First Water Change Advice

[ryanc1025]

Hey Everyone,

I'm getting prepared to do my first water change in the near future but I have some questions regarding my parameters and the salt I used to set up the tank. I started the tank 5 weeks ago and am cycled. I used Red Sea Coral Pro and have kept salinity at 1.025 SG. Here are my parameters from Sunday. My concern is that the Coral Pro has a high alkalinity and I just now realized my alkalinity has hovered around the 7.2-7.3 range throughout my cycle. Coral Pro shows I should be around 10-11 dkh, what would cause my tanks alk to be so low and will I run into any issues if I use this same salt for a water change?

My 3 LPS frags and live stock (2 clowns, watchmen goby, pistol shrimp, and fire shrimp) are thriving.

1.025 sg
78F
7.3 dkh (hanna tester)
.07 phosphate (hanna tester)
490 calcium (hanna tester)

0 ammonia (api and salifert)
5.0ppm+ nitrites (api)- could be higher, api only tests to 5.
5-10 nitrates (api and salifert)
7.8-8.0 ph (api)

 

[tzabor10]

You are certainly overdue for a water change. Raising kH should be helpful. Get into a consistent routine

 

[ryanc1025]

You are certainly overdue for a water change. Raising kH should be helpful. Get into a consistent routine

I plan on doing a 30 gallon water change. DT is 100 gal, sump is 30 gallons. My only concern is the difference in alk for the salt with the coral pro and what my tank is at. Or should I not worry about that difference?

 

[tzabor10]

You should buy a different salt mix if that is your goal. Your salt is designed to supplement alkalinity for reefers who do not dose

 

[ryanc1025]

You should buy a different salt mix if that is your goal. Your salt is designed to supplement alkalinity for reefers who do not dose

good info! I think i'll be switching to tropic marin pro reef salt. matches my current parameters

 

[tzabor10]

In my experience, salt brands really don’t matter. Unless you have a specific product for a specific purpose

 

[slingfox]

Agreed with @tzabor10 that you should switch salts if you don't like the all level for the RedSea CP. One thing to consider is run your tank at 35 ppm which is 1.0264 SG. This is IMHO easier to track and running at slightly higher salinity means higher concentration of macro, micro, and trace elements. Salt is generally cheaper than the individual elements.

Once your tank is stable you don't need to test for ammonia l, nitrates and calcium every week. I just test for salinity, alk, nitrate and phosphate weekly. I also test magnesium and calcium once in a while but not often since those don't move much nowadays for me.

 

[Lavey29]

I use coral pro salt and my KH stays consistent at 8 to 8.5.