Calcium Reactor and balling light trace elements?

Interestingly enough the article talks about the inability to measure halogens. I am definely contacting Triton. Thanks for the good discussion.
 
Email sent. I am pushing them on the iodine part especially.

Iodine changes (depletes) rapidly in a reef aquarium. I'm not sure ICP is needed.
 
I'm with Randy. In normal cases and if you manage to measure Ca,Alk Mg as well as NO3 and PO4mby your own (...and you should....) there normally is no need for ICP.

Attached you find the updated spreadsheet
- FM-Traces can also be diluted as you like them to
- there are 2 TabSheets now. One is as before for Ca-Reactors, the other for Limewater

I received a question why the amount of FM-Traces #3is higher than of #1 and #2.
That's because FM Balling Light is designed to dose Ca, Alk and Mg separately and
NOT in a way that Alk vs Cs is balanced in a way that you typically dose the same amounts of it.
The advantage is that the containers for Ca can be kept smaller than for stock solution for Alk.

As the concentration Level of the Alk solution is much closer to the saturation limit than for Ca, you dose a higher amount of the Alk-solution than of Ca-solution.

As a result, the FM-Traces that are mixed in equally into the Ca / Alk stock solutions -> Alk traces are "dosed more"... becuase you need a bigger quantity of it.
As a result from this, for a balanced dosing of Alk vs Ca for both (Ca-reactor and Limewater) require a roughly 3 times higher dose of Trace #3 (Alk)

kind rgds
Martin
 

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Iodine is tricky. Have you read up on Dr. Holmes-Farley's iodine articles and FULLY understand them? You probably have plenty and they don't test for all kinds of it - this is the most likely scenario if your shrimp molt and survive and you do change some water. There is elemental iodine, which is probably what they test for, that does not do much. There is also Iodate, Iodide, some with some + and some with some -. It can be dangerous if you add too much. Be careful here. This is where I am saying that the "data" says low iodine, but the "information and knowledge" should caution you to look further. You could be raising iodide levels beyond what is good while all the time testing low for something completely different like elemental iodine.

I would at least figure out EXACTLY which kind of I that they tested for. Our local place does ICP for elemental iodine and not iodate. I have no idea what they test for (each is different) and you could be on the money, but worth a check since you dosing a poison into your tank in large doses. Halides are one group that I would not add without acute testing.

Chaeto can easily diminish iron, which might need dosed even if you change water - it is growth limiting in low concentrations with a lot of macros. This is not as dangerous as iodine, so you can probably do this without much testing.
I have verification from Triton that their iodine test does cover ALL forms of iodine and would be considered an accurate number for your tank. He did say that measuring iodine isn’t easy from ICP but they have their ways....he did instill confidence that their numbers are valid. Seems like they know what they are doing.
 

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