Dosing trace elements?

[Taylorhardy1]

Just got finished testing my water, and I'm unsure on what to do about my dosing schedule. Currently dosing alk, cal, and mag, so that's all I felt would be relevant to test right now. Tested each two times to verify with my Red Sea kit. Overall, I feel like I could be much much worse off, although I think alk and cal may be a little high for an sps dominant tank, and mag seems a bit low. Obviously I just need to dose a bit more mag, but ultimately I'm wondering if I should lower my alk and cal dosage, or keep it the same and hope things level out and drop back to ideal levels. overtime? Everything seems happy, growing quickly. Just getting more and more OCD about this stuff everyday... When I first started dosing I tested my water daily until I had alk stable at 9, and cal at 440 for a few weeks then got lazy and haven't checked for the last few weeks.... What would you do in my shoes?

[TheClark]

Great repeatability in your testing, I sure like that.  You must be methodical and precise!

Best to pick what params you want to run, and shoot to keep em rock solid.  If you are happy right now, you could try to hold this right where it is.  Perhaps upping the mag might be a good idea though.

Everyone has an opinion on the right alk/calc values.

It's not bad to test nitrates and phosphates too.

 

[Taylorhardy1]

I used to only test once with everything, then I watched a video on the 20000g reef in New York I believe. Anyways, he brought up how most people will only retest if it's a number they're not happy with. I've tested atleast twice ever since then. Personally I like to test twice to verify my first test was done correctly, then be able to take the average between the two for what I'd imagine is the most realistic values. I'm mostly happy with how things are doing, just wanting to optimize water conditions for the healthiest growth, and have one of those kickass reef tanks I've aspired for since I was a kid haha.