Elements????????

[scootingblenny]

ok, this has got me all confused. i think im almost ready to get my first shroom or polyp of some sort so i think its about time that i truly understand whats going on. ive read alot of things that say something about magnisium, iodine, and other stuff. theres also calcium to test for and all this stuff has got me all confused . so my question is, WHAT ELEMENTS AND COMPOUNDS ARE IN A REEF, such as magnesium or iodine and calcium, THAT I WILL NEED TO TEST FOR AND POSSIBLY SUPPLEMENT OR ADD TO MY TANK, AND WILL DETERMINE THE HEALTH OF MY FUTURE CORALS, SHROOMS, ETC. it would also help if you could state whether the element or compund is good and needed by the corals or if they will hurt the corals and should be avoided. thanks

[titanfan]

Honestly for where you are in your reefing I would not worry about dosing elements. They are called trace elements for a reason. If you are doing regular water changes that will replace any if little used trace elements. Calcium is maybe the only one you need to worry about any time soon and thats just for coraline growth. The hard corals and LPS corals use calcium to build their skeletons without those corals no real need to dose yet. I try to do as little messing with the chemistry of my water as I can. Alot of times more harm can come from good. If you want to give something a try I would do some research on kalkwasser.

Here is some info on the elements:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/sea.../aa012003b.htm

[volitanking]

my only reef tank is a 10g and i add kent trace elements, kent coral-vite, kent liquid calcium, and kent pro buffer DKH. i test for NI/NA, CA,PH,ALK,AMM,i have all soft corals and a newly added candycane lps ive had no problems and do a 10% water change once a week.everything is healthy!!!

[scootingblenny]

thanks for the help and link!