Water Parameters

[da6d2003]

A knop is my old school Ca reactor.

At what point will it precip?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Here's what started my question. My display tank is backwards. I haven't tested to ca for years and a buddy of mine commented on my sarco looking mad. He said to test my Ca. It was off the chart using an old saltifert test. I bought a new Seachem test kit and yep it tested 500+. eek! I haven't adjusted my knop in forever. (it's now off and will be restarted when things settle down.) That will teach me to be complacent. Everything else tested fine until I tested Alk which was fairly low. I've spent the last 2 weeks bringing levels to where they should be and did a big water change this weekend.

There, I admitted my short comings and feel much better.

I still love you!

It precipates at the point that alk drops in relation to the ca level, and ph falls through the floor... the wider the gap between the alk (low) and ca (high) levels, the more likely it is to precipitate, ime...


Laurie

 

[JGoslee]

I test Alk, Ca, and Mg twice a week. I check my salinity every other day. I'm very anal about my parameters.

 

[aquarius77]

When i had a grip on things and was doing regular water changes i tested quite often, alk,cal,mag,pH and salinity. but after a while i had it figured out and the tests always came back the same with just using kalk and water changes.
I was blowing through salt like it was nobodys business and decided i was most likely not doing me much good since my trates are always 0. I laid off the water changes and testing as well, my stonies exploded with growth and within a month i was days away from crashing the tank. My alk was 6 dkh, cal and mag were out of wack by that point as well and my ph was 8.6 from dosing so much kalk. I have been working for the last month to slowly get my parameters back where i want them, i test every couple of days now.

 

[Hypertek99]

I only test for Salinity when i change the water.

 

[cee]

Missed strontium and potassium, two moderately important ones for SPS.

 

[coral88]

In everyones expert opinion what are ideal parameters.

 

[Pufferpunk]

I have been testing my alk & Ca much more often, since dosing with Vitamin C. The alk swung down a bit, using the unbuffered tabs & then I overcorrected it with buffer. So now that's where I want it to be, I might wait a few days to test again just to be sure & them maybe every other week. My Ca has been much more demanding since the VC, because my corals are growing so much faster. I trippled my dose. I probably only test for mg about every 2 months & pH about as 1/2 as often as alk. I check the SG of the bag with the new fish/corals I get & compare it to the tanks they are going into.

I have 2 tanks that only have HOB fuges & skimmers & can get higher nitrate, if I don't keep an eye on them but my main tank is always the same--praticallly undetectable now that I've been using the VC.

 

[Burks]

Currently I am only testing for nitrate, pH, and salinity.

Nitrate - 0
pH - 8.4
Salinity - 1.026 (refracometer)

 

[Russellaqua]

I probably do more testing than the average person because of my commercial holding tanks. I keep salinity at the seawater standard of 35 ppt. I also test for nitrate, calcium, alkalinity, and pH. I don't worry about ammonia and nitrite unless I know something has gone wrong. Because stock is always coming in and going out I never quite know exactly how my system will react so I have to keep an eye on calcium and alk.

 

[ZOABOY]

Ph, alk, slin, cal...

 

[oceanparadise1]

ph,alk,slin,cal,nitrate, and anything else i might add, i never add with out testing first

 

[Nate82]

i don't test unless something is wrong, the one time i've tested my water was perfect, but i test salinity quite often with a refractometer b/c of evap

 

[revhtree]

Bump for new members!

 

[ahayes13]

right now i test magnesium everday as im trying to raise it. and i test calc and alk every other day. i also test phos a couple days a week since putting in the phos reactor to see how its working.
everything else i test every two weeks before i do the water changes

 

[Garth Schafluetzel]

alk cal salinity phosphate and notrate

 

[Lytehouse]

I test salinity,alk, cal, mag in change water

Test salinity, alk, cal, mag weekly in tank

With good test kits, just doesn't take long.

 

[Dihydrogen Monoxide]

Ca++, Alk, S.g., PO4---, Mg++.

Calcium and Alkalinity precipitate at a point where Supersaturated Calcium and Carbonate/Bicarbonate, and pH is extremely relevant are at a point where the abiotically bind and form a solid. The levels where that happens are all dependant on Temperature, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Calcium, are going to be the major contributors to the precip. of CaCO3.

H2O

 

[gparr]

On the rare occasions that I do any testing, it's usually for Ca, alkalinity, Mg. I can usually tell by looking at the corals if something is amiss. The other day, out of sheer curiosity, I ran the first nitrate test I've run in years. Nitrate was undetectable. This thread reminds me that I haven't checked salinity in such a long time I probably should dust off the refractometer.
Gary

 

[bellareef]

+1 Alk, SG, Ca, PO4, Mg