Since using IO salt I am forced into weekly water changes. Trace elements ?

2Wheelsonly · Aug 30, 2017

i have just a handful of frags in my 300g, needless to say it's very bare. It feels like if I don't water change weekly ever since switching to IO from Red Sea my frags go south in a hurry.

I wouldn't think with my small amount of sps frags that I'd be depleting trace elements so fast. I use a calc reactor so my alk stays at 7.5 and calc 420, mag is 1300.

Nitrates are 5-10 and po4 is 0.02, these values are also very consistent.

This week I missed a water change for the first time in a month due to work and lost two frags.

tacosricos · Aug 30, 2017

2Wheelsonly said:
i have just a handful of frags in my 300g, needless to say it's very bare. It feels like if I don't water change weekly ever since switching to IO from Red Sea my frags go south in a hurry.

I wouldn't think with my small amount of sps frags that I'd be depleting trace elements so fast. I use a calc reactor so my alk stays at 7.5 and calc 420, mag is 1300.

Nitrates are 5-10 and po4 is 0.02, these values are also very consistent.

This week I missed a water change for the first time in a month due to work and lost two frags.

It might be worth sending a water sample into the Triton lab. It seems more likely to me that it's related to some other aspect of the tank. As you mention you only have a few frags in a large volume of water, it doesn't seem very probable that they are depleting trace elements that quickly. If everything was doing well with Red Sea, you might consider switching back.

redfishbluefish · Aug 30, 2017

This requires further investigation.....it is not depletion of trace elements and it is not IO. However, the water change (regardless of brand), might be removing (temporarily lowering) whatever is causing your issue. I agree, Triton is worth a shot to see what's in that water.

tacosricos · Aug 30, 2017

redfishbluefish said:
This requires further investigation.....it is not depletion of trace elements and it is not IO. However, the water change (regardless of brand), might be removing (temporarily lowering) whatever is causing your issue. I agree, Triton is worth a shot to see what's in that water.

Yeah, could be contamination.

2Wheelsonly · Aug 30, 2017

tacosricos said:
Yeah, could be contamination.

I have LPS colonies and birdsnest colonies as well as montis that are doing fairly well. Could there still be contamination? I am currently waiting for results from AWT aquamedic testing now.

tacosricos · Aug 30, 2017

2Wheelsonly said:
I have LPS colonies and birdsnest colonies as well as montis that are doing fairly well. Could there still be contamination? I am currently waiting for results from AWT aquamedic testing now.

It's possible, but you would think it would affect all of the coral. How long have the frags been in your system? It sounds like you've got all of your macro elements dialed in, do you think it could be lighting/flow issues?

2Wheelsonly · Aug 30, 2017

tacosricos said:
It's possible, but you would think it would affect all of the coral. How long have the frags been in your system? It sounds like you've got all of your macro elements dialed in, do you think it could be lighting/flow issues?

Don't think it's flow. It's a 96x30x24 tank with two mp40s on one side and a gyre 150 on the other. Gyre is running 90% and mp40s are running 70-85% throughout the day in reefcrest. I also have static mover 4100 gph powerheads on each side of the tank facing each behind the rocks bringing lots of flow along the back wall.