I do weekly water changes to keep nutrients low should I stop?

[FlameangelLover]

Here are my levels and I wonder if I need to stop doing weekly water changes so I can lower my calcium intake

Calcium 544
Po4 0.15
Nitrate 0.9 PPM
Magnesium 1335
ALK 8.9

I use to dose all for reef but I stopped like a month or two ago. Corals look great besides my maybe 1 or 2

 

[Gone Reefin’]

I’m a bit confused on the part about lowering calcium intake. I don’t think reducing water changes will reduce intake. It may increase intake by having more nutrients available, but that is dependent on many other factors. Based on low nitrates, I do believe reducing your water changes is a fine plan.

 

[rayadog]

Do want more nitrates?

 

[FlameangelLover]

I’m a bit confused on the part about lowering calcium intake. I don’t think reducing water changes will reduce intake. It may increase intake by having more nutrients available, but that is dependent on many other factors. Based on low nitrates, I do believe reducing your water changes is a fine plan.

It was me typing to fats lol. What I meant was I have to much calcium and I want to take some out naturally

 

[FlameangelLover]

Do want more nitrates?

I do t think so lol should I?

 

[Gone Reefin’]

I think a small increase would be desirable. This would reduce the likelihood of bottoming out. Your PO4 is in the sweet spot, nitrates could increase to 4 or 5 and I don’t believe you would see any negative effects.

 

[Kodski]

I think you might be missing a few things.

Dosing is what adds Calcium, Alk, and Magnesium, not water changes.

Water changes *should* actually help lower calcium, not raise it. I say should because it may vary depending on your salt mix. What salt mix are you using?

Without water changes, I'm sure you'll find your nutrients will begin to raise and its very likely you'll start to see increased algae growth due to this.

You said you've already stopped dosing, I would continue to do your weekly water changes, hold of on dosing for now until your major Elements start dropping below the levels you want to keep. Once that happens, start dosing again but small amounts until you find your balancing dosage.

 

[FlameangelLover]

I think you might be missing a few things.

Dosing is what adds Calcium, Alk, and Magnesium, not water changes.

Water changes *should* actually help lower calcium, not raise it. I say should because it may vary depending on your salt mix. What salt mix are you using?

Without water changes, I'm sure you'll find your nutrients will begin to raise and its very likely you'll start to see increased algae growth due to this.

You said you've already stopped dosing, I would continue to do your weekly water changes, hold of on dosing for now until your major Elements start dropping below the levels you want to keep. Once that happens, start dosing again but small amounts until you find your balancing dosage.

Yes I use to dose once a week for alk only. I have a 40 gallon breeder and I do 5 gallons buckets of water changes weekly. Using reef crystals. Every Wednesday I dose alk. From listening to you and others I think I Will continue to do weekly water changes but DONT DOSE ANYTHING. And let that play out for a week or two and see how things go. Luckily my tank has never looked better !! But sadly some of my sps look really bad but my favorite coral looks great !
View attachment 20260125_152756_8CF949B0-A107-422E-BE7A-888B86B4281F.mov

 

[rayadog]

A touch of nitrates could be an additional pro

 

[FlameangelLover]

A touch of nitrates could be an additional pro

What would that help if you don’t mind me asking

 

[rayadog]

Allegedly helps color and growth. But as long as it’s not bottomed out

 

[Kodski]

Yes I use to dose once a week for alk only. I have a 40 gallon breeder and I do 5 gallons buckets of water changes weekly. Using reef crystals. Every Wednesday I dose alk. From listening to you and others I think I Will continue to do weekly water changes but DONT DOSE ANYTHING. And let that play out for a week or two and see how things go. Luckily my tank has never looked better !! But sadly some of my sps look really bad but my favorite coral looks great !

What are you dosing for ALK? You said in your original post that you used to dose AFR but stopped. What are you using now?

As far as raising nitrates. Don't listen to that. Not to be rude, but its not helpful advise for you. Once you start chasing numbers problems will continually occur and you'll get frustrated. Focus on keeping phosphate levels low and within your target range. Nitrates will be what they are and unless they are 0ppm I wouldn't think twice about them. Avoid over complicating things and your tank will continue to grow. Corals don't care a lick if nitrates are 5ppm or 15 ppm. I don't believe that there is any evidence that color is affected by nitrates. You're clearly a newer reefer (not meant to be a dig or put down, just a fact) and your focus shouldn't be coral coloration right now. Rather, you need to focus on understanding how nutrient and element export and import work hand in hand for the overall health of your tank. Once you understand and practice those concepts, that is the time where you can begin to experiment with nutrient and element levels to tweak color and growth rates. You can't play Shadow of Puppets on guitar until you learn the basic cords, reefing is no different.

TDLR: Focus on basics right now, don't chase numbers, chase a target range for each element.

 

[Kodski]

Allegedly helps color and growth. But as long as it’s not bottomed out

I don't see a reason to give out advice to a newer reefer if you yourself don't full understand the scope of what you're saying. While nitrates can and do play a role in our corals, throwing out advice to a newer reefer like raise your nitrates without any good reason other than an "allegedly" isn't helpful to them. It will only cause confusion and misinterpretation of what their goals and next steps should be. Please think of the recipient of the advice you give before you give it and tailor it to them specifically.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

What are you dosing for ALK? You said in your original post that you used to dose AFR but stopped. What are you using now?

As far as raising nitrates. Don't listen to that. Not to be rude, but its not helpful advise for you. Once you start chasing numbers problems will continually occur and you'll get frustrated. Focus on keeping phosphate levels low and within your target range. Nitrates will be what they are and unless they are 0ppm I wouldn't think twice about them. Avoid over complicating things and your tank will continue to grow. Corals don't care a lick if nitrates are 5ppm or 15 ppm. I don't believe that there is any evidence that color is affected by nitrates. You're clearly a newer reefer (not meant to be a dig or put down, just a fact) and your focus shouldn't be coral coloration right now. Rather, you need to focus on understanding how nutrient and element export and import work hand in hand for the overall health of your tank. Once you understand and practice those concepts, that is the time where you can begin to experiment with nutrient and element levels to tweak color and growth rates. You can't play Shadow of Puppets on guitar until you learn the basic cords, reefing is no different.

TDLR: Focus on basics right now, don't chase numbers, chase a target range for each element.

Just curious why you feel it is important to chase phosphate? You indicate that is where the focus should be.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

I don't see a reason to give out advice to a newer reefer if you yourself don't full understand the scope of what you're saying. While nitrates can and do play a role in our corals, throwing out advice to a newer reefer like raise your nitrates without any good reason other than an "allegedly" isn't helpful to them. It will only cause confusion and misinterpretation of what their goals and next steps should be. Please think of the recipient of the advice you give before you give it and tailor it to them specifically.

The advice you are debating is to avoid bottoming out. This is great advice.

 

[FlameangelLover]

Yes I use to dose once a week for alk only. I have a 40 gallon breeder and I do 5 gallons buckets of water changes weekly. Using reef crystals. Every Wednesday I dose alk. From listening to you and others I think I Will continue to do weekly water changes but DONT DOSE ANYTHING. And let that play out for a week or two and see how things go. Luckily my tank has never looked better !! But sadly some of my sps look really bad but my favorite coral looks great !

What are you dosing for ALK? You said in your original post that you used to dose AFR but stopped. What are you using now?

As far as raising nitrates. Don't listen to that. Not to be rude, but its not helpful advise for you. Once you start chasing numbers problems will continually occur and you'll get frustrated. Focus on keeping phosphate levels low and within your target range. Nitrates will be what they are and unless they are 0ppm I wouldn't think twice about them. Avoid over complicating things and your tank will continue to grow. Corals don't care a lick if nitrates are 5ppm or 15 ppm. I don't believe that there is any evidence that color is affected by nitrates. You're clearly a newer reefer (not meant to be a dig or put down, just a fact) and your focus shouldn't be coral coloration right now. Rather, you need to focus on understanding how nutrient and element export and import work hand in hand for the overall health of your tank. Once you understand and practice those concepts, that is the time where you can begin to experiment with nutrient and element levels to tweak color and growth rates. You can't play Shadow of Puppets on guitar until you learn the basic cords, reefing is no different.

TDLR: Focus on basics right now, don't chase numbers, chase a target range for each element.

Will do! And yes I use sodium carbonate once a week for ALK!

Maybe you’re right and I should just do weekly water changes and watch my tank to see if anything goes wrong . Don’t do anything else

 

[rayadog]

I don't see a reason to give out advice to a newer reefer if you yourself don't full understand the scope of what you're saying. While nitrates can and do play a role in our corals, throwing out advice to a newer reefer like raise your nitrates without any good reason other than an "allegedly" isn't helpful to them. It will only cause confusion and misinterpretation of what their goals and next steps should be. Please think of the recipient of the advice you give before you give it and tailor it to them specifically.

Lol I just don’t like to speak matter of factly when I shouldn’t. Some ulns are as richly successful as those who run nitrates in 5-15. Maybe allegedly was the wrong word, as there is proof. What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

[19Mateo83]

Your nitrates will increase in time as your tank matures. Honestly, nitrates really don’t hurt anything as long as they aren’t overly high, like over 50. Stability is the key and as long as your system looks healthy I wouldn’t worry about chasing numbers. You just don’t want 0 nitrates. My system wants to run with nitrates in the 30s to 40s and phosphate around .3-.5, no issues and happy corals. I rarely do water changes, probably once every few months but I do skim wet.

 

[Gone Reefin’]

Will do! And yes I use sodium carbonate once a week for ALK!

Maybe you’re right and I should just do weekly water changes and watch my tank to see if anything goes wrong . Don’t do anything else

I think this is also a fine plan. Sorry to take you off track with my comments on nitrate. It is generally accepted that bottoming any nutrient to zero is a bad idea and 0.9 is getting close to testing error.

None of this however helps with your original question about calcium. I would confirm your levels with additional testing, as levels north of 500 when not dosing for a month plus is a bit suspect, but may also be valid. Either way, I don’t see this level as detrimental even if valid.

 

[Kodski]

Just curious why you feel it is important to chase phosphate? You indicate that is where the focus should be.

For a beginner reefer yes. Please remember when advice is given it shouldn’t just be regurgitated social thoughts. When you stop to consider each generalization is dependent on a long list of variable factors within reef keeping, how can we just blanket statement and generalize advice for new reeders? More experienced reef keeps know and understand that each piece of advice comes with its own nuances and can determine if it’s advice that fits and supports our goals or not. It’s incredibly difficult for new reefers to do this. The advice we give should be tailored to each situation and each persons needs and knowledge base.

My opinion on nutrient levels are this. If there is phosphate in the tank then there has to be nitrates. This is a part of the nitrogen cycle, you can’t have one without the other unless all your bacteria died off. Phosphates are the end of the bacterial process portion of the cycle and tend to build up the most. Elevated phosphate levels also have the most risk when compared to nitrates. Phosphates are a poison to corals and directly inhibit their metabolic processes. You’ll see beautiful long term successful tanks with 30-40ppm nitrates and you’ll see others with 0ppm nitrates. What you won’t see, is beautiful long term successful with tank that have 0.2ppm phosphates and above. So I think you can say arguably there are more points that lead you to believe phosphate levels are more important than nitrate levels.

The advice you are debating is to avoid bottoming out. This is great advice.

That’s not the advice I’m debating. The advice was to raise Nitrates while they are already above 0. I’m simply saying reefing is complicated enough for new reefers, let’s simplify it, keep things factual and address only the issues at hand and not create issues that don’t exist at this point.

Lol I just don’t like to speak matter of factly when I shouldn’t. Some ulns are as richly successful as those who run nitrates in 5-15. Maybe allegedly was the wrong word, as there is proof. What are your thoughts on the subject?

But that’s my point, a new reefer is only going to be confused and misguided by non factual and opinion based advice. They don’t have the experience needed to take advice and pick it apart to see if it works for their situation and goals. I didn’t say a higher nitrate level would be harmful, I said it’s not something we need to put into this newer reefers head as there’s not reason to raise or lower their nitrate levels. Right now, their focus should be to successfully maintain what they perceive as a successful tank. Not to experiment with things to get slightly better growth or color when just to maintain a reef tank to their perception of a successful status is a difficult enough task.

As far as proof, there is no scientific proof nitrate levels do anything for coral growth rate and coloration. Anecdotal, yeah you could make some arguments, but factual none that I’m aware of or seen. If there is, please share, I’m always wanting to learn more about this. I will gladly eat my words at a chance to learn, I don’t know everything after all.

Factually, nitrates are part of the nitrogen cycle. If phosphate is continually rising then nitrates have to be present. Even packed full of coral, a 40 gallon tank only has so much biological uptake capacity, So I have zero fear OP will bottom out their nitrates. Also factually, nitrate and phosphate are up taken at an exact ratio (16:1 N:P) referred to as the Redfield ratio. If you look at OP's levels you can start to see that if the tank hypothetically used all the nitrates, there would still be a lot of phosphate left over. In this case, that would indicate that phosphates are not being created or exported at an equal rate to nitrogen and thus we have an excess of phosphates. Since, nitrates come before phosphates in the nitrogen cycle, if we begin to raise them, it would also mean that phosphates will raise too. This will create a larger issue long term than just leaving nitrates where they are. Reducing nitrates will also systematically reduce phosphates, but that isn't something we want either, as you pointed out, bottoming out nitrates can become a concern. Logically, if you shouldn't recommend raising or lowering nitrates, I would recommend leaving them alone and shift your focus to something else that would be more likely an issue.