Trace Elements

I had bought a bottle of trace elements awhile back and never really used it. I had a buddy tell me he has been usin it in his tank which made me think about it again. I dont do alot of waterchanges so im wonderin if this stuff is even worth it or is it a waste of money.

Hello Toke

To your question would need to know what you have in your tank. If you have a reef tank with even small corals and don't do water changes yes there needed and should be added but how much depends on the load you have, they do get used up but water should be tested to see what is needed. If you have a fish only or even a live rock with fish and you do water changes every once in a while you should be ok. If theres any invertebrates hermits, shrimp things like that there are some elements that need to be added every once in a while.

+1 - tell us more about your tank - sometimes these trace elements have value, although, in most cases the trace elements in your salt mix are more than enough

yeah it's usually just little things that help out. Mostly those doses aren't worth the extra, but depending on what you have it might be. Iodine is something I used to dose with my ricordea, well it's very important with inverts too. I didn't know that. I also didn't test for it, which is a bad combination.

Sorry bout that didnt even think to mention what was in my tank lol...its a 55g tank have 4 fish a coral banded shrimp and 3 coral frags (zoas n star polyps) n a medium sized goniopora and much more to come in the near future...i do water changes maybe 1-2months apart im kina lazy with that part of the hobby. As far as testing goes i dont really do it cuz if everything looks good in the tank and nothin is diein thats good enough for me

The only reason i was talkin bout the trace elements is cuz i feel like one of my star polyps isnt openin as much as it should which had me wonderin bout the trace elements due to lack of water changes

I would just do more frequent WC instead of dosing anything. Dosing is a losing game if your not testing for the additives your throwing in your tank.

Easier said than done lol but thanks for the input

Well you should know most of us do WC weekly in an attempt to replace everything that gets used up out of the water by the corals and other inverts. Things like trace elements, and calcium. I have a clam and some sps that wouldn't survive long if I skipped WC. With what's in you tank it doesn't sound like you need to be dosing, but I would encourage you to do a WC at least once a month. On the same day every month. Trust me there are many days where it is easier said than done for me too.

Yea i know its somethin i really need to get better at

Originally Posted by Toke23

Yea i know its somethin i really need to get better at

Hey took me a min. to get there too. When I started adding expensive things, for some reason it was easier. Might have been my husband standing over my shoulder w/ the bank recite in his hand saying nothing better die.

HAHA yea i suppose that can make a difference

There's an axiom in the hobby that's pretty good- if you don't test for it, don't dose it.

Lots of 'trace' element solutions contain heavy metals. It'd be easy to overdose them, especially if you're not doing water changes that frequently.

As your tank becomes more crowded you will find your maintenance schedule will change. I personally avoid water changes as much as possible for several reasons, but mainly because I am lazy, so I keep a light bioload in my tanks, run good skimmers, and algae scrubbers to keep nitrates down. I test every couple weeks and adjust dosing of 2 part accordingly.

The main reason i dont do water changes that much is because it takes so long to get water from my RODI unit then get it fully mixed. If i want to do a water change i need to start making water in the morning and it takes a couple hours just to make 10g of water. So (not sayin im not lazy with it either) its more of a time issue, but the solution would be to get some big totes or trash cans (one for salt mix and one for fresh water top off) and have them ready that way i can do my WC on my own time so to speak.

Originally Posted by Toke23

The main reason i dont do water changes that much is because it takes so long to get water from my RODI unit then get it fully mixed. If i want to do a water change i need to start making water in the morning and it takes a couple hours just to make 10g of water. So (not sayin im not lazy with it either) its more of a time issue, but the solution would be to get some big totes or trash cans (one for salt mix and one for fresh water top off) and have them ready that way i can do my WC on my own time so to speak.

That made me think of another question. How long would salt water last in a say a 45g trash can with a lid and a power head to keep it movin? Would it loose any of it benificial elements while it sat?

No, not if you keep it aerated. You might have to adjust the salinity again if the container is open and water can evaporate.

You can store the Mixed SW for months at a time. Have a lid on the container, not air tight, and a powerhead in the bottom facing up. Before doing the water change, make sure to check the salinity and temp of the stored water. You will get a little evaporation and may have to add some RO/Di to the storage water, but you wont have to let it sit for hours to mix up again. 30 minutes would be sufficient.

I store RO/DI in a 35g food grade container. This serves the purpose of Top Off water as needed, and for when I want to do a WC. I usually fill this container every 4-5 weeks.

When I want to do a WC, I pump 15g of RO/DI into a separate container the night before and get it mixing, (letting it mix for 24 hours also helps to aerate the new SW). Then, the next night all I have to do is the WC and cleanup afterwards.

As for the Trace Elements, someone mentioned "if you don't test for it, then don't add it". This is generally a good rule of thumb. If your not testing for say, Strontium, why would you add it? This is not to say that supplements aren't good for your tank, but make sure you know what is being depleted before adding anything to your tank to try and balance it out.

The average reef hobbyist is testing pH, Salinity, Cal, Alk, Mag, Phos, Nitrite and Nitrate. I myself have not even bothered with Nitrite and Nitrate for years now (Unless of course I'm cycling a new system), and only check the effluent coming out of my phosban reactor for Phos every 6 weeks.

How does the livestock in your system look? Is it happy, colorful, blooming with life? If so, then I would not upset what is most likely a good balance by adding supplements.

Originally Posted by Daimyo68

You can store the Mixed SW for months at a time. Have a lid on the container, not air tight, and a powerhead in the bottom facing up. Before doing the water change, make sure to check the salinity and temp of the stored water. You will get a little evaporation and may have to add some RO/Di to the storage water, but you wont have to let it sit for hours to mix up again. 30 minutes would be sufficient.

I store RO/DI in a 35g food grade container. This serves the purpose of Top Off water as needed, and for when I want to do a WC. I usually fill this container every 4-5 weeks.

When I want to do a WC, I pump 15g of RO/DI into a separate container the night before and get it mixing, (letting it mix for 24 hours also helps to aerate the new SW). Then, the next night all I have to do is the WC and cleanup afterwards.

As for the Trace Elements, someone mentioned "if you don't test for it, then don't add it". This is generally a good rule of thumb. If your not testing for say, Strontium, why would you add it? This is not to say that supplements aren't good for your tank, but make sure you know what is being depleted before adding anything to your tank to try and balance it out.

The average reef hobbyist is testing pH, Salinity, Cal, Alk, Mag, Phos, Nitrite and Nitrate. I myself have not even bothered with Nitrite and Nitrate for years now (Unless of course I'm cycling a new system), and only check the effluent coming out of my phosban reactor for Phos every 6 weeks.

How does the livestock in your system look? Is it happy, colorful, blooming with life? If so, then I would not upset what is most likely a good balance by adding supplements.

All my fish look great. The goniopora i have doesnt seem to open up all the way maybe 50% or so and ususally only half the day and it spends the rest of its time closed up tight which is what brought up my original question of trace elements because it wasnt opening up as much as it should. I have a very small star polyp that doesnt extend nearly as tall as it did when i first got it. But my zoas and other star polyps seem do be doing just fine.

I am going to start weekly water changes and see if that changes things if not i have off balance water and need to figure out why. I did a water change last saturday of 10g and am going to try to keep that cycle going and hopefully it makes the corals happier.

I would start with weekly and then after a month go to bi-weekly. Doing the weekly changes will help to reduce anything bad and help get your levels on more of a regular level swing.

Test your water just before you do the WC and then a day after the WC. This way you can compare your numbers to see what's being depleted.

I can do the water changes fine, but i wont be able to test. My tank came with test kits but i have no idea of how old they are or how reliable, and a new set just isnt in my budget right now. I could take my water to the LFS and they would test it maybe ill do that just before my WC tomorrow to see what things are lookin like...good advice.