I have a 14gal bio-cube with nepithea and some mushrooms and soon to get gsp's. I want to start dosing trace elements and I want to test for those trace elements. What should I dose for those corals?

why ?? meaning ... is their a specific reason ??

as long as you keep up with water changes using a good salt mix, you will not have to dose anything. i do not dose my SPS 125 with ANYTHING because i do 50g water changes every week. a good salt mix will keep all of your trace elements where they should be or very close to it.

I understand that, the problem I seem to be having is, when I do a water change and fill up the tank with my salt mix, my salanity shoots up.

are you topping off with saltwater ??

as long as the main tank and new water are the same ... it should not effect the display tank at all.

This is the problem I have been having with the bio-cube. The salanity seems to remain on the high end. The only way I can to a water change is when use ro.

i do not understand.

if you are topping off with saltwater then i see why the salinity is sky rocketing, but other than that ... there is no way it can.

if you top off with saltwater the salinity will rise because only the water evaporates, not the salt in the water. when you add more SALT water ... it is like adding 1.025 to 1.025 without removing any of the old SALT. so that would raise the salinity dramaticly in a nano.

if you top off with straight RO/DI water then you are just keeping the salinity at the same level, because you are not adding salt, but adding water to keep everything balanced. because the salt does not evaporate. when the evaporated water leaves the tank ... it leaves the salt and causes a rise in salinity because there is less water in the tank and the same amount of salt.

i hope that does not sound to confusing.

lol no I am the one who is confusing. Salanity has always been a problem for me. I think the problem is, is that I am not putting in the same amount that I am putting in. Would that cause an elevation in salanity? I do not top off with saltwater, I learned that lesson the hard way.

are you measuring the new water you are adding ?? and getting it as close as possible to the DT ??

yes, if you are adding more than you are taking out ... you will get a rise in salinity. especially in a nano.

Wow I am stupid, why didnt that register before. I have decided to use the prepared saltwater from my lfs. I only change out about a gallon of water. Is that to little?

in a 14g ... i would do about 4-5g per week. dont beat yourself up over it, it happens to all of us at one time or another. we have to learn somehow !! they way you are doing it is like doing a large top off with saltwater. i would suggest investing in a good refractometer and getting a good salt. it will be a little cheaper in the long run. IMO.

Thankyou for your help. I really have been afraid to go near additives, because I wanted to remain somewhat simplistic in my approach.

I do have a refractometer and I thank god I bought it.

no problem, besides being simplistic ... those additives get pretty expensive after a while. if you need any more help shoot me a pm if i miss the post. i am having a pretty hard time keeping up. lol

LOL thanks.

if your dt salanity is high add OR till it hits .025 ish...then do your water change with water that is at .025. If you test your DT before changes and account for lost water your salanity should never change alot. I have never used additives, my inhabitants are great.

Yea thats what I did on this last water change. Thanks for your help :) I am concerned with what salt my lfs uses though, I am going to have to ask.

Many LFS's use IO. If that is the case you will need to do something to supplement Ca if you go into stony corals.