Ed how can be sure that dosing trace just cause zoo to expel and create pastel look?
I can see 3 category's of reefers with excellent colours here in RC, folowing 3 distinct strategies as far trace dosing and I am confused.......
One is you with amazing results with no trace dosing but regular water changes.
Second are Glenn and farmerT with again excellent results and no trace dosing but also no water changes
And third is biggles johnNY and the ausy guys from the Farm which dose trace elements, and some aiming very high concentrations of them, with again excellent results!
So I really can not make any conclusion as far trace dosing, because all of you have excellent results with saturated and not pastel colours but with different strategy's.....
My comment was focused on trace metal dosing--------
Dosing of metals in reef aquariums to expel zoo has been going on for about 15 years at least……..it’s nothing new. I’ve been around that whole time when people would overdose Zeospur and trash corals more often that create beautiful systems.
You can do searches and find numerous scientific studies/articles of how heavy metals cause bleaching and death to corals due to industrial heavy metal run off ect. There is usually a stressor that happens to cause the crash, for example temperature.
Anytime you’re manipulating the zoo you open up the coral to being more susceptible to crashing due to other stressors like pests, alk/temp spikes, ect.
The coral doesn’t get amino acids, and other essential nutrients in the natural way it was intended because the zoo that provides it is literally non-existent………..because of this, you’re forced to throw in a concoction of additives, elements, foods ect.
I do everything in my control to avoid the cause of pastel corals, be it low nutrient levels, incorrect par/spectrum levels or manipulating low levels of zoo populations.
There’s nothing wrong with experimenting if people choose to do that like Biggles or Joe……………although I thought Biggles corals looked best when he stopped dosing Trace Hard, ect.
Last time I checked Glenn’s threads he doses trace elements, but the only metal is iron. He’s stated he saw no improvement or changes in dosing Mn or zinc.
I’m not familiar with FarmerT’s tank.
You also have to look at other variables like calcium reactors(adding trace metals elements) and algae filters which suck up trace metal elements.
As far as the Aussie farmers I went through their facebook pages and most of their corals look pastel compared to my tank. Not to discount what they are doing but they aren’t running standard reef tanks. Plus they have details they aren't going to share due to being a business, so I feel I get a fragmented picture of what they choose to share.
There is a lot of trace metals in food as well……I believe through water changes and what I feed my fish there are plenty of trace metals to go around.
Again, I don’t think anyone is saying a small level of trace metal dosing will hurt, but I just don’t see any results that impress me beyond other methods that create colorful thriving corals.
I’ve experimented with some of the trace element potions (Trace Hard) and I didn’t like the results on a long term basis.
I focus more on lighting because that’s what I’ve seen to have more success with eye popping colors than dosing any additives.
Nitrate levels have proven to have more impact as well with respect to color and growth………so I pay attention to that too.
I don’t like pastel colors……….i prefer the darker more vivid color look as it looks better to me and the corals aren’t being starved.
Each reef system has too many variables to draw a simple conclusion on how to grow thriving colorful corals. I share what works for me and my methods, and then people can take it from there.
