What do you use to maintain the big 3?

[Davy Jones]

Just looking to see what everyone out there is using to maintain Alk, Cal and Mag!

I have used most of these in the past, but with my new tank going, im left wondering if i want to try something new

 

[Waynerock]

All For Reef 35 ml a day dosed @ 24 increments. I can test weekly and guess within 20 of the numbers this stuff works so well. 1 bottle 1 doser no worries. It does get a slight bit pricey I will not lie but I have spent way more on total BS over the years. Cant recommend enough. Not only the big 3 but trace as well and just got my ICP back and everything is in the green.

 

[Waynerock]

And it’s not like I don’t have many corals

 

[ThePurple12]

Randy H.F.'s DIY 2 part! Cheap and works just as well as any product.

 

[Davy Jones]

All For Reef 35 ml a day dosed @ 24 increments. I can test weekly and guess within 20 of the numbers this stuff works so well. 1 bottle 1 doser no worries. It does get a slight bit pricey I will not lie but I have spent way more on total crap over the years. Cant recommend enough. Not only the big 3 but trace as well and just got my ICP back and everything is in the green.

Have you tried using the powder and making it in bulk?

How does this work on a tank if it doesnt use cal/alk at consistent rates? i.e. tank uses more alk than calcium or vice versa?

Thanks for pointing me to this stuff!

 

[Waynerock]

Have you tried using the powder and making it in bulk?

How does this work on a tank if it doesnt use cal/alk at consistent rates? i.e. tank uses more alk than calcium or vice versa?

Thanks for pointing me to this stuff!

Powder not out yet in the states but as soon as it is I am on it. as for the BRS DIY I don't have a desire to make it. Get your numbers where you want them and start dosing more and more till they stay balanced. I started at 20 ml and worked up. It took me a while to get to 35ml but the growth of my corals is amazing and annoying cause I have to trim weekly. About once every week and a half I will kinda top off my alk with the part 2 of the old 2 part I was using. It will need to be done because of the imbalanced uptake with alk vs cal. It will stay at 9 dkh and slowly drops and when it gets to around 8.5 I will get it back up. Tropic Marin does say that will have to be done. In over a year of using AFR I have yet to dose cal and mag. Dialing everything in the the only pain with this stuff because it could take a day or so for the bacteria in the tank to do its thing and convert the alk. once you are good you rarely have to change. It wont effect salinity like 2 part does awesome stuff!!

 

[bmbpka]

I use Red Sea because I can get the big bottle cheap locally and 99% of the time in stock.

It seems to be the most potent of all the additives I looked into which is nice because a bottle last 1.5-2months.

If I had space, I’d change to calcium reactor now that my tank is 95% sps dominant.

 

[Davy Jones]

I currently use ati essentials pro on my 80 gallon, and although I'm happy with it, it's sometimes hard to find in stock and it gets expensive. I may just use that as well, but figured it'd be good to see what everyone else is doing

 

[Billdogg]

BRS 2 part for me using a pair of BRS 1.1ml dosing pumps and digital lamp timers to control the amount. I find the combination to be very accurate, economical, and easy to mix up and use. I make up 10g of Ca and Alk at a time and store them in potable water containers making refilling my dosing containers simple and failsafe.

 

[redeyejedi]

5% water change roughly every 2 days to bump alk up. No dosing.

 

[SPS2020]

BRS DIY All For Reef recipe for me.

 

[Gtinnel]

I do daily water changes and it keeps mine in check for now (most of my stony corals are just small frags so I have relatively low demand) but when I need to start dosing I will probably go with Randy's diy recipes.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Food grade additives, some BRS additives, and RODI water.

 

[blasterman]

Grocery store baking soda and whatever food grade calcium chloride I can get. Since I run smaller tanks with high coral loads consumption changes too fast for a doser and keeping my sanity.

I'm more focused on phosphate and nitrate levels. Again, this would likely not be the case if I had bigger tanks.

 

[Hydrored]

Switched to Triton other methods a few months ago and I have been happy with it.