Chemicals in a saltwater aquarium?

Question

I have a well established 12 gallon nano-cube aquarium and I am wondering if adding supplements like Kalkwasser and marine buffer does more harm than good.

Is there anyone out there (who does not have access to pure ocean water of course) who maintains a biologically sound nano-reef aquarium without using chemical supplements?

Answer 1

What you might or might not need to use will be determined largely by what your water chemistry is from whatever source you use and what organisms you're trying to keep. At one time I lived in an area where the pH was 8.3 right out of the tap and I never had to use any additives. Where I'm at now, I can barely maintain 7.8 without using kalkwasser. I tried the AragaMite once, but it didn't make much of a dent in the pH level - only to about 8.0, so my inverts still weren't hapy.

Since you already have a tank set up, and are probably monitoring your pH, you should have a good idea what yours is. If it's below 8 and you're only keeping fish, you might not have any problems. If you're trying to keep corals or other inverts, they might not do well with the pH that low.

If you use a crushed coral or aragonite (shell material) substrate, it should help buffer your tank some, but doesn't always get the level where it needs to be. This is when you need to think about adding kalkwasser. It's calcium hydroxide which is pretty caustic stuff and you need to be careful when using it. It can cause a chemical burn if it gets on your skin and it gets wet - something like agricultural lime. You need to mix it in water first, the add slowly to your tank. You can do this with a dosing system (basically a hospital IV bag with a flow control to deliver the solution by drops) or by using a medicine dropper to periodically add some to the tank and to water changes. The calcium is a good supplement for stony corals, clams, and other inverts that require it and the hydroxide raises your pH.

You do have to monitor your pH still, so it doesn't get too high - that's not good for the tank inhabitants either!

Other than kalkwasser, I buy a good quality salt for reef tanks, so any "additives" needed by the inverts and macroalgaes is replenished when I do weekly water changes. If for some reason I need to skip a week on a water change, I don't think it would hurt the tank, but I sometimes add Reef Essentials to give the tank a boost. IMO, as long as you keep up water changes, kalkwasser is the only additive you might need, and that's only if you can't maintain a good pH (8.2-8.4) for inverts otherwise. My macroalgaes, sponges, corals, anemones, hermit crabs, seastars, brittlestars, cucumber, snails, tunicates, shrimp, urchins, worms, and fish don't seem to have a problem with this either.

Answer 2

If you have lots of coral that suck up the Ca levels (ie. SPS), kalkwasser is usually added, but I would not recommending adding anything if you have a tank with a variety of corals. A water change every week is good enough.

Answer 3

As long as you keep a healthy tank environment by doing partial water changes every to weeks, and you don't over fee, you will be fine.

I use something called CYCLE by NUTRAFIN. Its for fresh and salt and its all organic. It releases HUGE amounts of benificial bacteria that consumes ammonia and nitrites (which are toxic to your fish.)

Hope this helps. Good luck!