Switching dosing supplements

CEReefer · Jan 11, 2020

Hi! I have a 25g total volume, and have been using the liquid Red Sea Foundation Calcium and Alk for 1 year.
At the very beginning I was led to believe that it's good to have absolutely 0 nitrate and 0 PO4 even though in my tank I have only softies and LPS and 3 montiporas, therefore I kept doing 25% water changes every week. Now, after few losses months ago, I realized my tank thrives with higher nutrients (1-2 NO3 and 0-0.4 PO4), I have reduced my water changes (like once a month or so).

My worry is that by reducing water changes I am not replenishing trace elements as much, therefore I was trying to get a more balanced dosing solution like ESV B-ionic. Do you believe it is a bad idea? I currently keep my alk at 8.5-8.7 and Ca around 400-420, will I be able to do that with the B-ionic without messing up with the other stuff it adds (i.e. Mg)?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 11, 2020

B-ionic is not a trace element supplement, despite having them in it. It will do much less than your water changes. If you think you want to supplement trace elements, I'd get an additive that is intended for that purpose.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 11, 2020

FWIW, magnesium is not a trace element, and B-ionic will maintain it just fine. Trace elements are present at very low concentration, like iron, manganese, etc.

CEReefer · Jan 11, 2020

Thanks Randy! I was thinking that a little is better than nothing. Also the other thing that worries me is that every bottle of Red Sea Calcium has big chunks of deposit at the bottom, not sure if they account for it (not sure if some of the calcium actually gets wasted that way).

The question about magnesium was, given that B-ionic is supposedly a balanced solution and one of the 2 parts has Mg in it, if I change the ratio at which I supplement each part to reach the values I want, will it then push Mg too off?

@Randy Holmes-Farley which one do you believe it's best ESV or RS? If you had to supplement trace elements, knowing how difficult it is to test for those (I tried with the red sea tests, but I struggle to get repeatable results), what would you do?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jan 11, 2020

B-ionic is a great two part, but if the goal is trace elements like iron or manganese, it is no more useful than a tiny water change. Like one 30% change in a year.

I don’t have any useful opinion on which trace elements supplements are best, but I generally have more chemical confidence in some companies than others based on their product lines and how they describe them. ESV and Tropic Marin have more of my confidence than certain others.