Buffers and Other additives

[Wildshot83]

Getting ready to start setting up my SW tank. I've got some questions about additives. I'm using RO water with Instant Ocean salt mix for my water. Now should I be using an additional buffer additive or is the salt mix and substrate going to provide enough? I'm starting out with a FOWLR tank and going to slowly add corals as I get more experince. Besides calcium and a general trace element additive am I going to need other additives as I add the corals? The tank is a 20 long with a bak-pak2R skimmer, 130 pc lighting, and about a 1.5" thick sand bed, I think it's argonite, but can't be sure. Thanks for the help everyone, learned quiet a lot reading all the posts.

[mogurnda]

Overall, I like your setup. A 20 long with a bakpak and 130 watts of light will give you a lot of options.

Your salt mix has all the buffers you will need. The only substances that are consumed in significant quantities are calcium and carbonate. These will need to be tested and added routinely in a balanced way. By balanced, I mean that they will need to be added in roughly equal amounts, because they are consumed equally to make calcium carbonate by corals and coralline algae. The easiest way is to use a two-part additive like ESV B-Ionic.

Another, cheaper, option is kalkwasser, aka calcium hydroxide or pickling lime. What I used to do when I was keeping a 20 was to use a saturated solution of kalk to replace the water lost by evaporation. You have to drip it slowly, because it will drive your pH up if added all at once. Fairly simple, very cheap, and pretty good for moderate demand.

If you want a more complete description, I can post a few articles.

I have not bothered with traces, just replenishing them with water changes. If I can't measure how fast they are being depleted, I don't feel comfortable adding them.

In a FOWLR tank, the biggest consumer will probably be your coralline, and the demand won't be that high. You will probably be able to get by with water changes and small doses of a two-part additive.

Until you get corals, you might think about just using 65 watts of light. It will keep the heat down, may prevent a little algae, and your fish won't need 130W of light.

[Wildshot83]

Thanks for the information, Yeah the 130 watts is overkill for a FOWLR, but it's got independent lights so I'll probably just end up turning on the 10000k bulb and leaving the actinic bulb off.

Is there a good place online to find that ESV B-ionic? The lfs around here have only limited saltwater sections.

[mogurnda]

My favorite places are:
Premium Aquatics (http://www.premiumaquatics.com), which may have the best customer service in the business.
Marine and Reef (http://marineandreef.com)
Marine Depot (http://www.marinedepot.com)
Drs Foster and Smith (http://www.drsfostersmith.com)

I think Kent and SeaChem make perfectly good two part additives as well; I have only used ESV, though.