

[Paintbug]

Frick-n-Frags pretty much sums it up. the only thing that goes in my tank is new saltwater, and some home made 2 part calc/alk buffer. been doing it that way for about 1 1/2 years.