KZ Automatic Elements

Da Ghost · Nov 13, 2017

Greetings All,

This topic was mentioned back in 2015 with no responses on another message board, but I got little feed back. I am asking if anyone has tried this and what the effect was good or bad.

I am aware for most the idea of any chemical "auto dosing" in your tank is a scary proposition, so I am not looking to hear that as I have already thought about that Ad nauseam.

I am looking for data by users who either still use this or have used this and what your result was. Did you use the cube per directions, how often did you monitor, how long did it last etc. If you stopped using it why? OD etc.

I am going to try these tablets at some point, but wanted to gather some data BEFORE I just dove in.

Thanks!!!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 14, 2017

There seems to be a variety of different KZ Automatic Elements products. Are you interested in all of them, or just one?

Da Ghost · Nov 14, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
There seems to be a variety of different KZ Automatic Elements products. Are you interested in all of them, or just one?

Thank you Randy for clarifying, I am interested in any of these elements that people have dosed. Naturally I would like to know what people who have used any of the product think/thought after using the product. I did not suspect there would be a large following as this is a very scary proposition, but I am curious for the few brave souls that have ventured out what the experience was for them.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 14, 2017

To be honest, I have read several hundred thousand reef chemistry posts, and I do not recall ever seeing a useful discussion about these products, and I have not used them.

IMO, none of the methods of maintaining trace elements are perfect (short of a Triton-like method of frequently measuring each one and then adding an individual supplement for that one; and even that laborious method is not perfect in all cases since we can not measure low enough to maintain natural levels of some, such as iron).

Of the four products I see described as KZ Automatic Elements, the amino acid one would not concern me at all. Doses would not be critical. The iron one may not be much concern either as the amount of iron people dose, from none to huge amounts all seem to be OK in various contexts.

The B-Balance version might be more important to dose correctly, but they do not say what is in it, so I can't really comment on it.

I'm not sure how the potassium version can know how much potassium is needed. It never depleted in my tank. Maybe it adds so little that more wouldn't have been an issue, but then, is it useful? The potassium one also contains iodide, bromine, and fluorine. Bromine in my tank without any dosing was typically nearly double the natural level. So same comment for bromine as potassium.

2una · Nov 14, 2017

I use a few of them,
I mainly started in the quest to try keep some iodide more constantly present with PIF.
K balance - keeps my pott levels right
B Balance - I think this has helped some reds as previously my K levels were fine but reds have shown improvement since adding this one.
Was using a 10 piece pack of each for my +/- 600L/16oG - Reading off icps i needed to bump up some more for PIF + B Balance.
After 2 month's testing seems to show levels okay, pushing it to 3 starts showing holes.
I've also in this time switched from T5 over to led's so nothing is very conclusive
Oh & the iron i also tryed - that is one to underdose unless you like green

Da Ghost · Nov 14, 2017

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
To be honest, I have read several hundred thousand reef chemistry posts, and I do not recall ever seeing a useful discussion about these products, and I have not used them.

IMO, none of the methods of maintaining trace elements are perfect (short of a Triton-like method of frequently measuring each one and then adding an individual supplement for that one; and even that laborious method is not perfect in all cases since we can not measure low enough to maintain natural levels of some, such as iron).

Of the four products I see described as KZ Automatic Elements, the amino acid one would not concern me at all. Doses would not be critical. The iron one may not be much concern either as the amount of iron people dose, from none to huge amounts all seem to be OK in various contexts.

The B-Balance version might be more important to dose correctly, but they do not say what is in it, so I can't really comment on it.

I'm not sure how the potassium version can know how much potassium is needed. It never depleted in my tank. Maybe it adds so little that more wouldn't have been an issue, but then, is it useful? The potassium one also contains iodide, bromine, and fluorine. Bromine in my tank without any dosing was typically nearly double the natural level. So same comment for bromine as potassium.

Thank you Randy. Everything you mentioned definitely resonates and I definitely did not want this to turn into a conversation about how potentially bad these auto doses could be (my caution and this thread is indicative of that concern (who in their right mind would willingly drop an iron tablet in the tank that can does up to 4 months and hope it does not OD without some data)). I have been monitoring all paramas the past month through ATI and will continue to do so and maybe start using one element to observe monthly. We shall see!!

THANKS!

Da Ghost · Nov 14, 2017

2una said:
I use a few of them,
I mainly started in the quest to try keep some iodide more constantly present with PIF.
K balance - keeps my pott levels right
B Balance - I think this has helped some reds as previously my K levels were fine but reds have shown improvement since adding this one.
Was using a 10 piece pack of each for my +/- 600L/16oG - Reading off icps i needed to bump up some more for PIF + B Balance.
After 2 month's testing seems to show levels okay, pushing it to 3 starts showing holes.
I've also in this time switched from T5 over to led's so nothing is very conclusive
Oh & the iron i also tryed - that is one to underdose unless you like green

Thanks 2una. This is exactly the kind of information/data i was looking for. Nice to hear they are working well and i was going to ask how you test your water and as soon as I thought it you mentioned ICPS, cool I use them well on my 'off cycle' and ATI on my on set cycle. I have been dosing the bottles of KZ but wanted to try the Auto Elements. Thank you for the info. We have similar sized tanks 150g with 35g sump.