dose trace elements?

I'm sure this has been asked a million times but i just read an article about trace elements and was curious. Do you dose trace elements? If yes, what do you dose?

 

No. Mostly due to it not being a good idea to dose things you don't test for and I don't want to test all those different trace elements that are involved.

I can't imagine it's needed. Logically, a WC will do this for you. I, unlike most, don't do many water changes in a year yet my coral is alive and growing. So for those that do water changes, I can't imagine there being even the slightest need to dose trace elements.

Just to clarify, I am not talking about the big 3; Mg, Ca, Alk. I dose those all the time

 

I do not as I do weekly water changes. I went years without changing water at all – during this time I dosed using Kent Essential Elements. Thus, I mostly agree with the post above. Everyone’s tanks are different and accordingly need to be approached differently. Essential Elements are removed from our water columns via uptake, skimmers and filtration. If you are not performing water changes and you have a reef set up – chances are that you might benefit by dosing. If your reef is doing well without changes and without dosing, I might argue it could be doing better if so – But who’s to say. Invert’s benefit greatly from trace elements to help grow their skeletal structure – logic would say that once the elements were fully utilized without being replenished things would suffer. Just my 2 cents ….

 

This was my thinking as well. i do roughly 12% water changes weekly and didn't think i needed to dose. However, an article in Coral magazine about trace elements spent a little time on copper and its benefits. The salt i use doesn't list copper so i wondered if there weren't some elements i was missing.

 

Great post Crimson. On this comment above, that's part of my point. We have no idea how fast these elements are fully utilized. From my experience I highly doubt they are used up in a week (or even a month). We'd have to know that before we could make any guesses at how often doing a water change (aka element replenish) would be useful vs. overkill. For one's tank to do 'better' as it were with more WC/element replenish...

Agreed each tank is going to be different but I see no point in doing WC weekly simply for trace elements. That's more than needed easily (when it comes to trace elements)

(dosing the main 3, nutrient export, etc. are other variables to consider when deciding on WCs and element dosing and aren't considered in above reply)

 

All you could want to know .....

The

You will often find me on this site saying what Peredhil stated above "never add what you don't/can't test for" -- I live by this !

 

I have never added the dosing of trace elements to my regular schedule
simply because I do perform 5% water changes on a weekly basis
and I believe I missed only 2 water changes in the last 12 months
but compensated for them by doing a 10% water change the week after on both occasions

but I do use additives / mostly food supplements that contain certain trace elements
in their ingrediants

Reef Plus is one I use, infrequently as in not on a daily or even weekly basis
but I like to add this product after fragging etc
as it adds aminos (coral coloration) and vitamins, in addition to other trace elements (boron, Iodide,iron, copper,zinc, Manganese etc etc)

Steve

 

trace elements are important and should be maintained. However, adding them blindly can cause issues as most are toxic in high quantities and ineffective in low quantites. If you are adding without testing, there is no way to know if they are low or high. The exception is water changes. When you do a water change you are removing trace elements which are likely in the incorrect proportions and replacing them with trace elements that are in roughly the correct proportions. So, by doing regular water changes you are keeping the trace elements balanced in roughly the correct ratios. So, yes, I advocate dosing trace elements through regular water changes

 

Trace is near impossible to test for for the average person, so water changes are a MUCH easier and cheaper route than dosing. NEVER dose anything that you don't test for!

 

Nope, unless good test kits show it is depleted and I know it is in fact a necessary additive then it does not go near my tanks.
Additives and supplments are pure profit items for LFS and they prey on unknowing newbies. Its really easy to get a reef system out of balance and a real PITA to get it back.
Leave the supplements and additives on the LFS shelf and concentrate on testing and regular water changes and minor maintenance schedule. Your tank will be more stable and you will be much happier.