Best chemicals to control as much as possible

[Namyar]

So I an new to all of this and have some soft, hard, LPS, SPS coral and wanted to know what would be the best way to control everything in the tank.

[Randall_James]

water changes?

[Sk8r]

These are the parameters you need:
temperature around 80, tightly so.
salinity 1.024-6, stable at whatever you pick.
alkalinity 8.3-10 (middle of range is best)
calcium 400-450 (bottom of range is best)
magnesium 1200 (s/b 3x calcium reading)

Test for those things and write them down in a booklet---including what you did and when you did a 10% or 20% water change. This will help if/when you have a problem: you don't have to rely on memory for details.

Next: I use Kent supplements, the alkalinity buffer, the Turbo Calcium additive, and the magnesium if ever needed. My tank used to take a dose of alkalinity every 3 days and a tiny dose of calcium every 5 days. Now that my corals have grown a bit, the system takes buffer daily and 4x as much calcium each day.

[Sk8r]

BTW, I use Salifert tests: cost more, but do more, and are accurate to a fractional number. This is the kind of accuracy you need when supplementing.

Do not add any chemical you cannot test for.

Do not treat your whole tank for anything, with very rare exceptions: the chance you can wipe out your substrate is too great.

And do your homework before mixing softies with stonies. There are problems, because some softies shed chemicals into the water that are a problem for stonies: for that reason, softies should be nearest the water exit, if present. I have lps and sps, but the only soft coral I have is mushrooms, for that reason. I have done it successfully in the past, but my present little tank doesn't give me enough room to keep them apart.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

This article details what you need to, and do not need to control, IMO:

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm