Trace and Minor Elements...

[TanksDad13]

Team,

I have an apex dealing with calc (Calcium Hydroxide) and Alk (Soda Ash), but I was doing the coral colors program along with their calcium. I would like to still maintain trace elements with dosing, but the CC program will get $$$ quick at 70 ml/day. Does anyone use anything that will help keep that stuff available in the water column? I DO WEEKLY water changes, but I would like to keep things as constant as possible. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[South City]

You could look at some automation to setup a continuous water change system. There a quite a few different ways to do it but most of them revolve around a fancier dosing pump along with some additional hardware.

Depending upon your budget you could spend anywhere from quite a bit on something like a Genesis Reef systems product to spending relatively little on a system that uses your Apex along with some sensors, solenoids, a dosing pump and water containers.

 

[TanksDad13]

Solution

In the future, sure! I'm planning and gathering for a "sump room" in the basement and will automate as much as I can. For now, I'm interested in either a bulk powder to mix, or a reasonably inexpensive element product to dose in conjunction to what I already have set up.

 

[M3P]

not to derail, but any good evidence that this stuff works? I've thought about dosing trace elements a few times, but my searches have yielded little support for me to go on (maybe I just have missed it?). Have you noticed any real difference in color of mature colonies?

As far as a solution, could you use an IV line with a roller clamp and set the rate really slow?

 

[TanksDad13]

I'm not sure they are beneficial or not, that's why I'm reaching out to more experienced reefers. I have an apex to handle the dosing... If it turns out that people just use good salt and reasonable water change regimen I won't waste the money.

 

[M3P]

I like to keep things simple, but have always wondered if I am missing something I should be doing. Anyone else dosing aminos or other nutrients and noticing a difference?

 

[thabizness]

I have been doing continuous water changes with a Apex Dos. I just upgraded my salt from IO to RSCP and have been dosing AcroPower. The Acropower has caused some Cyano from I believe over dosing so I am scaling back. My tank is a 180 and I have gone primarily SPS. I do see better colors then when I started but my tank is mainly in the frag stage. Many of the bases have started to encrust on the rock tho and I think most of my colors are better since doing these changes but I feel its too early to really say its because the DOS and AcroPower.

 

[Nanook]

I have been doing continuous water changes with a Apex Dos. I just upgraded my salt from IO to RSCP and have been dosing AcroPower. The Acropower has caused some Cyano from I believe over dosing so I am scaling back. My tank is a 180 and I have gone primarily SPS. I do see better colors then when I started but my tank is mainly in the frag stage. Many of the bases have started to encrust on the rock tho and I think most of my colors are better since doing these changes but I feel its too early to really say its because the DOS and AcroPower.

Pics!!

 

[M3P]

I have been doing continuous water changes with a Apex Dos. I just upgraded my salt from IO to RSCP and have been dosing AcroPower. The Acropower has caused some Cyano from I believe over dosing so I am scaling back. My tank is a 180 and I have gone primarily SPS. I do see better colors then when I started but my tank is mainly in the frag stage. Many of the bases have started to encrust on the rock tho and I think most of my colors are better since doing these changes but I feel its too early to really say its because the DOS and AcroPower.

IME, many SPS frags lose some color when fragged (vivid rainbow delight acro comes to mind). Some online vendors actually take pictures right after fragging, knowing that they will lose some color if they wait too long. The frags gain these colors back as they reach a certain size and adapt to water conditions.Once they reach this point, I'm not sure how much more color they gain naturally. The problem with the supplement threads I've seen is that they compare pictures of new or small frags when they are drab thru 3-4 months of dosing while the frag is experiencing growth and adapting to conditions and I wonder if these corals would have naturally gained the colors without the supplements. What we (I) need to see are full grown colonies that have changes in colors with dosing