Luc Vogels
Active Member
Over the past few years, I have spent considerable time preparing my own trace element solutions and determining the daily dosage required by my reef. Reef2Reef has been a great source of information and inspiration, but one piece of information I often found difficult to find was a practical starting point for periodic trace element dosing.
I therefore started conservatively and gradually adjusted the dosages based on the response of the aquarium and monthly ICP testing. After two years, I have reached a reasonably stable understanding of my reef's trace element consumption and the corresponding dosing amounts.
Clearly, these values cannot simply be transferred from one reef to another. Consumption will depend on factors such as coral biomass and growth, livestock, filtration methods, and the supplementation system being used. Nevertheless, I think actual dosing data from established reefs can provide useful reference points, particularly for reefers who want to prepare their own trace element solutions.
I would therefore like to share my current dosing levels and hear whether others consider this information useful as a reference, or whether the differences between individual reefs make such comparisons of limited value. I’m also curious how these numbers compare with what other reefers are dosing. Are we roughly in the same ballpark, perhaps within 50%, or could the differences be as large as 500%?
Aquarium: 3000 Liter (793 Gallon)
Build Thread: Here
Aquarium Type: Mixed reef
Aquarium Live stock: heavily stocked (mature reef)
Major element supplementation system: Triton Core 7
*An additive is used to improve solubility
If a specific trace element is not in the list I do not consider it useful to dose periodically.
If there is interest, I can also share the practical side of my dosing approach: which chemical compounds I use, which elements I combine into stock solutions, the concentrations of those solutions, and how I dose them.
I therefore started conservatively and gradually adjusted the dosages based on the response of the aquarium and monthly ICP testing. After two years, I have reached a reasonably stable understanding of my reef's trace element consumption and the corresponding dosing amounts.
Clearly, these values cannot simply be transferred from one reef to another. Consumption will depend on factors such as coral biomass and growth, livestock, filtration methods, and the supplementation system being used. Nevertheless, I think actual dosing data from established reefs can provide useful reference points, particularly for reefers who want to prepare their own trace element solutions.
I would therefore like to share my current dosing levels and hear whether others consider this information useful as a reference, or whether the differences between individual reefs make such comparisons of limited value. I’m also curious how these numbers compare with what other reefers are dosing. Are we roughly in the same ballpark, perhaps within 50%, or could the differences be as large as 500%?
Aquarium: 3000 Liter (793 Gallon)
Build Thread: Here
Aquarium Type: Mixed reef
Aquarium Live stock: heavily stocked (mature reef)
Major element supplementation system: Triton Core 7
| Element | Chemical product | Daily product dose (µg/L/day) | Daily element / nutrient dose (µg/L/day) |
| Strontium | SrCl₂·6H₂O | 520.7143 | 171.1301 |
| Vanadium | V2O5 * | 0.5357 | 0.3001 |
| Cobalt | CoCl₂·6H₂O | 0.1071 | 0.0265 |
| Manganese | MnSO₄·H₂O | 0.2496 | 0.0811 |
| Copper | CuSO₄·5H₂O | 0.2630 | 0.0669 |
| Zinc | ZnSO₄·7H₂O | 0.2357 | 0.0536 |
| Nickel | NiSO₄·6H₂O | 0.2384 | 0.0532 |
| Chromium | CrCl₃·6H₂O | 0.0579 | 0.0113 |
| Iron | FeSO4 7 H2O * | 23.7500 | 4.7708 |
| Iodine | KI | 3.1144 | 2.3809 |
| Fluorine | NaF | 39.4643 | 17.8564 |
| Nitrates | NH4HCO3 | 119.0476 | 93.3649 |
| Nitrates | CO(NH2)2 | 8.9286 | 18.4351 |
| Phosphates | KH2PO4 | 11.9048 | 8.3077 |
If a specific trace element is not in the list I do not consider it useful to dose periodically.
If there is interest, I can also share the practical side of my dosing approach: which chemical compounds I use, which elements I combine into stock solutions, the concentrations of those solutions, and how I dose them.
