Anybody Using Trace Element Supplements?

[reeferaddict]

I too am of the opinion that if you can't test for it, don't add it... The solution of course is test kits... I picked up kits to measure Iodine, Magnesium and Strontium... Magnesium seems to be the easiest of the three to keep in check, always measuring within NSW ranges without anything other than water changes... (10% every week or so, I DO make sure change water is at 10 KH and 450 ppm Calcium using buffers, kalk, or Calcium Chloride, I'm now trying Kent's Osmo-Prep to see if this can be a one step process)... The shocker for me was Iodine... I have 200G total water volume and it takes 15 - 20 ml DAILY to keep these concentrations at NSW values. Strontium is around the same and is necessary for good coraline algae growth and especially if you have SPS... Since I have maintained these levels along with Ca/Alk my tank has done spectacularly well.... polyps are always fully open and responsive to food and light... softies slough as in nature, and all creatures are happy. Before I would say thing were just "surviving", and responding well for a short time after water changes until these elements were being used up. We know the key is stability, so I took the time, spent the money, determined my DAILY consumption and now dose DAILY... Corals that used to get cranky for weeks have now gone weeks without getting cranky...