what are you dosing after PWC's...

Nope, I do a 50% change weekly in my tanks and don't use any "bacteria" products at all. The bacteria you remove from the water is so small compared to what is on the rocks and in the sand that is shouldn't affect anything. I also don't dose with any of the generic "trace elements" products for several reasons, the main reason being there really isn't a way to test for most of the trace elements so how do you know how much to put back in, and which elements are used up more than others? I figure doing a 50% weekly with a good salt brand will replenish any trace elements anyway.

My regiment is to dose B-Ionic daily, and dose Iodide and Strontium one time mid week between water changes after testing.

General rule of thumb for saltwater is never put anything in the tank you have not tested for ahead of time. Simply reading instructions on a bottle and following them is never a good idea.

02tts said:

does anyone here dose antyhing after a PWC? Since I'm using Red Sea Pro salt which contains trace elemtens, calcium balance, etc...I usually don't dose antyhing other than Trace Elements once every two weeks.

wondering if anyone doses anything to replace things like beneficial bacteria...using something like instant ocena's bio-spira, hagen's cycle, marc weiss's bacter vital, etc....does anyone use any of these products to replenish any beneficial bacteria removed during a PWC of say 20-30%.

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The only things I add after water changes are the automatically dosed 3 part calcium/alkalinity/magnesium supplements. These are dosed 150x daily, regardless of a water change. Beyond that, I may boost the calcium and magnesium levels of the salt I use. I add nothing else, since I don't see any adequate/real reason to do so.

Just out of curiosity Amp, what are your opinions on Iodide and Strontium? These are both recent additions (last 6 months for Iodide and 2 months for Strontium) to my dosing regiment. I have tried other things in the past but never noticed any benefit, but I must say, after dosing both Iodide and strontium I have definately noticed much greater polyp extension on my SPS corals. Growth of my SPS corals have seem to stay consistant though. There isn't a miracle in a bottle type additive to increase SPS growth, just good light and good water parameters is about the best you can shoot for from my experience.

Ok, here is my take on it from two perspectives:

Experiential:
I used them religiously for many years and almost never missed a dose. I began to get lazy about it and stopped altogether after one water change. I never noticed a real difference afterward, even with pictures. I figured that just saved me time and money if I could get the same results. While at times polyp extension can be useful, it isn't always indicative of a good thing. I have seen some killer PE just before some RTN events, as well as after interceptor treatments. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to constantly run interceptor, either.

Chemical/biological: There is no evidence that corals actually need strontium, short of the fact that they incorporate it into their skeleton. Then again, they do the same with uranium, too. If anything, there may be evidence to the opposite--it may actually poison the corals' ability to optimally utilize calcium ions (I'd have to hunt the paper down). The same goes with iodine. The paper that all major companies use to quote the importance of iodine was based on dietary iodine, not soluble iodine. So basically it comes from what the animals get from food. There is also no evidence whatsoever that it benefits crustaceans. It isn't needed for molting, maturation, or anything relating to their exoskeletons. It will, however, cause them to molt more frequently, since it is a physiological response to get rid of excess iodine in the tissues. All the same applies to corals-- no evidence for use, beyond some incorporation. Chemically, iodide doesn't remain in that state when it reaches seawater--it actually speciates into three separate molecules (in ascending concentration)--free iodine I2; iodide ion I-; and iodate ion IO3-. There is currently no test to measure the levels of speciation that occur in aquaria--so you have no control over which form predominates, as well as their ratios. There is also significant evidence that food adds all the soluble and dietary iodine to an aquarium that the inhabitant would ever need (and then some).

The last part, however, I can most certainly agree upon every time--good parameters, light, water motion, and food are the real building blocks we have to work with.

Awesome! Thanks a lot for that info! I always enjoy reading your posts, you are so informative. I have always wondered why PE seems greater when I added Iodide (Seachem Vibrance in my case) but it seems there is a long scientific answer to that and is probably more of a reaction to the iodide rather than a definitive benefit from the information you just posted. Heck, like you said, it could even be an adverse reaction to the additives and just because visually it seems like it is doing something good by the PE, in fact, it may be an adverse reaction that is causing the PE to happen. With the info you posted, it seems there is no way to truely test for different ways that Iodide breaks down in a tank and how each type of molecule hinders or benefits the inhabitants in a reef tank. I may have to stop adding both of those myself and see how it affects my tank. I know it won't harm anything by stopping since I didn't dose those for many years and still had success, it was just one of those things that visually I liked seeing the PE and just assumed that it meant that with greater PE that meant the coral could absorb more food/nutrients from the water. Falls under the "you know what assuming means..." quote I guess. I know better than to assume, but at times we all fall into that trap especially when visually it seems like it is doing something possitive. Thanks again for your insights!

Nothing! I add nothing to my tank water. Not even for my cichlids. They came in dechlor tap water, the LFS raised them in well water and I have the same high quality well-water. They have never known anything else. Yes, they are healthy and yes they reproduce normally, and yes I have quality broods.

Water changes are about 30-50% weekly.