Finally getting my traces inline, still a few that are off.

BriDroid · Dec 12, 2025

My little 11 gallon nano is packed full of corals. I have been running the cheap Fauna Marin ICP tests just to keep an eye on trace elements, and I finally think that I'm really close! Everything is growing great and my colors are good too. I have been dosing about 10ml of All-For-Reef daily, along with auto water changes of about 600ml daily with Pro-Reef salt. I also dose 0.5ml of Plus-NP daily and Phos-Feed every night on an auto doser through my Hydros. Since my last ICP, which showed a lot of traces way too low, I have started to auto dose Tropic Marin A- and K+ every third day at 0.3ml each. This has helped my traces fall in line really well. There are a couple that are still not where Fauna Marin says they should be, but my growth and color is good? Manganese and Iron are high and Lanthanum is low. I'm not concerned about the Lanthanum since it was high when I was dosing it to bring down PO4. I'm not sure if that Manganese and Iron are hurting or helping anything though?

Overall, I'm happy where my little reef is running! I'm also happy to see Ca and Mg running right in line too, especially since I'm "overdosing" AFR!

I keep the tank around 8dKH, using a small amount of baking soda in my AWC water.

BriDroid · Dec 12, 2025

Here is a pic of the whole tank today.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 12, 2025

Lanthanum isn’t needed by any organism that is significant in a reef tank. Ignore low levels.

I do not believe your iron and manganese levels are any concern. I would not work to lower them, but reducing additives may (or may not) lower the values if you want to do so.