chemical aditives strontium,manganese,iodine

[sandmanrieast]

Hello everyone ,was wondering if you use these suppliments regularly? Do you test for these?
and what sorces do you get them from ???salt mix ?
kent, seachem?
do we need to replace them because of skimming ?

Thanks for the input

 

[esmithiii]

I subscribe to the theory that the food we feed the fish replenishes these chemicals. I do not supplimant.

Ernie

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

I subscribe to the theory of maintaining as close to natural seawater as I can get. A test kit will show you whether you have NSW of those elements or not - Salifert is a good brand of kit.

Food alone is not sufficent. Water changes are insufficent for me too as I only change 5% - 10% a month.

For increasing Iodide I add potassium iodide (20 grams dissolved in 1.5 litres of DI water is similar in strength to the Seachem addative).

For Strontium I add strontium chloride.

Did you mean magnesium for the third? I've just started increasing that using magnesium chloride (my salt mic does not contain enough to ever hit NSW levels).

The reason I dose the last two is that the calcium reactor media I use contains only calcium chloride (choice in New Zealand is limited).

If you're dosing a commercial two-part calcium/buffer product or using some other reactor medias then you're likely already adding strontium and magnesium anyway.

Mixing your own addatives is far more economical than buying shop made product. For example, a 500g container of reagent grade strontium chloride cost me about the same as 15 bottle of Seachem's addative. I had to add the equivalent of 30 bottles of Seachem's addative (I basically still had a full container of powder left) to bring my tank up to NSW levels, so I was in the money on the first day.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

..... calcium carbonate .....

is what I had meant to type.

 

[esmithiii]

I have heard that the iodine test kit is terribly inaccurate. Any ideas there?

 

[randy holmes-farley]

IME, both the Seachem and Salifert kits work fine for iodide at fairly high levels(0.06 to 0.2 ppm) but not well at all at natural levels (0.02 ppm). So at least when I tested them a few years ago they were good to follow trends and good to ensure lack of overdosing, but not good to exactly maintain NSW iodide.

 

[esmithiii]

What about tests for Strontium and Magnesium?

E

 

[randy holmes-farley]

I never got the Seachem strontium kit to work despite many public back and forth discussions with Leo Morin of Seachem several years ago. As I recall, it was the only thing that brought Craig Bingman out of the woodwork and he composed a poem about it. The kit may have changed since then.

Hach makes a fine magnesium kit. It is a combo calcium and magnesium kit.

I know of no manganese kits.

[ December 27, 2001: Message edited by: Randy Holmes-Farley ]</p>

 

[esmithiii]

Thanks, Randy. Good to see you're back.

E