about to make my order

[trd47]

hey guys and gals,

i'm about to make an order for my supplements so that I can grow some coraline algae. lmk if i have everything

i am basically buying esv products.

i'm getting the b-ionic calcium and magnessium. is there anything else i need? i read somewhere i need kalk? but have no idea what it is.

please let me know if everthing is good or if i need more things.

thanks

[Percula9]

Unless your tank is huge, you should be okay with B-ionic. Does that include a alkalinity part? With out carbonates to join with the calcium and magnesium the coralline will not grow.

[trd47]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10850204#post10850204 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Percula9
Unless your tank is huge, you should be okay with B-ionic. Does that include a alkalinity part? With out carbonates to join with the calcium and magnesium the coralline will not grow.

i think so. it says component 1 alkalinity and component 2 says calcium. once coraline algae starts to grow do i stop or do i continue to dose? or will this also feed my corals?

[vessxpress1]

I hope you're ordering some good test kits with them if you don't have them. Mg, alk, and Ca tests a must. There's no way to guess at where everything's at.

You have to keep the Mg up in order to keep the other two stabile. Alk and Ca are always in competition with each other and you have to find a balance. I find it easy to keep Ca around 410 and alk around 10 dKH.

But you have to test once in a while to see what's creeping up and what's getting low. That's the beauty of the two part supplements. If your Ca is too high, only add alk and the Ca will slowly fall. And vice versa. You have to have the ability to see where you're at once in a while though.

I have a pretty high demand tank and I've found I rarely need to add Mg to stay above 1400. You shouldn't need to add Mg but maybe once or twice a month maybe, depending on how much uptake you have. The b-ionic pt. 2 has some Mg in it also.

You don't need kalk unless you're having pH problems and/or have a large coral load. Then it helps to have as a supplement with your top off water. Kalk is super potent. A small amount added to a tank can raise pH extremely fast and high. Be careful with it if you ever do decide to use it.

[vessxpress1]

Oh yeah. Also depends on what type of coraline algae you have. Some have the type that need high light. I have the type that hates light. I get fantastic coraline growth on the underside of rocks and any dark areas. Hardly any growth on areas exposed to direct light. I had great growth under PCs. Then I switched to T-5s and the coraline looked awesome at first but then went away in time and never came back like it was. And I know all my levels are plenty high.

[davidryder]

Well the major benefit of kalkwasser (also pickling lime) is that it is a balanced dosing solution - meaning it provides a balanced amount of Alk and Ca. Once you get your levels where you want them you can start on a kalkwasser dosing scheme to keep them there.

You find kalkwasser at almost any store with marine products. It's in a round plastic jar with a red label. It'll probably be around $11 for the smallest jar. Pickling lime (available in the baking isle at your local grocery) is identical to kalkwasser and it's about $3 for a HUGE jar of it.

[bertoni]

Those products should be fine. I agree that some test kits will be useful as well. Kalkwasser (limewater) can be used to save some money or raise pH, but it's a bit trickier to use. Getting start with B-Ionic should be fine.

[trd47]

sounds awesome guys. i've read around the forums can't remember which but salifert test kits aren't "accurate" for some of hte members, so should I get something else or should i just go with them. i already have ca, alk, and a phosphate test kit from them (although I was considering throwing them away, what should i do?).

[vessxpress1]

Buy some other brand test kits to try against your salifert ones and see if they match. The only one I don't trust is Seachem's Ca test because no matter how hard I try to run the test perfectly, it always reads way low. I've had two Seachem Ca tests that matched their known sample fairly well but read 100 ppm lower than anything else.

Seachem's Mg test also contains an alk test and they matched my Salifert kits. I'm guessing that one's ok from them.

I say their Ca kit is bad because there's no way I could have numerous LPS corals thriving in 335 ppm of Ca like it would continuously give me.

But the Seachem Mg is a good value, but a little more complicated. You can also try the LaMotte alk test. It's a very good test. Great color changes. Gives readings in ppm though so you'll have to find a conversion to see what you get.

Even the aquarium pharmaceuticals tests aren't that bad for comparison testing.

[davidryder]

I don't know if it still is a problem but a lot of people have recently been eporting problems with the Salifert Ca test kit

[Lifes A Beach]

Apparently Salifert is having alot of problems lately. I just bought a Magnesium test (only because API doesn't have Mg) and I receive a Salifert Copper box with a sticker on it that says: "Magnesium" and "This is an original Salifert kit but due to stock situation we had to use a different box". That immediately got my attention! Why am I paying a high price for a product that comes like this??? So, this made me feel uneasy about the test kit.

In checking other posts on Reef Central, there seems to be alot of questions asked about the reliability of Saliferts products, Kh and Mg in particular although now I'm seeing some problem questions with Ca.

I use API (American Pharmacuticals Inc.) and I've been very happy with their test kits. And the prices are much better too! I just wish they made a Mg test.