Concentration tropic marin trace

[saintdrm]

Is the concentration of the elements in the A- and K+ know outside of the manufacturer. It is said that they are in the ratio used by corals but what are the actual values for each element per 4ml of each product? I can imagine there are instances where some elements are depleted at different rates and need to be supplemented individually and it would be beneficial to know what the A- and K+ are adding so you can adjust from there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have never seen numbers for the A and K trace elements.

 

[Koty]

Same, but my experience with long term use and no water changes, is that there is no issue reminiscent of toxic accumulation or an issue of apparent lack of growth. I add about only 3 ml of each to a high bioload 110g tank. Dr. Balling confirmed that ICP demonstrated that none of the added traces is accumulating long term.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Same, but my experience with long term use and no water changes, is that there is no issue reminiscent of toxic accumulation or an issue of apparent lack of growth. I add about only 3 ml of each to a high bioload 110g tank. Dr. Balling confirmed that ICP demonstrated that none of the added traces is accumulating long term.

I agree in general that I've not seen much reported evidence of an issue with accumulation, but one would need to test lots of different tank types to really make a strong assessment.

The most likely scenario to overdose trace elements is in a tank with very high calcification by corals (high SPS growth) or abiotic precipitation (especially this) since those use the most AFR and add the most trace elements. Least likely is a low demand tank with a lot of trace element uptake by soft corals, macroalgae, anemones, etc.

 

[Pod_01]

The most likely scenario to overdose trace elements is in a tank with very high calcification by corals (high SPS growth)

Randy I believe I seen you mention this before.
Just to wrap my head around this, high SPS growth consumes less trace elements in comparison to soft corals (zoa, leathers) etc…

Is this because SPS have less fleshy parts?

I just made the observation that my reef seems to behave better (I was using my Mk1 eyeball) with less trace elements addition.
I figured the cause was that fish food is adding extra elements but perhaps it is that SPS need less.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Randy I believe I seen you mention this before.
Just to wrap my head around this, high SPS growth consumes less trace elements in comparison to soft corals (zoa, leathers) etc…

Is this because SPS have less fleshy parts?

I just made the observation that my reef seems to behave better (I was using my Mk1 eyeball) with less trace elements addition.
I figured the cause was that fish food is adding extra elements but perhaps it is that SPS need less.

No, that’s not what I’m saying. SPS use calcium and alkalinity and thus need those parts of AFR, while soft corals and macroalgae only use the trace elements.

Thus if the AFR dose is set to maintain alk and calcium, it may be a big dose and lots of trace elements in an SPS tank, while in a soft coral and macroalgae situation, the dose may be very low and thus not add much trace elements.

Does that make sense?

 

[Pod_01]

No, that’s not what I’m saying. SPS use calcium and alkalinity and thus need those parts of AFR, while soft corals and macroalgae only use the trace elements.

Thus if the AFR dose is set to maintain alk and calcium, it may be a big dose and lots of trace elements in an SPS tank, while in a soft coral and macroalgae situation, the dose may be very low and thus not add much trace elements.

Does that make sense?

Now I got it…

Thanks

 

[Koty]

I would say that unlike all the corals, fish and other critters that food is a key source for trace elements, Macroalgae and any other algae including the ones we try to get rid of, rely exclusively on trace elements in the water column. Using the recommended dose I got massive growth of Cheato but also lots of GHA. So my advice is to start lower than recommended even considering that I hardly feed my corals as I dose amino acids.
Lots of algae and critters grazing at night: