Currently (as of 5/28/99) I adding Seachems Reef Plus as my iodine supplement and ESV's B-Ionic to maintain my aquariums calcium and alkalinity. I find that both products work extremely well and have contributed to the continued success of my aquarium.
When I propagate my brood stock, I add twice the dose that is recommended by Seachem. I do this because I have heard from many hobbyists that the extra iodine has medicinal benefits and helps to heal the brood stock faster.
This product is relatively new to the aquarium hobby and may not be readily available at your local aquarium dealer. If so, ask the owner to order it for you. You won't be sorry that you did.
I am also using a deionized water purifier made by aquarium pharmaceuticals for all of my makeup water. This water purifier was substantially less expensive than a reverse osmosis water purifier (around 30.00) and it works great. I need to replace the cartridge (around 13.00 through the mail) about every 2 months.
Below you will find the "Something Interesting" section of my website. My feeling is that it is essential for hobbyists to observe their aquarium environments in order to determine what is working and what is causing harm.
I am constantly observing my aquarium environment and taking notes in order to try and create the optimal living reef environment for my all of my reef inhabitants. My something interesting excepts are things that I have done to my aquarium that I have benefited from over an extended period of time.
As you can see, I do not get too scientific here. This is mostly because I am not a scientist nor do I try and give the impression that I am one (as some hobbyists do). As I find more interesting things that have worked for me, I will continue to post them here. If you've have had an aquarium related experience that has worked for you, please let me know about it. I feel that it is essential that hobbyists communicate in this fashion in order to continue the success of this hobby (not to mention keeping the oceans prescious inhabitants alive. Also, if you do know the scientific principle (if there is one) behind why my something interesting items have worked for me, I would be interested to here about it and post it on my website.
This is a picture of Seachem's Reef Plus. I add it to my aquarium per the Seachem's instructions. I use this as my iodine supplement which benefits my corals tremendously. I recently experimented and stopped using the Reef Plus to see if it would hve any impact on the performance of my corals. To my dismay, they did not perform as well as when I added the Reef Plus.
This is a picture of the two part B-Ionic Calcium and Alkalinity supplements that I am adding to my reef aquariums per ESV's instructions. I have heard from several hobbyist that B-Ionic does an extremely good job of keeping your calcium and alkalinity (DKH)levels in line. As you are probably aware, it is essential to maintain calcium levels around 400 ppm (part per million) in order to keep S.P.S and other hard corals.
A couple of months ago, I started reading about a Reef Aquarium additive called "Green Water". It's claim to fame is that it is suppose to provide your hard/soft corals with essenial vitamins and nutrients in order to thrive. I asked my local aquarium store owner about this product and he said that it works well (of course he is is going to say this, that is why they are selling it). I did'nt purchase it however, a couple of weeks ago, I placed a piece of live rock that was filled with hair algae into my 37 gallon reef aquarium (my 37 gallon reef aquarium does not have a hair algae problem) and my soft corals started to grow very rapidly. They seemed to love the hair algae that I added. The addition of hair algae did not start a hair algae problem. They seemed to consume the hair algae over the course of a week. Since then, I have started to add hair algae into my 37 gallon aquarium on a weekly basis as part of my make-up water. Since I have started doing this, my reef inhabitants have never done better and I do not have a hair algae problem.
On my 37 gallon reef aquarium, I removed the protein skimmer a couple of months ago and my inhabitants are doing great. Within this aquarium, I am keeping xenia, leater coral, various types of mushrooms, star polyps, and zoanthids. All of which are doing fantastic. I will continue to report on the progress of this aquarium with you. It has been up and running for about 1 year. It has a plenum and uses 2 55 watt power compact lights with a polished aluminum reflector (one daylight bulb and one attinic 03 bulb).
As you may be aware, alot of what i've learned on the subject of Reef Keeping came from reading the articles on the Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation or G.A.R.F website. I have read virtually every article on this website which has contributed greatly to the success of my Reef Aquarium. While reading through one of the articles, they made mention of something that they refer to as "Storms". Basically storms are when you use on of your power heads to spray your entire reef with a strong water current. When doing so, water circulates rapidly throughout the aquarium and causes detitrus that settles on the bottom of the aquarium and on the live rock to free itself and float thoughout the aquarium. When this happens, it looks like it is snowing in the aquarium. My reef inhabitants seem to love the detitrus and consequently, I have never had a better growth rate.
Since i've started doing this, my coral growth has increased significantly. This is not to say that my corals did not perform well without these storms however, my coral growth is about three times faster when creating storms. In addition to increasing coral growth, it also prevents your nitrate level from rising since excessinve detitrus buildup is one of the main causes of nitrate build up among established aquariums. The corals really seem to love the detitrus and you can see them feeding on it like crazy.
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