marlow1008

Once again, I have a 90 gallon Fish/live rock tank. I recently had a minor bout with Ick with my Powder blue tang (everything has been good for 2 weeks now). The more I read the more scared I get. Therefor, I am looking at more thing to make her environment better. So, I was wondering if anyone uses Trace Eliments. If so, how often? Is it a must, a luxury, or a waste of money? I do bi-weekly water changes (about 15% each time), is this enough to not worry about the lost of eliments, or shouls I step that up?

marlow1008

Well do to so much response , I figured I would update. I am not sure how much the Trace Eliments help the fish, but it sure helped my Cleaner Shrimp. He molted for the first time last night. I am not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but I am a believer, lol.

Oil_Fan

Is there iodine in Trace Elements? I do know that inverts need iodine for molting.

marlow1008

Yes there is Iodine in the Trace, that is one of the reasons I bought it. I don't know if it is to the level the Inverts would like it to be, but it may have been just enought to get my Cleaner to molt.

Mike

If you're doing regular partial water changes you don't really need to supplement with the trace elements. If you're running a protein skimmer, Iodine supposedly is skimmed off quickly and there might be a case to dose iodine in between water changes. Many would disagree with that statement though.

I wouldn't dose anything I couldn't test for and I trust the scientists that make the salt mixes more than myself when it comes to incoporating trace elements into the mix. So regular partial water changes are the way to go in my opinion.

If you have a reef tank full of corals you may need to dose kalkwasser or the two part alkalinity/calcium supplements. But always test your water first.

Mike