crucial elements?

[markak15]

i'm relatively new here...but I've been at the saltwater thing for almost a year now. I have a 20 gal and in the beginning, I was testing the water almost weekly for nitrates, ammonia, pH, etc. etc. Now, I just do a weekly water change, never check anything and the tank looks great and is very stable.
The soft corals I have in there (xenia, yellow polyps) are happy and healthy, but they're not growing a ton. I usually add iodine but that's it. If I want to give my tank a boost, but not spend $100 on various Salifert test kits and have to test the water every week, what should I add? I know the LFS has this molybdenum, strontium supplement...will that actually do anything for softies? Can I add calcium or is that dangerous if I'm not testing for it?

[tims]

Actually if your not testing at all dont add anything!
when you do a water change, you add trace elements back to your tank that may have been depleted. I wuld stop adding iodine if you dont test for it. too much can be damaging to the tank.
i really would spend the money for a good test kit, make sure your parameters are on the ball.
growth of the corals is many things, lights, trace elements , ph, heat. flow,...
there is no miricle sup. for the tank...

[tdwyatt]

I dont use any supplements short of food and vits and kalk or Ca-reactor, with every 2 week water changes between 15 and 20%.


Since about 1993 I haven't used ANY supplements outside what is provided in the water changes at all. Pprior to that I was making some of the ASW mix and did some select supplementation by empiric methods (no testing... ), but found that IO provided what I wanted in the mix from the manufacturer. I haven't supplemented since.

See this thread starting around post 5 for info on Iodine supplementation and testing in general

[Loverotties]

I'm like Tom and I agree with Tim"if your not testing for it don't add it!"