Should I add trace elements?

[mlott132]

I recently purchased a chalice frag from my LFS. About a week later the frag had started to bleach out and recede. I went back to my LFS and in talking to them about why this happened they asked me what supplements I am adding. Since all my parameters were ok, Ca=420, Mg=1300, Alk=8.4, I told them that I was not adding anything. They suggested that I start adding a trace element supplement. I thought that my water changes would take care of this. I am using Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Am I correct in thinking that the trace elements will be replenished in my water changes? Just don't want to start adding things that I don't need to.

[TucanSam007]

Your right, your salt mix will be all you need for replenishment. I only dose trace elements when I start slacking on water changes.

[snowcarver75]

From what I heard if you can't test for it, don't dose it. I think chalices don't like a lot of flow or high light so you might want to see if those might be an issue.

[bnumair]

no need to dose trace elements. regular water changes will take care of the trace elements.

[DHyslop]

Your LFS is trying to sell you stuff you don't need! Beware!

[bertoni]

I agree that it's best not to dose trace elements. Our tanks get a lot from the salt and likely from food, as well.

[mlott132]

Glad I asked before I bought. Will a biweekly water change be OK or should I go weekly?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using Tapatalk 2

[chrisneill1987]

i dose trace daily since then i have noticed a huge change in the colour and health of my corals
i use the brightwells trace and the Vit

[bertoni]

People are successful with a wide variety of schedules. Every two weeks should be fine.

[DiscusHeckel]

Whenever I add trace elements, I get cyano on my sand bed even if I dose 1/10th of the recommended dosage. I am now relying on water changes to replenish trace elements.

[Mr. Bill]

Lots of good advice, here... never dose anything unless you can test for it. Some may see benefits short-term, but an OD will kill your tank. Even a monthly WC will keep minor and trace elements replenished.

As also mentioned already, it may be the lighting. Fact is, a lot of corals need to be light-acclimated simply because of the stress from being moved into a different environment.

[mlott132]

As also mentioned already, it may be the lighting. Fact is, a lot of corals need to be light-acclimated simply because of the stress from being moved into a different environment.

That was the same conclusion that I came up with after talking to a couple of my friends that have tanks. Even though I set the frag in the middle of the tank I think that the lights were too bright. Also, it came from a tank that had a combo MH/T5 unit as opposed to my LEDs. After having my own test results confirmed by my LFS, I picked up a couple more frags. This time I set them on the sand partially shaded and will leave them there for a week. Then move them up week by week until they are in their final spot.

[coralsnaked]

More likely placement in the tank and lighting issue w/ a chalice. You are running LED but I have no idea of how intense. Normally I would start at mid-level w/ a chalice and if I'm running intense LED lighting I would move down if bleaching out. Lower intense LED lighting and bleaching out would mean I would move it up. So you'll have to decide which way to go. I would aslo supplement trace elements if skimming heavy or running carbon.

Merry Skerry