As you can see from the list to the left, there are several manufacturers of additives and hundreds of products. Picking what works best for you will be a challenge and a little guess work. Always do some research and then try the one that interested you the most.

The most common additives are Calcium, Strontium, Iodine, and Phytoplankton. There are several alternative and minor additives available as well. There are debates on both side of the issue on whether these are needed. Most people agree the basics are needed, but your tank will tell you what it likes. The most popular brands are ESV, Kent, and DT's. This does not mean they are the only ones that work, some customers have different success with different brands, it just depends on the tank.

Our additive selection also includes products like Carbon, Phosphate reducing chemicals, bacteria and resins.


What do we use? In our systems, we use Carib-Sea Aragamilk/might in all RO top off water for the tanks. ESV Bionic 2 part Calcium on occasion, DT's Phytoplankton (great for all corals) and Eco-Systems Reef Solution. In our coral systems, we also use calcium reactors for calcium addition.

The ESV helps keep the tank's ph stable and raises the calcium, plus we do around 20% water change a week just from bagging livestock. The Eco-systems additive is a little expensive to use all the time in such a large system, but it's by far the best all around additive we found (contains everything except calcium). You can actually see the minerals in the solution and smell the vitamins. So for home aquariums, Eco-system and a good calcium regimen would produce a healthy reef.