to add or not to add trace elements:

[bboyin4lyf]

i use only natural sea water and do a water change of 30 liters a week on my 48*18*18. my question is whether or not i should dose trace elements considering that im using natural sea water ?
may sound simple but i cant find the answer on an faqs etc.

thanks!

 

[badgergoth]

All the advice I've ever heard says that if you can't test for it, don't add it.

 

[ChrisRD]

The regular water changes you are doing should supply your trace elements IMO.

 

[Anonymous]

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... =additives

http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... es&start=0


And to make it all easier to find:
additives, trace elements

marked for archiving

 

[SpicyBalls]

i agree... if you're doing weekly water changes.. better off saving your money.. and yeah, too much of something can be a bad thing..
_________________
Honda CX series

 

[Anonymous]

More of the same here...you don't need it with regular water changes.

 

[bboyin4lyf]

thanks guyz, this site has saved me a fortune once again

 

[reverai]

It should depend on your bioload whether you should add anything even if you're doing water changes. If you have a heavy bioload in your tank...lots of fish and corals ect, then you very may need too, if the things in your tank are looking a tad weak.....

Steve

 

[Anonymous]

The only things you should be adding regular is ca and alk stuff - either two part, kalk or with a ca reactor. The other stuff is pretty much colored fluid in a bottle.
A great basic rule of thumb is 'if you don't/can't test for it, don't add it'.

 

[bboyin4lyf]

is ca and alk absolutly neccessary tho? my tanks been up for around 4 months n i havent added either. is this a bad thing ?
thanks

 

[keethrax]

is ca and alk absolutly neccessary tho? my tanks been up for around 4 months n i havent added either. is this a bad thing ?
thanks

Depends, what's in the tank?

 

[bboyin4lyf]

a couple of softies, mushrooms and a gorgonian + 1 false perc and a 1 cb angelfish

 

[keethrax]

a couple of softies, mushrooms and a gorgonian + 1 false perc and a 1 cb angelfish

How much (%) of the tank is that change? (too lazy to do the match )

 

[bboyin4lyf]

lol 254 liters with 40 liter change a week--- ive got no clue as to its percentage.
but thats the raw data

 

[keethrax]

lol 254 liters with 40 liter change a week--- ive got no clue as to its percentage.
but thats the raw data

I would bet you're just fine then. As long as everything's looking healthy, why worry and over-complicate things.

 

[bboyin4lyf]

lol, yeah i guess ure right
just worried one day ill come home and find a dead tank
but im an optimist

 

[Baianotang]

Naaaaa.

 

[keethrax]

just worried one day ill come home and find a dead tank

If you're getting low on a trace element, it'll probably be a slow process, so there'll be plenty of time to deal with it. If you add too much of some elements, you could have problems in a hurry.

 

[bboyin4lyf]

thanks,
so the conclusion is that i dont need to add trace elements - at least not for a while and i dont need alk as well because of the natural salt water.

cheers

 

[keethrax]

thanks,
so the conclusion is that i dont need to add trace elements - at least not for a while and i dont need alk as well because of the natural salt water.

cheers

You may still need Ca/Alk at some point. Depends on organism usage. Those get depleted a lot faster than other stuff for the most part, at least if you have organisms that deposit enough calcium. You certainly don't want to add them without testing though.