Trace elements

[scotty333]

Guys
Have you found a trace Element that you noticed a difference in your tank?

 

[UMALUM]

Not yet...

 

[skey44]

I am happy with all for reef as a balanced additive. Not sure I’d say a difference but the corals look great. Also best trace is in a water change. I love TMPR salt, corals always notably good after my weekly.

The three things so far that make a visual difference in coral health for me are coral nutrition, coral snow, and water changes.

Otherwise just keeping the alk, temp, and salinity stable are most important.
Also high quality light and flow.

Easy peasy right? Lol

 

[DanyL]

If you’re asking this question it means that you water changes and food is enough to provide the necessary trace elements to fulfill your current system demands.

As the consumption increases, you’ll start to notice something is off, some corals would still be fine but others may show signs of stress.

There are also some elements that are more important than others, like Potassium for example, others affect coloration.

For small tanks with low consumption though, I wouldn’t worry much about it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Guys
Have you found a trace Element that you noticed a difference in your tank?

Iron when growing macroalgae can be very important.

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randys-thoughts-on-trace-elements.951/
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randys-elements-to-dose.952/

 

[scotty333]

In addition to afr I need to add additional iodine , manganese is 0 vanadium is low so gets supplemented, iron shows 0 so that gets added and a touch of nickel
But molybdenum is correct
I may go into some more soon for experimental purposes

 

[Pod_01]

These days I only add TM A and K (low dose). Also I prefer to see ICP results with depleted Mn, Iron and few others. TM A and K is adding them daily so I know they are added and as long corals look happy I suspect there must be enough. That is just my assumption…
I don’t grow macroalgae so I don’t believe I need surplus of Mn or Fe.

I used to add trace mixes and individual elements guided by ICP but $1000’s of dollars later the effort and money didn’t translate to claimed expected results…

I suspect in my case, too much of a good thing (trace elements, coral foods, aminos etc…) ended up with some mutant acros…

Good luck,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In addition to afr I need to add additional iodine , manganese is 0 vanadium is low so gets supplemented, iron shows 0 so that gets added and a touch of nickel
But molybdenum is correct
I may go into some more soon for experimental purposes

Just bear in mind a few things. Undetectable or lower than some target level does not necessarily mean too low for organisms to get all they need.

A raw concentration number also does not address chemical form which can have a big impact on bioavailability.

Thus, if one uses icp for trace elements, it should be used as a starting point for determining what is needed, as opposed to the final answer, which can only be determined by observation of the aquarium.

 

[skey44]

These days I only add TM A and K (low dose). Also I prefer to see ICP results with depleted Mn, Iron and few others. TM A and K is adding them daily so I know they are added and as long corals look happy I suspect there must be enough. That is just my assumption…
I don’t grow macroalgae so I don’t believe I need surplus of Mn or Fe.

I used to add trace mixes and individual elements guided by ICP but $1000’s of dollars later the effort and money didn’t translate to claimed expected results…

I suspect in my case, too much of a good thing (trace elements, coral foods, aminos etc…) ended up with some mutant acros…

Good luck,

Just bear in mind a few things. Undetectable or lower than some target level does not necessarily mean too low for organisms to get all they need.

A raw concentration number also does not address chemical form which can have a big impact on bioavailability.

Thus, if one uses icp for trace elements, it should be used as a starting point for determining what is needed, as opposed to the final answer, which can only be determined by observation of the aquarium.

Both of these answers are informative and well thought out. Helps me understand a little more about coral husbandry.

 

[scotty333]

These days I only add TM A and K (low dose). Also I prefer to see ICP results with depleted Mn, Iron and few others. TM A and K is adding them daily so I know they are added and as long corals look happy I suspect there must be enough. That is just my assumption…
I don’t grow macroalgae so I don’t believe I need surplus of Mn or Fe.

I used to add trace mixes and individual elements guided by ICP but $1000’s of dollars later the effort and money didn’t translate to claimed expected results…

I suspect in my case, too much of a good thing (trace elements, coral foods, aminos etc…) ended up with some mutant acros…

Good luck,

Tm a and k make up part of afr

 

[rishma]

These days I only add TM A and K (low dose). Also I prefer to see ICP results with depleted Mn, Iron and few others. TM A and K is adding them daily so I know they are added and as long corals look happy I suspect there must be enough. That is just my assumption…
I don’t grow macroalgae so I don’t believe I need surplus of Mn or Fe.

I used to add trace mixes and individual elements guided by ICP but $1000’s of dollars later the effort and money didn’t translate to claimed expected results…

I suspect in my case, too much of a good thing (trace elements, coral foods, aminos etc…) ended up with some mutant acros…

Good luck,

Interesting post. Seems like everyone who uses the iCP methods that direct dosing of trace elements swears by it, sometimes a bit too adamantly. It often seems like justification bias, because they are believers and have spent a lot of money on it. I don’t see many from people who tried it and then decided it wasn’t necessary. Someone might tell you you didn’t do it right :)

Nice pics.

 

[skey44]

Tm a and k make up part of afr

As a person who hasn’t ICP tested and is visual result driven, I really like that AFR is a (almost?) complete additive. I’ve been really happy with just afr and water changes for traces. Colors and growth going pretty well thus far for a tank started in late July. Maybe I’ll eventually send an ICP out of curiosity.

 

[FrugalReeferJon]

Not a specific trace element per se but I noticed my corals don’t look as good and happy if I don’t feed my fish frozen food. Must be all the delicious trace elements in the food :face-savoring-food:

 

[Pod_01]

Tm a and k make up part of afr

I use TM Original Balling method and I add TM A and K (been using it for about 4 months now).

I used AFR few years back, it worked well. But, I had to try other methods, complicated methods etc… I just couldn’t stop myself especially when I read all the claims, I just had to try different methods.
So far from my experience my tank looked the best when it was on AFR.

Interesting post. Seems like everyone who uses the iCP methods that direct dosing of trace elements swears by it, sometimes a bit too adamantly. It often seems like justification bias, because they are believers and have spent a lot of money on it. I don’t see many from people who tried it and then decided it wasn’t necessary. Someone might tell you you didn’t do it right :)

Yup, I definitely didn’t do it correct. I just don’t know what I didn’t do right… Money spend, extensive collection of trace element bottles, ICP results that looked good/great and Corals that just didn’t look like corals and the not so occasional RTN.

The methods that add individual elements based on ICP etc… are just not for me.
It obviously works for others…

 

[AlexandraDreadlocksPanda]

Interesting post. Seems like everyone who uses the iCP methods that direct dosing of trace elements swears by it, sometimes a bit too adamantly. It often seems like justification bias, because they are believers and have spent a lot of money on it. I don’t see many from people who tried it and then decided it wasn’t necessary. Someone might tell you you didn’t do it right :)

Nice pics.

Trace elements dosing does not have to be expensive; I split mine between 50% Blue Treasure, 50% Tropic Main Elements A+ & K-. This costs me about £85 per year. When you consider most people who add TE do so because they’re not water changing much (if at all), then the savings on salt balance out the TE costs…

 

[rishma]

Trace elements dosing does not have to be expensive; I split mine between 50% Blue Treasure, 50% Tropic Main Elements A+ & K-. This costs me about £85 per year. When you consider most people who add TE do so because they’re not water changing much (if at all), then the savings on salt balance out the TE costs…

Sure, i get my trace elements from AFR and I’m pretty happy with it. I was specifically thinking of the methods that call for frequent (monthly) ICP-MS testing and individual bottles or sometimes custom blended solutions for corrective/maintenance doses. I am not knocking the methods’ effectiveness, but there is a premium price tag.

 

[rishma]

Nobody can argue with those colors!!

 

[rishma]

As a person who hasn’t ICP tested and is visual result driven, I really like that AFR is a (almost?) complete additive. I’ve been really happy with just afr and water changes for traces. Colors and growth going pretty well thus far for a tank started in late July. Maybe I’ll eventually send an ICP out of curiosity.

I’ve had successful tanks, but don’t think I’ve had any with such great looking corals in 5 months. Nicely done.

 

[skey44]

I’ve had successful tanks, but don’t think I’ve had any with such great looking corals in 5 months. Nicely done.

Thank you, this means a lot to me.

 

[rishma]

Not a specific trace element per se but I noticed my corals don’t look as good and happy if I don’t feed my fish frozen food. Must be all the delicious trace elements in the food :face-savoring-food:

That’s interesting. I recently had to switch to frozen because I got my favorite type of fish and that’s all it will eat. It’s a pain because I cannot use an auto feeder. I did notice my phosphate trended lower and lower. I had to make some adjustments to get it back to where I like it.