Help me set parameters

[Wildreefs]

150 gallon tank, running by since October.

phosphates we’re sky high initially, I imagine the rock I used had been leaching out. About 6 weeks ago measured 2.5 plus on Hanna (high as it reads) between chaeto, water changes, lananthum chloride and gfo, have it down to .3 to .4.

nitrates seem to be around the 20-30 mark, should be coming down with chaeto.

high fish load. 1 gen 4 xr30, 3 xr15s using the wwc sps light cycle, 12pm to 12am. T5 hybrid fixtures, t5s come on from 3-8. Lights about 9 inches above water level, running at 42 percent ( I know it needs to come higher, working my way up)

alk is between 7 and 7.5 thanks to lananthum chloride.

Want to be acro dominated, have a couple in there now. Given the nutrients, it sill
Never be .03 p04, 5 nitrate I’m guessing due to fish load, what should I do with alk and lighting? Raise them both? If so, to where?

thanks in advance

 

[MACHO]

what are your par readings? also i keep alk around 9

 

[Dburr1014]

150 gallon tank, running by since October.

phosphates we’re sky high initially, I imagine the rock I used had been leaching out. About 6 weeks ago measured 2.5 plus on Hanna (high as it reads) between chaeto, water changes, lananthum chloride and gfo, have it down to .3 to .4.

nitrates seem to be around the 20-30 mark, should be coming down with chaeto.

high fish load. 1 gen 4 xr30, 3 xr15s using the wwc sps light cycle, 12pm to 12am. T5 hybrid fixtures, t5s come on from 3-8. Lights about 9 inches above water level, running at 42 percent ( I know it needs to come higher, working my way up)

alk is between 7 and 7.5 thanks to lananthum chloride.

Want to be acro dominated, have a couple in there now. Given the nutrients, it sill
Never be .03 p04, 5 nitrate I’m guessing due to fish load, what should I do with alk and lighting? Raise them both? If so, to where?

thanks in advance

Alk is where you want it to be.
I try to stay in the 8 to 8.5 range.
Having said that it will also depend on nutrients. Yours being high, you can go higher with alk. If nutrients were lower, you want to stay on the lower end with alk.
All in all, I think most people that keep sps are between 7.5 to 10.

Now your lights. Do you know the par? Do you have access to a par meter?
You can up them safely 3 to 5% weekly. To be safe, as you get higher, go slower.

 

[ScottB]

Wait it all out. Live rock start to 12 months. Dead rock start 18 or so. Buy cheap SPS either way and see how they do.

 

[Wildreefs]

Wait it all out. Live rock start to 12 months. Dead rock start 18 or so. Buy cheap SPS either way and see how they do.

80 percent of the rock was dry until 3-4 months ago. The other 20 percent came from a frag tank I had running for about 3 years. Didn’t dry out, once this new tank was ready temp and salinity wise, i carried the rock over from the frag tank to this tank in less than a minute . Not sure if that plays a role or not

 

[ScottB]

80 percent of the rock was dry until 3-4 months ago. The other 20 percent came from a frag tank I had running for about 3 years. Didn’t dry out, once this new tank was ready temp and salinity wise, i carried the rock over from the frag tank to this tank in less than a minute . Not sure if that plays a role or not

20% is certainly better than sterile for sure. As to "ideal" parameters there are many ways to go about it and succeed. I keep ALK 7.5-8.5, nitrates 5-15 and PO4 around .1.

It is fine to run lower nutrients SO LONG AS you are feeding hard and regularly and keep a lot of fish. That way, there is a constant drip of ammonia from the fish and some available phosphate.