Magnesium, Strontium, Iodine, Trace Elements

[stanleo]

I am about to put Avery demanding maxima clam in my 55gl and I haven't tested these before. My calcium is 500ppm and dKH is 9. I know that the calcium is high but from research I learned that a higher concentration does no harm to the animals and does no good either. And that 350 to 450 is ideal.

I know the salt mix i use with ro water adds magnesium,iodine and strontium and calcium but the skimmer is designed to take at least iodine in many forms out of the water which to my mind is not good at all.

When I go t the LFS tomorrow for some special clam food and maybe a feather duster if I can talk myself into spending the money on one more life form, I'm going to see how much the test kits cost and if you guys say they are important I will get them.

The rest of my stocking is 4 nessarius snails, about twenty hermitcrabs, 5 turbo snails, 2 leather toadstool corals ( one is quite large), Duncan coral, green star polyps that are spreading, pincushion urchin, also there are an unknown species of small starfish that seem to breed and eat algae. There 30 of them now and keep multiplying. I can provide a pic if you like. There is also a clownfish, green chromis, six line wrasse, pj cardinal and 2 yellow tail damsels. Everything seems to be thriving which is why I am attempting this.

Anyway, I'm always reluctant to buy something I don't need but it's my responsibility to provide the best possible home I can and this is a last ditch effect to get as much info that I can. So anything you can tell me, good or bad will be helpful. Thanks

 

[ech0o]

I dose iodine, strontium and molybdenum, on a daily basis, as I have a fairly small system and TONS of soft corals/zoas/palys, several large colonies and TONS of frags.  I know by taking my water to a friend for testing, that those elements are the fastest to be drained from my system, and that most of the other elements are fine between water changes to replenish.   Not sure how much of a difference a single clam will make to element consumption, but i would get your water tested right before your normal water change, and see what those levels are.

 

[Chad]

Regular water changes will likely be enough to replace these elements in the tank. I don't dose anything in my reef. I test and when the elements are low I simply do a water change to replace them. Obviously in a very heavily SPS tank there's a need for dosing between water changes but I've got a mixed reef.
 
A single clam can reduce the calcium in the tank depending on the tank size. If your calcium is at 500 put that at too high. Ideally you are looking for 380-450 in your tank. Typical for reef areas in the ocean is 420 so if you can maintain around that you're doing well. 
 
As always anything you dose needs to be tested for, otherwise don't dose it.

 

[stanleo]

This new LFS I found tested my water for using Salifert kits and these were the results.

Nitrates 5ppm
Phosphates 0
Calcium 500
Alkalinity 7.7 (my API kit said 9)
Magnesium 1400

Thanks for the tips guys, I now understand it a little better. My salinity was at 1.030!!! I was using a swing arm that was way off. I have a refractometer now and I got a Red Sea test kit for Mg and got the same result they did.

PS I really like your tank pic in your sig Tcamos!

 

[Chad]

Thanks, that tank is my 210 gallon tank. It has two sumps so the total volume is 250 gallons.
 
For salinity you have some choices. If you are going to keep a reef I do recommend keeping it at 1.025 consistently. If you are going to do fish only you can save some money on salt mix by doing 1.018. 
 
I recommend this article http/reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php for target water parameters. 

 

[ech0o]

is that why the fish stores test SO LOW on salinity?