Dosing OTHER major/minor ions and coral growth

[Decadence]

I am not a fan of doing large/frequent water changes like most people do. I ran out of some of my dosing fluids a couple months ago and decided not to replenish them, but rather to observe the tank. In that time, I have not done a water change. All of my major elements have been very well tuned in for the last two months. I tested potassium and iodide/iodate and found them both to be low a few days ago.

 

I added back my potassium, iodine and iron dosers two days ago and since then, my alk has dropped 0.3dkh and calcium has dropped by 12ppm. If it were't for my corals looking awesome, I would think that there was a dosing problem but I honestly believe that they are just growing that much faster. I have also noticed the flesh becoming thicker and green and blue coloration becoming more intense. While all of this has the potential to be circumstantial, I figured actually quantifying results with some measurable data may be at least marginally significant.

 

[Rburgee]

So are you going to run some trials?

[AlanM]

Do you dose into a manifold? What is going on in that picture? It looks really cool.

[Decadence]

So are you going to run some trials?

I have tried different elements for the last two years. I have never been able to give numbers to prove that anything was doing something positive, all I could give is anecdotal evidence of corals looking better. The three elements listed I have always gotten positive results from. I have also tried dosing boron and amino acids with no noticeable results. The iron is less for the colors of my corals and more for accelerated chaeto growth, though I have noticed it start to bring out green pigments in corals which never had them before and the existing greens do look darker. Iodine has always shown me a positive reaction in red and pink corals and it makes the flesh look like it is thicker on all of my SPS corals. Potassium takes away the slight browning a the bases of blue corals and intensifies all of the blues. It also makes birdsnest and pocilopora corals look absolutely amazing.

 

Do you dose into a manifold? What is going on in that picture? It looks really cool.

I have one line going into the aquarium and one line coming out. The line basically go to a tom's aqualifter which pumps water 24/7 and keeps the chemicals from mixing with each other and solidifying. All of the chemicals are on the input line going to the toms pump so that if a dosing tube wears out and bursts, it would suck air in rather than pushing water out.