Why am I dosing SO Much - Iodine, Purple Up, Calcium, Kent Essential Elements.......

I posted this as question on another thread but I realized from amcarrig's answer that I should start a new on.

My question was -

I am confused. I do water changes about once every 6 weeks, I dose with Purple up, additional Calcium, Kent essential Elements, Iodine and Kent Super buffer when needed. I am about to start using Magnesium as well.

What I do not understand is - based on the responses in this thread, I should not need to be doing all this.
I don't get it?

Her response with my answers inserted was:

I 100% agree.

I took all this into consideration before dosing Iodine. I actually bought an Iodine test kit first and even with all the other products I was still at almost Zero.

I concur. I test for all these things regularly. My Ca is constant at 420-440. My dKH was constant at 11-12 but recently dropped to 10 so I started adding buffer. I have also been reading this forum extensively and that is why I recently bought Magnesium. My Magnesium is constant at 1280 but I understand that if I keep it a little higher it should solve my dKH issue.

So that brings me back to the question of - Why am I dosing so much?

 

Are you using a low quality salt mix?

 

From an article written by Randy Holmes Farley regarding testing for iodine:

"I do not presently dose iodine to my aquarium, and I do not recommend that others do so, either.
Iodine dosing is much more complicated than dosing other ions due to its substantial number of different naturally existing forms, the number of different forms that aquarists actually dose, the fact that all of these forms can interconvert in reef aquaria, and the fact that the available test kits detect only a subset of the total forms present. This complexity, coupled with the fact that no commonly kept reef aquarium species are known to require significant iodine, suggests that dosing is unnecessary and problematic. "

Here's the full article:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

 

I would agree with the Iodine dosing (or lack thereof). I have some iodine here in the house, but I have not, and will not, dose my aquarium with it. I have it around for dipping purposes. It can be a tank killer if done wrong.

 

I use Reef Crystals

 

And to the question of why are you dosing so much. You're really not dosing that much at all. dKH, IME, has never stayed up where it should. dKH is an inducator of free carbonate that is used in the construction of coral skeletons, etc. It also, as a side, will stabilize pH. I dose with Reef Builder once weekly. Ca and Mg are used for this purpose also. It is necessary to keep all three levels up. I use a Reef Crystals for my water changes and do a WC every two weeks, which replenishes some of it. So looking at your numbers, the only one that is low is your Mg. So just add enough to get it to 1400 (not all at once---over a week off the top of my head would suffice).

 

Excellent

 

IMO, the only elements that should/need to be dosed would be Mag, Cal and Dkh/Alk AS NEEDED. Why would you need to dose that? Not all salt mixes are created equal and some ppl like having high numbers. I only dose Cal,Mag and Alk as needed to maint. the numbers that I want to keep. You also have to take into consideration the consumption rate. For ex. I regularly dose Mag b/c I have a dozen or so Mangroves that consume Mag. If you did your WC alot more frequently, you wouldnt have to dose so many things so often. You also have to consider what kind of tank you have, reef or FO. Luna

 

I read this before I started dosing. I use the Seachem Test Kit and dose with Iodide as he suggests.

I was getting a Zero reading for a week befor I added any Iodide.

 

I only dose Calc alk and mag. I have never dosed iodine directly. I do add amino acids every week or so. Purple up is mostly calcium so I would drop that and just add calc.

You do not have many corals that use a lot of calc alk and mag(frogspawn and dusters) unless you have other hard corals other than whats listed that is a lot of adding for a light system. THat leads me to what some of the others have said poor salt quality or poor quality test kits.