trace, Iodine, Strontium, vitamins?

[supertech99]

I want to start dosing trace/mag/iodine/strontium in my nano and my home tank to try to accelerate growth and intensify color. I have been looking around but I really don't want to add 1 drop of 15 different bottles daily. Does anyone know of a good "complete" supplement that includes all of these? Does anyone dose these additives and had good results?

P.S. I use Mrs. Wadges for Ca and Alk and IO salt

 

[mixer911]

Rule of thumb, Only does wht you test for. Mostly with iodine and strontium. With a small tank, water changes will keep these elements in check and stable. Mag on the other hand can get depleted faster depending on the coral load. I dose Mag all the time, but I test for it.

 

[supertech99]

i wanted to start dosing because it seems that for a few days after a water change my colors are great then they seem to dull a bit, parms are good, i was assuming that they are sucking something out of the water, and I didnt want to do a wc every 3 days on my big tank. I've also heard several people latley swear by FUEL by seachem for softie growth acceleration. My nano gets a 1gal every 10-14 days and its a 5.5 tank. Its doing well but wanted to keep the two consistent for sanity. Its good advice to dose only what I test for! I was also just a bit curious what people use, if anything.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Brightwell makes a Trace element additive that I use, But Heavy skimming and Vodka dosing are the reason I do and only In between water changes at 1/2 the dose they say to use. Try using some Amino acids or Reef plus as they will help with good color.
Bill

 

[mixer911]

I used fuel for about a month. Nothing real spectacular to show for it, but it was only a month so I did not expect anything from it. I have been using Britewell Restore, microbacter and PhytoChrome. Colors seem to be coming back pretty good. Restore is amino acids.

 

[andywe]

Mixer,

I had a 45 minute conversation with Chris Brightwell about the supplements, and it sounds like you may actually want to switch from Restore to Replensih..Restore is for healing damaged corals or frags when they are first cut..Replenish is for upkeep of the trace elements.

I dose a very similar regiment and use Micorbacter, Biofuel, Phtochrome, and CoralAmino with very nice results.

Once you get things going with the ULNS (vodka, biofuel, ect) you can back off the microbacter greatly.

I have revived my appalingly poor performance with SPS by using Koralcolor and man what a difference. That will help restore order to your corals.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Re: trace, Iodine, Strontium, vitamins?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15678752#post15678752 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by supertech99
P.S. I use Mrs. Wadges for Ca and Alk and IO salt

a lot of people use this combo.
do you ever test calcium, alkalinity and magnesium levels? It's definitely predictable what you'll need to boost

Sr usually closely follows Ca levels and vitamins, iodine etc. aren't necessary IMO/IME

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15678850#post15678850 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mixer911
Rule of thumb, Only does wht you test for. Mostly with iodine and strontium. With a small tank, water changes will keep these elements in check and stable. Mag on the other hand can get depleted faster depending on the coral load. I dose Mag all the time, but I test for it.

x2

 

[mixer911]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15682618#post15682618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by andywe
Mixer,

I had a 45 minute conversation with Chris Brightwell about the supplements, and it sounds like you may actually want to switch from Restore to Replensih..Restore is for healing damaged corals or frags when they are first cut..Replenish is for upkeep of the trace elements.

Andy, you are right. The restore is for helping damaged corals. Most of my corals were all fresh cut frags when I got them since it such a new tank. I also had an issue where a few things were getting bleached due to High lighting and an alk spike I had. Everthing recovered quite well so far. I am almost done with the bottle I have of it and will probably switch to the replenish. But you do make a good point about it being for recovery. I really like the brightwell products a lot. I have used many of the competors prods in the past and brightwell seems to be above par with them.

 

[supertech99]

gary, I test ca, alk, and mag all weekly/bi weekly if i have time.

Andy/Mixer-this is exactly the discussion i was hopeing to get on this thread.

The description for Koralcolor looks like exactly what I was looking for. Do I have to use it in a ULNS? Does AC or EBAY carry this?

 

[ai-reefer]

The rule that you should only dose what you can test for is not always true.

i started dosing trace elements and iodine my tank is doing much better. Especially the cleaner shrimp which kept dying. The green stay polyp also made a full recovery.

Water changes will help but they dont solve all the deficiencies. Ive used the most expensive salts to the cheapest. I did not notice much difference except in alkalinity.

Reef Plus is a good one. And some form of iodine will help. Be carefull not to overdose on iodine.

If you dose with Two Part Ionic-B (calcium and alkalinity), it has all the trace elements in there so you dont have to add much. This is what i use.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

two part liquid calcium/alkalinity supplements (such as B-ionic) do not contain all the trace elements and (in fact) do not supplement magnesium (Mg).
There's a huge difference in keeping shrimps and GSP's alive vs. growing Acropora. You can toss GSP's and shrimps into a FO and they can do fine.
if supertech99 is trying to accelerate growth and intensify color in SPS corals (my impression when seeing this thread) the answer here is less is more while maintaining Ca, dKH, Mg and keeping PO4 levels low.
If trying to accelerate growth in LPS, softies (GSP's) etc. you might want to toss whatever you want at 'em but I would still strongly recommend only dosing what you test for- it can make a world of difference in both your aquarium and wallet.
Whenever I see "vitamins" intended for reef aquaria a red flag goes up.

 

[mixer911]

ai,

Maybe in your tank testing is not always true, but in mine it is a Fact . Being careful to not overdose iodine is a really bad suggestion. I advise to test for iodine instead of guessing. Iodine is one of the suppliments that can be very toxic to corals if overdosed.

Gary is right on with his statement.

Also shrimp dying I highly doubt was affected by lack of trace elements. Sounds like something else was gong on in the tank.. Testing can help tell what that might have been

 

[ai-reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15686081#post15686081 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mixer911

Being careful to not overdose iodine is a really bad suggestion.

Iodine is one of the suppliments that can be very toxic to corals if overdosed.

wow

anyway ...about the shrimp..i'll tell you what happened in my tank recently.

I never dosed Iodine before because i used B-Ionic which says that it has Iodine.

The shrimp in my tank would always hang out in the back of the tank..for months they had been there...maybe 2 months.

I added iodine because my GSP closed up one day and never opened up and it started to disintegrade off the rock. so i decided too add iodine and see what happens.

After i added iodine within 5 minutes the two shrimp came to the front of the tank and started hanging out there, they are still there to this day. Molted the following week. The next day GSP opened up which was closed for more than 3 weeks.

Also after i started adding amino acids(reef plus) i saw a huge improvement in my Zoanthids. They started to multiply fast and the color change is amazing.

I also switched salts from H20 Magnesium Pro Plus to Coralife. I really like the Coralife. My tank has been doing great since i changed to the cheaper salt

 

[ai-reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15685973#post15685973 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
two part liquid calcium/alkalinity supplements (such as B-ionic) do not contain all the trace elements and (in fact) do not supplement magnesium (Mg).
.

I don't think Mg is considered a trace element. If you read carefully i said that you do not have to add much if you use B-Ionic, meaning that if you dose B-Ionic every day, you dont need another suppliment like Seachem Reef Trace for example.

In my tank i saw the biggest difference in coral color and growth when i added Mg to the auto topoff water. Also doing the Alk and Ca everyday.

 

[fishdoc11]

I haven't dosed any trace elements for years..... many years. I personally use Randy's homeade 2 part (sans Mg), kalk with topup and fairly regular (every month or two) 15-20% water changes with IO and RC mixed. Most people I know would agree that my growth and color are good to excellent FWIW.

 

[Mikeyjer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15687962#post15687962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishdoc11
I haven't dosed any trace elements for years..... many years. I personally use Randy's homeade 2 part (sans Mg), kalk with topup and fairly regular (every month or two) 15-20% water changes with IO and RC mixed. Most people I know would agree that my growth and color are good to excellent FWIW.

Chris' corals are beautiful! No arguments about that! I personally have not dose any trace elements for years as well. I still have some left, probably time to toss in trash. I use IO with supplement two parts from BRS. My tank have been doing better then ever since I started this process.

 

[andywe]

The biggest thing in my mind is that different things work for different people. too many variables are involved for any one method to be blindly correct.

Coral load, water change schedule, salt mix, type of corals, food used, evaporation rate, skimmer efficiency, ect..all come into play here. I run a ULNS system so Trace is VERY important. I also only change my water every 4 weeks unless I notice a problem. Some will say that this schedule is insane, yet anyone who has seen my tanks will tell you I have some very impressive specimens that are thriving. My 180 has been up less than a year and is performing beautifully..another year and it will be a TOTM (hopefully)
Fishdoc has excellent specimens and does relatively little compared to my regiment.

Take notes, research what your critters need, and use those items. I have goniopora, clams, sponges..so Iron and Manganese are important to me. if I were just running softies and SPS I probably would not supplement it, so as an example the moral is food for thought, try different things under educated assumption, and keep what works.

 

[supertech99]

This thread has been very helpful, I tested my mag again and it was LOW! Is this common with IO salt? Oceanic salt? Does anyone have the numbers for these two types of salt, I was unable to find them...but didnt look for too long. The addition of mag helped my colors a bit, more the reds than anything else which was kinda a weird result. Since I have a mainly softie tank it sounds like I may want to look into something with Iodine.

 

[mixer911]

If you use Reef Crystals it will have higher Mag than standard IO. It will also have iodine in it to. Standard water changes should take care of the iodine, but if you insist dosing it, make sure you test it. You will be able to gauge what is needed or not. Just like with the mag, no that you tested it you can dose it properly and not just be guessing at it . Mag is used up a lot, just like calcium. They need each other. I can always tell when my mag gets low because my calcium demand will go down. Good indicator of low mag.