Dosing Strontium

[Emarley]

Hello fellow reefers,

What is everyone’s views on dosing Strontium?
I’m only six months into the hobby and at present I don’t, but looking on a few mail order sites it appears to recommend supplementing Strontium. I’ve also been told by my lfs that their isn’t a reliable test for Strontium so you don’t really know what your levels are.
Therefore, should I start dosing Strontium or not?

Thanks in advance

Dom

 

[Hemmdog]

Get a triton test to see if you are lacking strontium. If you are then get strontium, do the recommended dosage for a month, send another triton test in, see where you need to adjust in your dosing.

 

[Emarley]

Get a triton test to see if you are lacking strontium. If you are then get strontium, do the recommended dosage for a month, send another triton test in, see where you need to adjust in your dosing.

Thank you for the reply, never heard of a triton test before (had a look online and can purchase one for £31.50) so going to place an order for one. As I’m only six months into the hobby is this test something you would recommend doing on a regular basis? And if so how frequent?

Thanks again

Dom

 

[MurphyJ]

Salifert has a Strontium test kit. It has several steps so not the most user friendly but you should never dose if you are not testing first.
If you are using a 2 part system for CA ALK replacement you probably don’t need to worry about Strontium.
I drip Kalk which is keeping CA at 440. I have to dose soda ash to keep ALK at 8.7 - 9.0. I noticed that although my parameters were stable and right where I wanted them I was not getting the growth in SPS and coralline algae. I tested Strontium and found I was really low. After dosing it back to normal levels coralline took off and so did the Acros. I now test Strontium once a month and dose 1/8th teaspoon ( 1/2 gram) powder Strontium each week.

 

[JimWelsh]

Therefore, should I start dosing Strontium or not?

No. Do you do water changes?

 

[Emarley]

Salifert has a Strontium test kit. It has several steps so not the most user friendly but you should never dose if you are not testing first.
If you are using a 2 part system for CA ALK replacement you probably don’t need to worry about Strontium.
I drip Kalk which is keeping CA at 440. I have to dose soda ash to keep ALK at 8.7 - 9.0. I noticed that although my parameters were stable and right where I wanted them I was not getting the growth in SPS and coralline algae. I tested Strontium and found I was really low. After dosing it back to normal levels coralline took off and so did the Acros. I now test Strontium once a month and dose 1/8th teaspoon ( 1/2 gram) powder Strontium each week.

Thank you for the advice

 

[Emarley]

No. Do you do water changes?

Yeah 20% WC per week

 

[Mortie31]

What kind of system do you have? SPS? frags or colonies, what’s your daily use of Ca, Mg and ALK? If your already dosing those 3, then as previously said get an ICP testkit and check, but unless you have considerable Hard oral growth I would doubt your Sr levels will need supplementing and even if they are I’ve not seen any solid proof that it’s really necessary or beneficial

 

[Dkeller_nc]

My advice if you're only 6 months into the hobby is to ignore dosing of anything other than Ca, Alk and (possibly) Mg. Most salt mixes have more than enough trace elements to support growth of corals and other critters, and there are quite a lot of us that never dose anything other than the big 3 and have thriving tanks. There's a lot to learn about keeping a coral reef, and worrying about trace elements at this stage of the game is a bit overkill, IMO.

This is, by the way, assuming that you're doing the normal water change schedule type of tank maintenance. Those that pursue the Dutch Synthetic Reefing method that doesn't include any water changes of significance have a different situation. In that case, many trace elements could be depleted to the point where their low levels would affect the health of the animals, and testing and supplementation would be necessary.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Most folks that I have heard from who have stable systems and then start dosing strontium see no apparent effect. I personally think dosing it is not useful.

That said, if it is low it is easy to try dosing yourself and see if it seems useful to you.

 

[Emarley]

What kind of system do you have? SPS? frags or colonies, what’s your daily use of Ca, Mg and ALK? If your already dosing those 3, then as previously said get an ICP testkit and check, but unless you have considerable Hard oral growth I would doubt your Sr levels will need supplementing and even if they are I’ve not seen any solid proof that it’s really necessary or beneficial

My advice if you're only 6 months into the hobby is to ignore dosing of anything other than Ca, Alk and (possibly) Mg. Most salt mixes have more than enough trace elements to support growth of corals and other critters, and there are quite a lot of us that never dose anything other than the big 3 and have thriving tanks. There's a lot to learn about keeping a coral reef, and worrying about trace elements at this stage of the game is a bit overkill, IMO.

This is, by the way, assuming that you're doing the normal water change schedule type of tank maintenance. Those that pursue the Dutch Synthetic Reefing method that doesn't include any water changes of significance have a different situation. In that case, many trace elements could be depleted to the point where their low levels would affect the health of the animals, and testing and supplementation would be necessary.

Most folks that I have heard from who have stable systems and then start dosing strontium see no apparent effect. I personally think dosing it is not useful.

That said, if it is low it is easy to try dosing yourself and see if it seems useful to you.

Thank you for the replies, if I’m been honest I think I’m reading too much and looking to add supplements to my tank that aren’t needed. My alk, cal and mag have been stable for the last two months without having to dose, only doing a 20% weekly water change. I’m only 6 months into the hobby and want the best for all the livestock in my tank but think I need to keep my hands out of the tank and stop looking for problems and what ifs when everything is stable and all corals are growing well.

Thanks again

Dom