to add or not to add trace elements if corals not consuming alk and calcium?

[Noodles_Jefferson]

so I posted last week about my corals not consuming alk and calcium. Alk is at 11.4 dkh, calcium is 460, mag is 1380. I turned off my auto doser to let the levels come own a bit (not too much) but they aren't budging. I dose all-for-reef which is a specially formulated supplement that doses alk, calcium, mag, and trace elements. Since I'm not dosing now, should I still add trace elements separately, or is the fact that the corals aren't consuming alk and calcium mean they are also not consuming trace elements? The corals are thriving and they look great they just are not growing or building any skeletal structure right now. TIA!

 

[Miami Reef]

so I posted last week about my corals not consuming alk and calcium. Alk is at 11.4 dkh, calcium is 460, mag is 1380. I turned off my auto doser to let the levels come own a bit (not too much) but they aren't budging. I dose all-for-reef which is a specially formulated supplement that doses alk, calcium, mag, and trace elements. Since I'm not dosing now, should I still add trace elements separately, or is the fact that the corals aren't consuming alk and calcium mean they are also not consuming trace elements? The corals are thriving and they look great they just are not growing or building any skeletal structure right now. TIA!

Show pictures of the tank. I want to see how densely stocked the tank is and what corals you are trying to grow out.

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

Show pictures of the tank. I want to see how densely stocked the tank is and what corals you are trying to grow out.

Thank you! I try not to overcrowd with corals, although I see pictures here of tanks that have corals on top of corals so I might add one or two more. I was told that I don't have many corals that build skeletal structure. The thing is, this tank used to consume maybe 1.5 to 2 ml per day of alk. I don't exactly remember how much calcium because I was autodosing and as long as my calc was around 440, I didn't mess with the autodoser. but my tank had a bad algae problem and my corals weren't doing well.

I found a new store that was far more knowledgeable than the one I was going to. They advised me to change my filter from the penguin 350 using just carbon pads to the seachem tidal 55 using chemipure and sera crystal clear balls (they look like cotton balls). That alone cured the algae problem. The tank is really clean. one guy from the store said it might actually be too clean phosphates at .04, nitrates around 5. He said corals like it a little bit dirty. I startd feeding the fish and corals a bit more and also increased my lights by 10% (I had them running at about 60% when I was battling the algae but that's no longer an issue). Still nothing in my parameters is coming down and this is going on two weeks now.

I don't actually care if they grow. the bubble is already big enough. I just thought they should be consuming these elements. I just want them to be healthy. they do look healthy to me. one is even spreading onto the rock on the left side on that disc. the bleaching you see on the one way on the right happened a while back when my calcium dropped down to the low 3's for a period before I noticed. I'm not exactly an expert. I don't even know what some of these corals are called I'm ashamed to say LOL but I am pretty good at keeping the tank clean for the most part.

 

[Patx]

WC ? how often ?
Alk of new water ?

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

WC ? how often ?
Alk of new water ?

if you mean water change i do that about once every two or three weeks. I'll do a 25% change. it's a 29 gallon tank (probably 26 gallons of actual water) so I replace 5 gallons each time. Sorry, I don't understand your second question.

 

[Garf]

tank used to consume maybe 1.5 to 2 ml per day of alk

Has your coralline algae stopped spreading?

 

[Reefer Matt]

I don’t see a need to dose that tank with anything at this time. The water changes should be enough. Not every tank has to be dosed.

 

[gbroadbridge]

so I posted last week about my corals not consuming alk and calcium. Alk is at 11.4 dkh, calcium is 460, mag is 1380. I turned off my auto doser to let the levels come own a bit (not too much) but they aren't budging. I dose all-for-reef which is a specially formulated supplement that doses alk, calcium, mag, and trace elements. Since I'm not dosing now, should I still add trace elements separately, or is the fact that the corals aren't consuming alk and calcium mean they are also not consuming trace elements? The corals are thriving and they look great they just are not growing or building any skeletal structure right now. TIA!

AFR is based on the premise that Trace element consumption is linked to Alk consumption.
If you trust that reasoning then there is no need to separately dose trace elements.

Other systems dose Traces separately based on inputs from tests such as ICP.

Which path you chose to follow is really up to you.

I don't believe that either has yet been proven to be entirely true and I think most of us just dose trace elements based on coral and tank inhabitants health, and whatever makes us feel good.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I think your tank looks very nice, and I agree with others that should be no need to dose anything. I believe that was the consensus on your other thread as well.

Personally I think you should stop overthinking, stop taking advise from LFS staff, do more reading and research, and enjoy your tank.

 

[Garf]

Thank you! I try not to overcrowd with corals, although I see pictures here of tanks that have corals on top of corals so I might add one or two more. I was told that I don't have many corals that build skeletal structure. The thing is, this tank used to consume maybe 1.5 to 2 ml per day of alk. I don't exactly remember how much calcium because I was autodosing and as long as my calc was around 440, I didn't mess with the autodoser. but my tank had a bad algae problem and my corals weren't doing well.

I found a new store that was far more knowledgeable than the one I was going to. They advised me to change my filter from the penguin 350 using just carbon pads to the seachem tidal 55 using chemipure and sera crystal clear balls (they look like cotton balls). That alone cured the algae problem. The tank is really clean. one guy from the store said it might actually be too clean phosphates at .04, nitrates around 5. He said corals like it a little bit dirty. I startd feeding the fish and corals a bit more and also increased my lights by 10% (I had them running at about 60% when I was battling the algae but that's no longer an issue). Still nothing in my parameters is coming down and this is going on two weeks now.

I don't actually care if they grow. the bubble is already big enough. I just thought they should be consuming these elements. I just want them to be healthy. they do look healthy to me. one is even spreading onto the rock on the left side on that disc. the bleaching you see on the one way on the right happened a while back when my calcium dropped down to the low 3's for a period before I noticed. I'm not exactly an expert. I don't even know what some of these corals are called I'm ashamed to say LOL but I am pretty good at keeping the tank clean for the most part.

Zoas look like they are trying to get to the top of the tank. Have you lowered your lights? What is the shrimp eating? No fish?

 

[Miami Reef]

Zoas look like they are trying to get to the top of the tank. Have you lowered your lights? What is the shrimp eating? No fish?

By “lowered” you mean bringing the light fixture closer to the tank (which will raise the intensity) or do you mean lower the intensity?

I think it’s important to clarify, especially for beginners. Our suggestions can have the opposite effect based on how the user interprets the message.

Most LED fixtures can adjust their intensity without needing the move the actual fixture.

 

[Garf]

I would like to know if the lighting has been changed, any info is welcome. I would expect the intensity was too low for them. It may have always been the same however. Pretty sure those Non Photosynthetic Gorgonians have poor ability to deal with algae contamination, so low light intensity would make sense in that case.

By “lowered” you mean bringing the light fixture closer to the tank (which will raise the intensity) or do you mean lower the intensity?

I think it’s important to clarify, especially for beginners. Our suggestions can have the opposite effect based on how the user interprets the message.

Most LED fixtures can adjust their intensity without needing the move the actual fixture.

 

[X-37B]

so I posted last week about my corals not consuming alk and calcium. Alk is at 11.4 dkh, calcium is 460, mag is 1380. I turned off my auto doser to let the levels come own a bit (not too much) but they aren't budging. I dose all-for-reef which is a specially formulated supplement that doses alk, calcium, mag, and trace elements. Since I'm not dosing now, should I still add trace elements separately, or is the fact that the corals aren't consuming alk and calcium mean they are also not consuming trace elements? The corals are thriving and they look great they just are not growing or building any skeletal structure right now. TIA!

Just let the numbers come down to the range you want. You can then start dosing afr again. If it keeps going up again after dosing then reduce the amount of afr.

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

Has your coralline algae stopped spreading?

Not sure. the white rock in the middle has only been in there for a week but everything else has coralline on it.

 

[Noodles_Jefferson]

I think your tank looks very nice, and I agree with others that should be no need to dose anything. I believe that was the consensus on your other thread as well.

Personally I think you should stop overthinking, stop taking advise from LFS staff, do more reading and research, and enjoy your tank.

Yes I know I did make a similar post about generally why this is happening. This one was more specific to whether I should still be adding trace elements while not dosing. I do overthink stuff as my wife always reminds me LOL

 

[Garf]

I do overthink stuff

I see nothing wrong with that as long as it doesn't develope into analysis paralysis, lol