iodine and protein skimmer in softies only tank

I have mostly LPS corals, especially large ones I have to keep cutting as they grow. As the skeletons use a lot of calcium to grow, I suspect I have sufficient calcium for their growth. If my alkalinity wasn't suitable I'm sure that in 18 yrs it would have shown by now.
I have a LOT of tanks but for reef tanks I change 20% weekly and if I'm away and miss a change, I double the next change.
You can see some of my stuff at: RAY'S REEF

 

so u dont have a calcium reactor or any other form of liquid supplementation?

 

beautiful site uv got. well for me im into this hobby since 2 years so obvoiusly have less experience then many other reefers like u. my currents set is jus a 15 gal nano, now shifting to 300 liter in a month but just researching on it as im from india mumbai where u dont get everything. i get everything from singapore food supplements lights and even corals come from there. will ask u for further quieries. well what wavemaker u would suggest me? im planning for a MP40. will that do? a bit confused about the lights too.

 

Sorry, I should have mentioned before that I top up all evaporated water with kalkwasser (limewater).
I have no reactor or filters running on any reef tank as I only use bare bottom tanks with live rock and protein skimming.
I have NO special equipment and operate on a minimal budget so I build my own stands, hoods, skimmers, etc, whatever I can possibly do myself.
I have Hagen 802 power heads as water movers and mag 12 and 18 return pumps.
All my reef tank lighting is four foot fluorescent lamps, but you could say that it's wall to wall lighting as I pack 8 lamps over a 90g tank, half are standard priced GE Daylight 40 6500K and the other half are Philips Actinic 03's.
I can't help on wavemakers or other specialty equipment.

 

well so u think its possible to grow all my soft corals with standard 6500k t5 and t8 and blue and actinic03? here where i stay, there is 14000k t8, 6500k t5ho, 8000k t5 and actinic03 are available. can i grow my softies with these lights? like say 1 t5ho, 1 14000k t8, 1 8000k t8, 3 blues and 2 actinic 03. the tank size is 54"l x 18"w x 22" h, the substrate will be 5" of aragonite and the water level will be 2" below from the top, the gap between the lights and the tank top(not water level) will be 5".well it will save my money going to singapore for lights. does kalk. provide calcium and alk. both? dont u test of alk? what salt do u use?

 

It's my belief, and this is contentious with some reefers, that the main thing to grow the corals is the light intensity more than light spectrum.
The light spectrum is more to make everything look more pleasing to the eye of the hobbyists.
There are a few corals that seem to do better with specific kelvin ranges but I've not found that with anything I've grown, and have only read that this is the case.
When I started I only used the 6500K normal output 4' fluorescent lamps and had no problems. However, I didn't like the dull appearance of the tank and I experimented with Philips Actinic 03's until I found the appearance I liked was best with one 03 with one 6500K lamp.
Because they are only normal output lamps, I had to have more lamps than normal to get enough intensity, but six lamps over my 65's and 75's and 8 lamps over my 90's worked just fine. With t8 and especially with t5 lighting you should be just fine if you have enough of them for the tank size.
As for Kalkwasser, it most definitely supplies calcium, but for the alkalinity, it more or less just keeps the salt water alkalinity from being used up so fast due to the high pH of the kalk water. This is why I only dose the kalk at night after lights have been out. pH drops at night after lights out so adding the kalk then keeps the pH from dropping as low as it would otherwise, using up less alkalinity from the salt water.
I have always used Instant Ocean salt because it is cheapest available to me, and, it works just fine now for 18 yrs.

 

so do u test alk. everytime? coz in my case alk drops pretty fast than ca. wats ur view on LEDs?

 

As for LED's, I've never checked them out because first of all, what I have works, and second, I don't have money to buy anyway.
As for alkalinity, I only check when I suspect a problem with a tank. I don't have a kit that hasn't expired as it's been so long since I last used it.

 

well is kalk. calcium hydroxide? if yes then howmuch should i add in makeup water? if u can tell me grams per liter, it would be better for me instead of percentage. what do u add for alk?

 

Yes, Kalk, Kalkwasser is calcium hydroxide. Maximum to add is 10ml per 4 litres of water, cover and let sit overnight and siphon off the water between the top crust and the bottom sediment. There will be a lot of bottom sediment.
Avoid exposure to air once the calcium hydroxide is added to the water.
For a lot more information on this see What Your Grandmother Never Told You About Lime
I have a lot of large LPS corals that use the calcium for building the skeletons so I use the maximum 10ml per 4 litres (or two teaspoons per US gallon) and I use only this limewater for all top up replacement.
I don't need to add anything for alkalinity because this limewater supplies the calcium, and, because of it's high pH and being added at night, it keeps the pH from dropping and using up buffers from the salt water.
Normal water changes are all I need in addition.

On a side note, the link I gave above came from an archive of Randy Holmes-Farley's links to his articles and those of others knowledgeable in the hobby.
While there are dead links now over the years, it is still my "bible page".
Randy's Link to Links