Best brands for magnesium, amino acids

[reeferbuddy215]

So my mag is testing around 1080 ppm with a red sea tester and I only have red sea foundations abc+ powder mix and I been using it and my calcium went up over 500 ppm and my alk is at 12.6 dkh so I would prefer to buy some things but would like some recommendations on the best brands for a magnesium suppliment, I also want to dose amino acids and anything good for sps corals which I will officially have in my tank tomorrow but just lps softies and Zoas now. Oh also what's a good live coral food I van get on amazon like copopods or amphopods as I have a fuge so they can reproduce and seed my tank further.

 

[CodyRVA]

Best practice is having your parameters/chemistry on point before adding more unforgiving corals like SPS. That being said, your ALK is quite high so I'm going to hope and assume you're not carbon dosing, which would indicate you do not run a ULNS. If that is true, you probably do not need to dose things like amino acids, but to each their own. A good resource for phytoplankton (another great option besides aminos) as well as pods is algae barn. A respectable additive for aminos is Acro Power.

 

[trido]

I agree that your chemistry needs to be stable within acceptable parameters before adding SPS. Bulk reef supply supplements for Ca, Dkh and Mg are good. You can spend more for brand name stuff at the LFS if you choose. I have used Me aminos, and Acro Power for my SPS. I prefer Acro Power.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have generally gotten my magnesium chloride from BRS and magnesium sulfate from a drug store, but any food or USP grade is certainly acceptable.

 

[reeferbuddy215]

What is a ULNS? I have reef pearls coral food and coral frenzy so they prob help but idk about sps I've grown sps but not in this tank and this tank is stable it's been running for 5 years but my father let it go and I'm bringing it back to life

 

[trido]

Ultra Low Nutrient System.

 

[reeferbuddy215]

Oh no my well water goes through a huge uv sterilizer basic partical filter then an Rodi filter and I have a dual refugium with chaeto & calaupra plus a brs dual reactor with gfo & carbon is this set up not sufficient for sps? Oh and a protein skimmer in my sump

 

[reeferbuddy215]

I add red sea foundations abc+ and Lugoils iodine solution

 

[reeferbuddy215]

And my mars aqua 165 watt led units are bright enough I have them at 40% now cuz their under my canopy

 

[CodyRVA]

What is a ULNS? I have reef pearls coral food and coral frenzy so they prob help but idk about sps I've grown sps but not in this tank and this tank is stable it's been running for 5 years but my father let it go and I'm bringing it back to life

Time doesn't directly correlate to stability. If he let it go, its probably not stable or at the very least the chemistry is off. The upside to the system being that old is correcting the chemistry shouldn't be as much of a hassle as say a 3 month old system, but could still be a chore. +1 on BRS, but like Randy said, there are many resources.

We're not saying your setup isn't adequate, we are saying you should get those parameters in check and confirm your stability first, before adding something like SPS. ULNS is having "undetectable" or very low NO3 and PO4. This is usually achieved from carbon dosing (NO3) and using something like GFO (PO4). With ULNS you want to run a much lower ALK than you're currently testing at; so if your NO3 and PO4 are truly very low at the moment, I suggest you work on bringing your ALK down. Again... getting the system top notch before investing in SPS; good for your wallet and always good for your livestock.