chemical reaction?

[mandarin man]

Hi guys,

Have you ever heard of such things called chemical reactions when different additives or supplements from different brands mixed together in the reef tank? I heard this from the LPS store, he said it could cause a complete tank crashed....

This worries me since I used different types of additives and supplements in my reef tank:

seachem carbonate (KH)
seachem reef plus- calcium
brightwell magnesium
Kz AA, KZ coral snow, Kz xtra, kz potassium, kz sponge power.

I just purchased a bottle of Brightwell Replenish (trace elements) this morning and very reluctant to use it and have not used it yet.

Please advise or shred some light on this matter.

Thank you

[whatcaneyedo]

Many different chemicals can cause a tank to crash if they are overdosed. Or if they are added to a low flow area directly over a sensitive invertabrate many could easily cause damage or even death. But if you only add a little at a time and follow the directions on the packages carefully you should be fine with essentially everything.

However a good rule of thumb is: if you dont test for it dont add it. Personally I prefer to just do water changes rather than add a lot of supplements... especially ones that have funny names.

[Drock169]

Overdosing any supplement will have a negative effect. Be careful with any sort of calcium and alk additives, try to avoid dosing these two too close to each other, as one can cause precipitation of the other.

[mandarin man]

My main concern is chemical reaction from different brands of additive ie. kz AA reacts with brightwell replenish. If that not the case I will definitely add it slow.

Most people recommend doing water change as good source of trace elements. In a heavily stock reef tank, correct me if I am wrong, these traces are used up very fast, in couple of days... Therefore, I feel a need to supplement it.

So there is no one used trace element as additive?

Thanks

[hillegom]

As Whatcaneyedo said, don't add anything if you cannot test for it.