should i be using any additives???

[degibson84]

i have a 45g tank with around 50lbs. LR 30lbs. LS.

i have about 15 red reef hermits, 2 leon blue leg hermits, 7 nassarius snails, 4 margarita snails, 1 astrea, 1 sally light foot, one bicolor blenny, tons of muchrooms and a candy can coral with about 7-10 heads. i do a 5g water change every week but am wondering if there is anything i should be adding to the water when i put the fresh clean saltwater in

[George771177]

good question i want to know the answer to this too.
Heres the thing i know that the R/o water we get from the store has a zero ph so by adding R/o with a zero ph it has to be dropping our ph levels in our tanks which is bad.
What i think iam going to do from now on is take a small mix of kalkawasser solution and mix that into my R/O or saltwater mixes....
I may be wrong by doing this, but iam with you on this one degibson84 i want to know what everyone else thinks about this topic too!!!!!

[degibson84]

most salt mixes have a PH of around 8.1-8.4

i used to add calcium years back but i stopped adding it. and just went with regular WC and have seen no harmful affects but also no good affects

[Clownfish518]

I don't add anything to the salt mix

[degibson84]

do you add anything to the tank??? or just WC


also forgot to mention i have about 30 more snails coming from reefcleaners in the next few days

[George771177]

so do you add anything to your Straight R/O when fixing the Salinity?????
Maybe i need to switch my salt. I thought i tested the ph and it was non existent in my salt mix....

[degibson84]

i dont add anything but my salt when mixing up for a WC

[George771177]

but what about when jsut adding R/O water by itself?

[kospaintball]

Originally Posted by George771177

good question i want to know the answer to this too.
Heres the thing i know that the R/o water we get from the store has a zero ph so by adding R/o with a zero ph it has to be dropping our ph levels in our tanks which is bad.
What i think iam going to do from now on is take a small mix of kalkawasser solution and mix that into my R/O or saltwater mixes....
I may be wrong by doing this, but iam with you on this one degibson84 i want to know what everyone else thinks about this topic too!!!!!

woah woah, how does the ph of your ro have a ph of 0? Base water ph is 7.

a ph of 0 would be so acidic it would devistate your tank.






as for adding anything to your tank, test for your levels and then add accordingly

[George771177]

i bet your right its 7

[UTCreefer]

Best thing to do is buy a Calcium, Alkalinity and Magnesium test kits and go from there.

[degibson84]

Originally Posted by George771177

but what about when jsut adding R/O water by itself?

i just fill up a gallon jug and top off

[Clownfish518]

My R/O water always contains my calcium supplement, and I do 15% water changes twice weekly so my regimen probably is not what what you would do.

[Clownfish518]

0 pH would be a heavy duty acid.

[degibson84]

ya i am just trying to get an idea on what i should be adding if anything