How long has your scrubber been up?

[spideybry]

Hey all, I was just chatting with a friend and we started talking about how my tank is doing etc etc. He loved my system, corals, colors, etc. Then he was blown away when I told him I had only done two significant water changes in the life of the tank (when I added the two frag tanks to my system). I gave him the nuts and bolts of the scrubber and how it works, and he liked all the ideas.

Then "trace elements" came up. This is something I have thought about briefly but never really went deep into it. I know our foods replenish certain "trace elements", but we still need to replenish Ca, Alk, Mg, some Str from what I have read. Is there any possibility of certain "trace elements" being exhausted and causing certain corals to decline?

I really want to hear how long people have been using scrubbers on their reef tanks and perhaps some input into the "trace elements". Maybe it is in the food and I am just thinking too deeply into it.

[SantaMonica]

Ca, Alk, Mg and Str are not trace. They are major.

[spideybry]

That is why I didn't include them in the trace elements. Those we obviously need to replenish. Question still stands as far as "trace elements"

[SantaMonica]

They all come from food, especially nori.

[Garf]

They all come from food, especially nori.

I feed lots of nori and my fish are fat and happy. Just wondering if anyone processes a percentage of the green screen algae (pods included), to feed the tank,and if so, what is the best method.
Does anyone know how much nori/algae would be required to maintain the tank trace levels.

[kerry]

I have been running scrubbers for well over a year now. I dose the major 4 listed plus iodine. I probably fall short on the iodine and Str. With my 40G tank I really chase the Alk!! I only top off now with Kalk for that tank. When my Kalk cannot keep up with the Ca and it gets down to 350 I slowly (about 10-15 days) add calcuim chloride to boost it back to 450-500. I should probably get on a routine and keep the Ca up a little better. Dosing was a real learning curve for me. For the past 15 years of doing salt I always did the weekly water change deal so I didnt worry about dosing due to it was in the salt mix. I never liked all that reactor and skimmer non-sense so I usually had 30 gallon and smaller SW tanks so I had easy water change maintenance. Now all that has changed thanks to SM, I will have my 150G converted to SW in a couple weeks.

[spideybry]

So I wonder if I need to start introducing iodide and str into the tank through dosing. So far I haven't dosed anything. I also need to see what concentrations of Iodide and Str are in nori, which I am currently not feeding.

[kotlec]

I remember, reading some article from Randy Holmes, I found advice not to dose what you cant measure. He also mentioned that Str was in excess, though he never dosed it.

[Garf]

So I wonder if I need to start introducing iodide and str into the tank through dosing. So far I haven't dosed anything. I also need to see what concentrations of Iodide and Str are in nori, which I am currently not feeding.

Nori is good for a tank. You don't necessarily need a herbivor, an omnivor will do. Some people feed long strips of it. I'dont, I cut it into small squares ( approx 3mm ) and all my fish go mad for it. You will be ok for iodine by feeding algae produce.

[gmoney243]

imo and in my tank i dont dose anything but kalk. i just do 10% changes every month and it takes care of all that other stuff. i prefer to try not to dose anything i dont have to id rather do more water changes since salt isnt that expensive.

[Floyd R Turbo]

18 months as of tomorrow, in that time only 2 20% PWCs, not counting having to tear down and move the tank 3 times (which constituted about a 40% PWC each time)

[Ace25]

I guess it depends.. how long have I been running a scrubber? 3 years now, but I am not running the first ATS I made. Had to learn my lesson the hard way on why using a rubbermaid container is very bad for an ATS. (hint: rubbermaid=biopellets).

Personally, I think water changes are the most expensive way to maintain a reef tank, supplements are far cheaper. Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium supplements cost less than a 50G bag of salt from BRS and has lasted me years. It has been over a year since I did a water change on my reef tanks, but I have had to do a lot of them on my breeding tanks lately.

[greenmachine]

about 2 years here, will never go back!

[oildalemonkey]

About 19 months for this 40 breeder. Virtually no water changes, except to add water lost to selling livestock or accidental floods.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Oildalemonkey/CameraZOOM-20120317210216543.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Oildalemonkey/2012-01-29_09-12-36_988.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v473/Oildalemonkey/2012-01-29_09-12-05_340.jpg