Describe situations where you chased #s in lue of using your eyes to see the effects on corals

[ZoWhat]

I'm starting to become a Hobbyist chasing #s. And I don't know how I feel about it....

Do I really care if po4 is 0.4 instead of 0.1 yet my corals are rockin' ?

The age-old thought process struggle: if my corals are rockin' at this #, then they'll REALLY BE ROCKIN' at this better #

Grass is always greener, OVER THERE! Urgh!

Describe situations where you chased #s in lue of using your eyes to see the effects on corals

What #s do you tend to chase?
pH
PO4
NO3
Calc
Mag
Alk
SG
Temp
Others?

.

 

[Wasabiroot]

I would generally agree with that approach. As a newer reefer, it's slightly harder to keep parameters where I want them exactly anyways. I think Alk and salinity are the two that are worth chasing as their stability has a huge impact on reef happiness and chasing an alk number is probably the best way to make my corals feel stable. The rest I just test weekly and make adjustments as needed.

 

[X-37B]

Honestly, I do not chase numbers.
I do have a range that I like to keep all parameters in and focus on keeping them their.
As an example my range of no3 is <5. It went to 20 as I increased fish and feedings. No real issues at 20 but I did upgrade my skimmer and no3 is now back to <5.
Same with po4 as I like to keep it at <0.1. My colors are noticably better in that range. Po4 slowly got as high as 0.3+ from feeding 15 fish 8+ cubes a day. I upgraded my media reactor and that brought it down to the <0.1 range.
I just setup a 30 gal remote fuge with the goal of reducing/eliminating po4 reducing agents.
In the end many chase numbers because they did not have a plan on how to keep them in range from day one, imo.

 

[jfoahs04]

In my new setup, I chased alkalinity numbers for the first two months. I'm using natural sea water that I collect locally and the alkalinity is about 7dkh whereas the "ideal" for a reef is 8-12dkh.

My coral was fine at 7 and my goal was to let the natural seawater do its thing, so I quit dosing. Coral looks great and I'm not looking back. When the tank matures and starts consuming elements a bit more, I'll dose to maintain the NSW levels, but for now I'm not touching anything.

 

[Nano Chris]

I would more or less focus on temp & salinity temp can change but not drastically, salinity 1.025-1.026 everyone’s tank is not the same so what goes good for others might not be the best fit for you.

 

[Dburr1014]

I was a po4 and a no3 chaser 8/9 months ago trying desperately to get the numbers right. This is the time my dinos were moving in to every nook and cranny they could find. I didn't realize at the time that every vial of salt water I took out, rodi was replacing it. My salt creeped down to 1.021 and the corals were suffering. My sunset Monti was completely white. I never did get the numbers right at the same time. It was always 1 was good or the other.
Anyway, fixed the salt, gave up chasing numbers and battled dinos. Now my tank looks much better. Po4 is probably low (havent tested it in a while but it usually tested at 0) and no3 is probably high. One point it was 20.
This pic was August as it was recovering from all white.

 

[Miami Reef]

Do I really care if po4 is 0.4 instead of 0.1 yet my corals are rockin' ?

I thought you said your zoas didn’t grow how they used to?

Hmmm….

If corals are rockin’; change nothin’! Lol. Yes, I came up with that myself.

I’m a big proponent on keeping parameters in a range rather than a specific number. Not even the oceans can agree on the “best” number in parameters.

Ph: 8.0-8.3
Salinity 1.025-1.027
Phosphates 0.03-0.12
Nitrates 5-10
Alkalinity 9-11
Calcium 420-480
Magnesium 1300-1400
Temp 76-81

Notice how there isn’t a specific number that I strive for? I obviously don’t let it swing, but I won’t make changes if the numbers in range.

 

[flashsmith]

None. It's impossible to replicate nature in your living room. As long as they are within the "accepted" ranges whether they be on the low end or high end I'm ok with that. If my Duncan's are open then I know there's nothing to be concerned about. That's the only reason I have them in both of my systems.

 

[StewL6]

We all chase numbers. Peroid.