The elements contained in saltwater are essential to the health of your fish. As an aquarium runs through its cycles, however, essential minerals and nutrients tend to become depleted and need to be refilled through a water change or special aquarium supplements.
Not everyone needs to add supplements to their aquarium - it really depends on the situation. If you keep up with water changes and maintenance, and only keep fish, supplementation may not be necessary. This is because with each water change essential elements are automatically replenished. Coral reef tanks require supplements to keep the amount of calcium at a high enough level.
If you determine that your saltwater aquarium needs supplementation, using a test kit is essential so that you know exactly what's missing and how much needs to be added to the water. Also, adding too much of a particular element can cause problems for your fish. A mistake is not easy to fix, either. You'd have to do a full water change to remedy the oversight, causing a lot of stress for your fish.
There is still a lot of debate about supplementation because routine water changes are normally enough to replenish supplies and keep the tank running well, especially for fish only aquariums or fish and live rock aquariums. However, most experts do agree that for coral reef tanks, supplementing with calcium is beneficial. To keep the water alkaline in reef aquariums, you may also want to supplement with magnesium and Kalkwasser.
Calcium supplements are beneficial for tanks with clams, corals, and algae, as it helps them grow. For hobbyists who require a high level of calcium in their aquariums akin to the amount found in natural saltwater, it can be difficult to maintain the right quantity without adding supplements. There are some products on the market that dose aquarium water with calcium, or you can purchase diluted calcium chloride to dose the water. The latter method is more expensive, but easier. To avoid lowering the alkalinity of the water with liquid calcium, you may have to use a carbonate or bicarbonate as a buffer.
To maintain proper alkalinity, which needs to be around 2.5 meq/L (the alkalinity of natural saltwater) you may have to add kalkwasser (lime water) to the aquarium. This is calcium hydroxide - it must be added through doses. The process can be set up to occur automatically according to the pH levels in the water, or you can do it manually when you carry out water top-offs. You can also drip it slowly, directly into the aquarium.
Kalkwasser gives your aquarium a double whammy, adding calcium and maintaining alkalinity, so it has many benefits.
In the end, the choice to supplement is all in your hands. If you're planning to put together a reef aquarium, supplementation is a necessity to keep corals and any other invertebrates living in your tank healthy.
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