Is there a thread I'm missing where good values of Iron, Iodine, Iodide, etc. are posted? I'm getting several new test kits in today: API's Ca, Salafert's Iodine/Iodide, Iron, Silicate, and their Magnesium/Alkalinity combo and know the parameters for some but not all of them. I'm assuming Silicates should be as low as possible. Also any comments or tips about these test kits would be good. Thanks!

do yourself a favor and dont worry about any of these....monitor alk and calcium, temp and salinity.

monitor magnesium occassionally.

I would def. NOT test Iodine/Iodide, Iron, Silicate...no reason to overwhelm yourself with frankly unnecessary parameters...

any good salt mix will have you taken care of....

if you must though:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Thanks. My motives for checking silicates and iron are my ongoing problem with dinoflagellates. I basically want to know if they are too high and thus feeding my dino problems. I've had a long war with these things and am pulling out all the stops to get rid of them.

The danger when testing during dinoflagellate or nuisance algae outbreaks is that those bacteria/algae are using up the excess nutrients that you're trying to test for, so the test kits make give a false sense that stuff like phosphates are zero when they're not.

What is your feeding schedule? What salt mix and water source are you using?

Humm, that makes sense. Right now I have 2 clown fish, 1 anthelia, a small patch of zoas, a couple small patches of mushrooms, a fair bit of green star polyps, and a few stalks of pom pom xenias. I feed my clown fish once every 2 or 3 days with either flake food or Arctipods only as much as I see them eat, and supplement with just a few drops of Phytofeast and Rotifeast every 3 days.

I am getting my water pre-mixed from my LFS (either Catalina water or from a mix--depends on which store I go to). I don't have an RO/DI system at home so I'm just carting jugs around. I top off with Arrowhead distilled water or a knock-off brand from the grocery store.

I think you should definitely stop dosing the phytofeast and rotifeast with the corals you're keeping. The soft corals you listed are happy with only light and you feeding the fish.

You might want to test your water before using it for a water change. If there are too many nutrients in that, then it's best to only buy RO/DI water and mix it with salt yourself.