Do you test for what you dose?

[Joeganja]

Bulk Supply's 52 weeks of reefing made a good point when they said that most of us slack off on testing and it's true. But do we test what we dose for? The common being pH, nitrate on occasions, phosphate, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium. And then you have iodine, potassium, iron, strontium, copper, silicate, co2, boron, ORP,
and a few others. Notice I left out ammonia and nitrite just because we don't test for it as much or we tend to not bother after a tank has cycled. There are those who will say I dose idione or iodide and I'll ask them if they test for it and they say nah. Is it worth to take a risk on your tank, to dose something you don't test for just because others claim it helps with growth, brings out coloration, helps for invertebrates? I decided to test for potassium, iodine, and iron in my 25 gallon a day after a water change to see what my levels were. Note that this is the first time testing in my 25 gallon and I haven't dosed any trace elements or abcd. Just calcium, and magnesium and pH buffer for the rodi water. And these were my results using Red Sea colors test kit.

Iron- 0.10
Potassium- 362pm
Iodine- 0.06ppm
Now potassium and irons color on the color chart weren't photo perfect meaning photos wouldn't do justice so that's why I didn't post them.

So what I suggest is those who dose iodine especially because that's one liquid available almost anywhere just understand your iodine levels based on your salt and the amount of water changes you do should be right around recommended levels so you may not have to dose.
I only have a few sps nothing that should impact the parameters over the course of a day after a water change. I use seachem reef salt because I buy it for $13.99 a 50 gallon mix bag from my local pet store and it works great and dissolves fantastically. I'm sure Red Sea Pro salt is better but for the price I can't complain. I do 5 gallon water changes once a week on a 25 gallon.

 

[Joeganja]

as you can tell my corals are fairly small and corals that may not deplete these elements as others.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Bulk Supply's 52 weeks of reefing made a good point when they said that most of us slack off on testing and it's true. But do we test what we dose for? .

No. I determined that my tank ran well on limewater dosing for all top off, and then never measured anything for many years.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

There are those who will say I dose idione or iodide and I'll ask them if they test for it and they say nah. Is it worth to take a risk on your tank, to dose something you don't test for just because others claim it helps with growth, brings out coloration, helps for invertebrates? I decided to test for potassium, iodine, and iron in my 25 gallon a day after a water change to see what my levels were.

I don't think iodide does those things (I dosed it for years then stopped and saw no difference), but iodine and a few other things (iron and silicate, for example, which I do dose) deplete very rapidly so if you dose the NSW amount once a week they are unlikely to accumulate undesirably.

 

[ahiggins]

Ive never had to dose (mostly because all of my coral are very small and when initially testing alk/cal/mag I didnt deplete them enough before the next WC) but when I was attempting to kill bryopsis with mag, I tested 2x per day and dosed once per day.
I think its all about knowing your tank and what you can get away with, if that makes sense.
Sorta the same thing Randy is talking about. I know I dont use much of the main 3, and Ive never dosed trace elements, so aside from nitrates once in a while, I dont test anymore unless I do a massive water change or something out of the norm.