Red Sea trace elements

[Toml2000]

Hi,I am following the Red Sea programme for my first reef tank,I have been dosing and things seem stable other than my calcium which has risen this week rather than falling.I want to start adding trace elements but don’t want to test every element and was hoping to dose via the calcium uptake but as my calcium is rising how much trace elements should I add?

 

[Ron Reefman]

How old is your tank?
What kind of corals (sps, lps, softies), and how many do you have? A tank photo would help.
What kind of light do you have?
Do you feed your fish?
Do you feed your corals?
Do you do water changes? How much and how often?
Do you have a refugium?

I have a 40g cube (75g system) with lots of corals and anemones. I don't add any trace elements. And I only do a 25g water change about once a month. I'm sure many reefers here will disagree with me, but IMHO trying to add trace elements is a big waste of time and money. Especially if you are new to the hobby. And if your tank is overflowing with corals.

My tank.

 

[ZoWhat]

I think the BIG FIVE in order of volume are:

* Magnesium
* Carbonate (Alkalinity)
* Calcium
* Potassium
* Strontium
* practically everything else is less than 1ppm

If you keep the BIG FIVE in check, no reason why you cant grow out big beautifully colored corals

KEEP READING BELOW

 

[Andeyking]

Red Sea recommend 1ml of each trace per 10ml of calcium concentrate dosed

 

[ZoWhat]

I dose Potassium Chloride. I tested my water and even after a WC, potassium was like 290ppm. It should be closer to 400ppm...

AND! if you think about it....if Calcium should be like 420-440ppm, potassium should be just as important at roughly 400ppm

https://www.amazon.com/Potassium-Chloride-KCl-1-Pound/dp/B008NX2WJ8/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1535756874&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=potassium+chloride&dpPl=1&dpID=519OG+vsziL&ref=plSrch

 

[ZoWhat]

I dose 10mg of strontium every day and have seen pale ugly green.palys turn BLUE. I believe it's the strontium....which is much forgotten in the dosing world

https://www.amazon.com/Science-Company®-NC-2718-Strontium-Chloride/dp/B01M1SP0DV/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1535757641&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=strontium+chloride&dpPl=1&dpID=414onmOAOHL&ref=plSrch



.

 

[SPR1968]

Hi,I am following the Red Sea programme for my first reef tank,I have been dosing and things seem stable other than my calcium which has risen this week rather than falling.I want to start adding trace elements but don’t want to test every element and was hoping to dose via the calcium uptake but as my calcium is rising how much trace elements should I add?

Hi Tom and welcome to R2R!

Just follow the instructions and dose as per the calcium uptake which is what I’ve always done having sent the test kit back! Lol

On the test, just remember the kits are hobby grade so if you get any odd or unexpected results, retest, or leave a day or so and retest before taking and action. As far as calcium increasing, if you don’t want to dose the coral colours ‘this week’ because of that then don’t. It’s unlikely to make any difference.

I have always gone on the side of caution with the Coral Colours as you don’t want to overdose them, and I have always manually added them rather than auto dosing to keep more control. I dose them about every 7-9 days and that’s slightly under the correct dosing instructions for safety. You can’t take it out if you overdose, but you can always add it.

Also just remember if it’s a new ish tank you should get many of the additives from water changes if you use a descent salt like Red Sea or whatever you prefer.

I’ve followed the Red Sea programme from day one, and you can see on my build thread the result.

 

[Toml2000]

Thanks for your help and to the other members who commented