[olsaltybastard]

MDP,


As usual, your posts are informative, direct, and entertaining. For a short time, I actually tried baking soda for alkalinity supplement and ice melter for calcium. Shortly after I started playing "Kitchen Kemist", things in my tank began to spiral out of control. For the first time EVER in keeping marine tanks, I was having pH issues (among other things.) After about three solid months of chasing my tail, I gave it all up. A friend of mine eventually set me straight with some tough words and his absolute disdain for "Mass idiocy spread by internet reefers trying to save a nickel on a thousand dollar setup". One thing that's for sure is that while I was trying to play "Kitchen Kemist", I was NOT enjoying the hobby. Every day, I had to measure this, correct that, recheck something else; I don't think I actually looked at the viewing pane once during this dark period. I was dumb enough to rely on a fourteen dollar test kit to tell me what I needed to know rather than observe the corals (which are much more reliable indicators.)

Like you have already stated, there are many ways to keep and maintain marine tanks. I don't believe mine to be the best and I don't tout it as such. It's certainly a whole lot easier and enjoyable than before. Most of my time is spent watching the animals and learning by observation. It is absolutely amazing at what you can learn if you look at them long enough. This is hard to do if one spends their reef time checking and testing things. I recently gave away a few test kits to a fellow RAG member as they were collecting dust and coming closer and closer to the expiration date.

Eventually I will come to the point where, unless I do large and frequent water changes, I will not be able to maintain elements as the corals use them up. Supplementing is going to be needed sooner or later. I must now ask you the $64,000 question: What do you recommend as a viable alternative to the "Kitchen Kemist" technique and what makes this method you prescribe, superior?