Need help with my water levels

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Tank info:
I have a 125 g display and 40 g sump with felt socks, a protein skimmer, and refugium.

Background:
We've been taking our water to our LFS to test and for weeks, kept saying nitrates are zero, calcium and alkalinity not at optimum levels so dose part 1 and 2. My LFS had a huge sale of test kits and we decided to get those while on sale and start testing at home to cross reference their results. Well, turns out that their tests are contaminated because the tests at home are showing high levels of everything. At this point, we've been dosing part 1 and 2 for about a month now with the LFS telling us to increase/decrease one or the other (we get our water tested weekly). This all happened between February and March 2020. At one point, our nitrates were up to 80 ppm (started dosing Red Sea NoPox shortly after) and calcium was in the mid 600s.

We have since stopped dosing part 1 and 2 and have been doing religious 5-7 days water changes (4 weeks now) anywhere from 10-25%. We use Fritz RPM. We have managed to get our nitrates down to 8 ppm (Red Sea test kit)/10 ppm (API test kit) so it's been helping in that avenue, but not much anywhere else.

I've been religiously keeping a log of our test readings including what kits we use so I'll post the past two weeks readings:

Readings last week + test used:
pH- 8.0 API
Nitrate- 30 ppm API
Alkalinity- over 14 Red Sea
Magnesium- 1380 Salifert
Calcium- 570 Red Sea
Phosphate- 0.15 Aquaforest, 0.1 Red Sea

Reading this week + test used:
pH- 8.0 API
Nitrate- 8 ppm Red Sea, 10 ppm API
Alkalinity- 13.7 Red Sea
Magnesium- 1425 Salifert
Calcium- 630 Red Sea
Phosphate- 0.1 Red Sea

We have been trying to get the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels under control. It is my understanding that the magnesium is pretty much what binds calcium and alkalinity to hold steady and calcium and alkalinity have a balancing act between them.

I have a mixed reef with SPS, LPS, and softies and my GSP, while growing, doesn't consistently open anymore. My kenya trees have lost color and don't extend out as much as they used to. My green brain coral have not been extending sweepers. My toadstool have looked very sad and haven't been opening up much either. Everyone else have been losing color and vibrance. All of my fish seem to still be doing well.

I am trying to get my levels under control and can use any help you guys can offer. We use Fritz RPM which I know have high magnesium levels and we are open to changing salt mixes.

Thank you so much.

Spare time · Apr 29, 2020

Couple quick questions

What levels do you get from fresh mixed salt?
What refugium light do you have?
What light do you use?

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Spare time said:
Couple quick questions

What levels do you get from fresh mixed salt?
What refugium light do you have?
What light do you use?

The one time I tested my fresh saltmix, it was around what the Fritz parameters were that I found on the Algae Barn listing for it.

I have the Tunze EcoChic refugium light that I run opposite of my display tank.

I use Current USA LED lights for my display.

Dylan McKenzie Holloway · Apr 29, 2020

I'm not really sure what your question is, but I think you want to lower you tank levels in the calcium and alk level? As suggested above test fresh mixed water again if this is a new batch. If those levels are lower than where you are now you should see a decline after water changes. I am unsure of the levels in RPM salt, but I have pretty good luck running red sea blue bucket salt. Each bucket comes with a ICP test of some water mixed from that batch. Generally around ~8 alk ~420 calc.

Also what light are you running exactly? lenght, ect. That is a decent sized tank with what could be a pretty under powered light. That could lead to your coral acting up.

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Dylan McKenzie Holloway said:
I'm not really sure what your question is, but I think you want to lower you tank levels in the calcium and alk level? As suggested above test fresh mixed water again if this is a new batch. If those levels are lower than where you are now you should see a decline after water changes. I am unsure of the levels in RPM salt, but I have pretty good luck running red sea blue bucket salt. Each bucket comes with a ICP test of some water mixed from that batch. Generally around ~8 alk ~420 calc.

Also what light are you running exactly? lenght, ect. That is a decent sized tank with what could be a pretty under powered light. That could lead to your coral acting up.

Sorry, yes, I want to lower the calcium and alk levels. We stopped dosing about 4 weeks ago and have just been doing water changes. We just did one yesterday and I'll probably test again in a week. I'm mixing a new batch of saltwater soon so I'll check the levels on that again but I checked Fritz's website and it says their salt is 400-450 calcium and 8-9 alk, and 1300-1400 magnesium.

I have three 24in Current USA Orbit Marine LED lights so it covers the span of the tank.

Dylan McKenzie Holloway · Apr 29, 2020

gladyspalma said:
Sorry, yes, I want to lower the calcium and alk levels. We stopped dosing about 4 weeks ago and have just been doing water changes. We just did one yesterday and I'll probably test again in a week. I'm mixing a new batch of saltwater soon so I'll check the levels on that again but I checked Fritz's website and it says their salt is 400-450 calcium and 8-9 alk, and 1300-1400 magnesium.

I have three 24in Current USA Orbit Marine LED lights so it covers the span of the tank.

Someone can correct me if i'm wrong, but I think those lights are a little under powered. Looks like they are 18 watts each. Thats the equivalent of 3 kessil a80's over a 125.

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Dylan McKenzie Holloway said:
Someone can correct me if i'm wrong, but I think those lights are a little under powered. Looks like they are 18 watts each. Thats the equivalent of 3 kessil a80's over a 125.

I checked the model and it looks like I have the 24-36" which runs at 27 watts each. With three going, I'm running at 81 watts. How much should I be running my tank at?

Spare time · Apr 29, 2020

Those lights are way too weak to light a 125. After 21 inches the par is nearly 0. (and that is for the current IC pros (the standard is even worse).

As for your water, it will drop on its own. Your magnesium is fine. Just get the alk to 12 and calcium between 400 and 500 and you are good to go. If you do acros, you will need to keep the alk lower around 9 but other stony corals will grow faster with an alk at 12.

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Spare time said:
Those lights are way too weak to light a 125. After 21 inches the par is nearly 0. (and that is for the current IC pros (the standard is even worse).

As for your water, it will drop on its own. Your magnesium is fine. Just get the alk to 12 and calcium between 400 and 500 and you are good to go. If you do acros, you will need to keep the alk lower around 9 but other stony corals will grow faster with an alk at 12.

Thank you! Any recommendations on lights?

Dylan McKenzie Holloway · Apr 29, 2020

gladyspalma said:
Thank you! Any recommendations on lights?

Reef breeder 48inch. 3 kessil 360's. 3 xr15's, 2 xr30's, 3 ai Hydra 32's. Any of those combination should do it. I do prefer to have more lights and run them at lower levels rather than max out less lights.

gladyspalma · Apr 29, 2020

Dylan McKenzie Holloway said:
Reef breeder 48inch. 3 kessil 360's. 3 xr15's, 2 xr30's, 3 ai Hydra 32's. Any of those combination should do it. I do prefer to have more lights and run them at lower levels rather than max out less lights.

Great, thanks so much!