What do you think of my params?

enrique

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Hi, I just made some equipment upgrade but everything in the tank is looking good. It is 8 months old and I have a 120 gal tank with some fish, anemones and few corals. Some of my parameters are not spot on but quite near, should I look to get in the sweet spot or just let them be. For example my calcium is a bit high and my alk a bit low. thanks in advance. here my parameters:

temp = 26.5 C or 80 f
Ph = between 8.00 to 8.10 (it was 8.10 when tested for everythinge lse)
Amonia = 0.25 mg/l
Nitrite = 0.01 mg/l
Nitrates = 5 mg/l
alk = 121 ppm or 6.77 dkh
Calcium = 466 ppm

I use Salifert and Hanna kits

I do not test for Mg nor Iodine and am not dosing at this time anything.
 

DRThompson

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What kind of corals do you have?
What water source are you using for top off (evaporation)?
How often do you do water changes? How much do you change? Do you make the saltwater or get it from the Ocean?

Your alk is low, if you have stoney corals you should increase alk and measure Mg.
What are your phosphates?

Most importantly, how does your tank look?
Got any pictures?
 

mike007

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I would be concerned about the ammonia.
 
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enrique

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I dont know the name of all my corals but the stony ones are, a bubble coral, a torch euphylia, 2 hammer euphylia. on soft, some muchrooms, 2 silunarias, green polyp, and thats it.
It is always topped off with RO/DI using Tunze Osmolator so salinity it is pretty stable at 1.025 1.026 (with refractometer and always calibrated)
I do 10% weekly and if I skip one I do 20% the next one.
I use normal Red sea salt and RO/Di water with 0 TDS.
Phosphates are low but its been a while since I measured. I haven't measured cause i'm having less algae. An it is always in the sump.
My tank looks good
photo 1 (1).jpg
photo 2 (1).jpg
photo 3 (1).jpg
photo 4 (1).jpg
photo 5 (1).jpg
 
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enrique

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yes and it has been always 0 but this pike is due to too many new additions at the same time i think. :(
 

DRThompson

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Tank looks great!
Agreed that ammonia should be undetectable, maybe it's just your test kit.

I would try to raise up the alk to 8-9 (slowly) and test for Mg. Your corals (LPS) will thank you ;)
 
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enrique

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if the reactor powder of the test has solidified it means its gone bad? the one on my ammonia kit has solidified
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I don't know what solidification of the power may mean for the kit.

If it still reads that high tomorrow, or higher, I'd consider adding an ammonia binder such as Amquel or Prime.
 
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enrique

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I live in Peru, and I cant get that down here. Would you recommend a water change? of how much 20% - 50%?
 

mike007

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Can you have someone else test your water? I think that your test kit may have gone bad but you need to double check that ammonia level for sure.
 
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enrique

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my salifert test goes form white = 0 to yellowish = 0.25 I tested again and it was more white than yellowish :S hardly you could see any yellow, this means I have 0 ammonia?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I don't recall what the color card says exactly, so I can't really say, but that the ammonia is substantially less than 0.25 ppm seems a reasonable conclusion if you have less yellow than the lowest color at 0.25 ppm. :)
 
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enrique

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So my tank crashed! :(

Not due to chemistry though, I think. I was dealing with ich but then a slimy white stuff took over my fish. They started with this whitey stuff and from one day to the other the fish started to die on me, one per day then 2 and today there were 3 down. I had 0 loses on 8 months and know form 14 fish I am back to 6. Corals look good and my params yesterday where:

temp = 26.5 C or 80 f
Ph = between 8.00 to 8.10 (it was 8.15 when tested for everything else)
Amonia = 0. mg/l
Nitrite = 0.01 mg/l
Nitrates = 10 mg/l
alk = 131 ppm or 7.33 dkh
Phosphates: 0

Today I made a 25% water change lets hope no one else goes down.

Any inputs would be appreciated.

To the newbies, please cuarantine your fish!!! I had to learn the hard way :(
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Wow, sorry to hear that. :(

I'm not an expert on fish diseases to really give much advice there, but the water seems OK.

Did you recently add any?
 

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