Iodine, Potassium, & Iron, OH MY!

Discussion in 'Water Chemistry' started by mdbostwick, Jun 28, 2015.

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  1. mdbostwick

    mdbostwick Vlamingii Tang

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    I appreciate your information here. I wouldn't think adding a controlled amount of trace elements would be a snake oil.

    So I am guessing you have used the test kit from OP? If so, can i ask what your initial test results would have been? Do you have a grasp on the rate of consumption for those 3 elements?
     
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  3. RHorton

    RHorton Pajama Cardinal

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    I have noticed solid color enhancement through all my corals. Getting it dialed in though with cal and alk has been the hardest part. Red sea assumes your using there cal and alk foundation which i don't,
    But basically for every 10ppm of cal I raise (dose) its 1ml of supplements.Everyone's system will be different though.
    I still don't trust added them when i add cal and alk so I test to make sure.

    the potassium test takes about 45 min(you filter the first results and test it again)
    the iodine about 15 min
    iron takes about 10 min

    I will say the colors in my corals are nice and bright now.
     
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  4. mdbostwick

    mdbostwick Vlamingii Tang

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    So your initial results would have showed the iodine potassium and iron to be lower than recommended?
     
  5. RHorton

    RHorton Pajama Cardinal

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    the iodine was right on at .09 (which is actually on the high side)
    the potassium was low around 350
    iron was also low.

    it was weird results so I tested 3 times in the beginning to make sure.

    if you do a water change every week or whenever then there is no point to dose or use the supplements, but you can still test to make sure.
    I don't like doing water changes, I would rather micro manage the supplements and only do water changes for problems.
    I know it has always been debated between reefers but it works for me.
     
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  6. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    Since I run such a small bio-load I would much rather fine tune my own chemistry to my tanks utilization. I can tell just by looking at my corals what my alk level is. Tons of PE, alk is 8-8.5, mod PE, Alk is higher than 9 and Cal is higher than 450.

    There are canary corals, like my Tyree Pink Lemonade, or my Duncan, how they look/present tells me a lot about my chemistry.

    Of course I always check chemistry at least once a week to be on the safe side or when I notice any stressed corals or anemones.
     
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  7. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

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    The theory is fine, but the test testing equipment is quite elementary and inaccurate, while the deletion of said trace elements is minuscule at best. The reason I consider it snake oil is because it's unnecessary if water changes are maintained regularly, and probably are still unnecessary eve if they aren't performed regularly.
     
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  9. Va Reef

    Va Reef Giant Squid

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    Fair enough, to each their own. Didn't meant to call you out or anything.

    I do like Red Sea's whole product line, if you use only their products it makes maintaining the tank such much easier; similar to zeovit, but realistically, who is only gonna use just their products.

    I would like to get my hands on a test kit just for a month, to figure out the demand on my system. I imagine with almost entirely SPS, the demand for these will be higher than that of a mixed reef or softy tank.
     
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