Attn. SPS Gurus- A Few Questions

[Bblinks]

I believe water quality and stability is far more important then any additive. I believe in high flow in the dt and turnover rate through the sump. Heavy skimmering and a filter sock that's frequently changed also plays a important roll in the success of keeping sps corals. I use bio-pellets, carbon, and rowaphos, bio-pellets never gets emptied to preserve the bacteria mass and only topped up every 2-3month. Carbon gets changed once a month and rowa depends on phosphate reading from my hanna. The big three is supplemented by RX6 duo and kalk over top off. Water change every 2 weeks with IO, I have tried many different types of salt and here we are back to the basics.

IMO every tank is different. What works for one might not work for the other. I say keep the basics simply and stable, then if you want try some additive(zeovit is my preference) one at a time and wait and see how your corals react to it.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

I believe water quality and stability is far more important then any additive.

I agree. Although, it's the additives that some people throw into their tanks that help maintain that water quality no?

[Bblinks]

I was referring more towards "coral enhancing" additives like zeovit K or B balance and not additives like prodibio system. Probiotic system are a whole other topic.

[Proteus]

Though my tanks small I employed prodibio carbon and rowa(just in case). Prodibio is easy and works well. I do weekly waterchanges and am very discrete on how much I feed

I also just built a algea scrubber to sea what happens. I may stop the prodibio if the scrubber starts to grow anything. Though that could take 2 months.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Probiotic system are a whole other topic.

whoops, my bad. I thought that was the topic Carry on.

I always find it interesting how different people's interpretation of "simple" and "easy" are. For example, there are plenty of people who complain about the maintenance schedule required for zeovit while there are some who don't find it bothersome at all. Some people will say dosing VSV is easy, while some will say that's a pain in the butt. Some will say bioPellets are easy while others think that's a pain too. That's kind of the beauty of this hobby. There's a tonne of ways to skin this cat. Unfortunately this diversity in methods is also what makes the hobby challenging! We are always second guessing our methods and wondering if we're doing it wrong and the other guy is doing it right

[don.ald]

Originally Posted by kien

There's a tonne of ways to skin this cat. We are always second guessing our methods and wondering if we're doing it wrong and the other guy is doing it right

This is a good point.
When I started out I used so many different methods, never waiting long enought to find out if anything worked before starting something new.
Finally happy with the simplistic basics. Dose the main three, use carbon, when I think of it, run cheato in the sump, and do regular water changes .