New LPS additions and questions?

[Rip3618]

I’m excited to report that last weekend I added an acan (I LOVE acans!) and a blasto to my 20 gal peninsula. I now have three LPS, including my duncan, and 11 coral all together, including my softies. My Duncan has been in my tank for about five weeks and is very happy and healthy so far.

I target feed my coral Reef Roids twice a week. My tank is shallow (12” - 13” from light to sand bed) and I have my blasto and acan on the sand bed, the blasto is in the shade of my rock. I’m using a Current USA Loop light which covers the entire tank and I have no plans to upgrade the light as I’m saving money to budget for a large tank upgrade.

Now that I have three LPS;

Should I start dosing?

I have very little coralline growing. Should I grow more?

What should my target parameters be? 8/23 was my latest test which was exactly two weeks after adding the acan and blasto, I’ve attached my results.

Any other advice on my coral placement, lights, etc would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bayareareefer18]

I am using the IC pro lights on my 75 but also run some supplemental lighting. My acans are at the bottom. Blastos bottom 3rd and dunca probably mid tank. My Duncan started with 4 heads and is now too many to count

If you want to know if it's time to dose you should really do a param test 24 hours apart. For instance my testing has shown my tank consumes .5 dkh per day and 25 ppm CA weekly so I dose accordingly.

 

[Braves Fan]

My advice ,, the amount of corals has nothing to do with if / when you should start dosing ,, what matters is the number you get after you test ,, you don't have much in the tank ,,

I would test Calcium once a week ,, or right before any water change you do ,, most salts ,, well the one I use anyway lol ,, will keep your Calcium level well above your target number ,, which should be in the 450 range ,, until your tank starts using it ,, your number will most likely be pegged at over 500 ,, don't worry about that two weeks ago ,, my calcium number was pegged at over 500 yesterday it was 500 ,, my target number is 450 ,, I have a pretty new tank ,, it was a tank upgrade ,,

Alk. I guess most people ,, with what you have in the tank right now ,, would say test every 3 days ,, I would test every other day ,, thats just me though ,, just looking at your graph for alk its kinda all over the place for a bit ,, then it kinda levels out ,, what you want is a straight line across the graph ,, as best as you can ,, my target number in my tank is 9.0 ,, I have ,, and am getting more SPS frags in my tank ,, most would tell you to use ,, say ,, 8.3 as a target number ,, I find its easier to maintain a 9.0 alk number with very few swings in the level ,, than a 8. whatever number ,,

Don't worry about coralline algae ,, get that out of your mind ,, use those brain cells for other stuff ,, that will come when it comes and at some point you will be trying to figure out how to stop it

Ok ,,, here comes my best lighting advice ,, its the best lighting advice you will ever get it really doesn't matter what kind of lights you have ,, all you need to know about lights is ,, Par ,, and how much Par the corals you are putting into your tank need to make them happy ,, and its just not the Par number ,, the different colors of light you are putting into the tank ,, some corals like their lighting to be on the bluer side ,, others might want to get more white side ,, my advise ,, put you hands on a Par meter ,, not knowing where to place your corals in the tank according to your Par numbers ,, will cost you money in coral losses ,, not being able to hit the Par numbers you want to keep your corals happy ,, will help you in deciding if your light of choice is up to the capabilities you need it to be at ,, Take your acans as an example ,, you can hit the Par number you want for them ,, but if its to much on the white spectrum ,, you might cause them to fade and lose some of the pretty colors in them ,,

My only other advice for you ,, with what you have posted ,, you didn't post what kind or how many fish you have in this tank ,, that kinda matters ,, or how you deal with nutrient export in your system ,, I am guessing water changes ,, you have a 20g tank ,, not a large system ,, the smaller the tank ,, the harder it is to maintain ,, lots of people getting into this hobby think ,, I will start out with a small system ,, in reality ,, its the wrong choice ,, larger is better ,, target feeding your corals twice a week ,, I would stop this ,,at best I would do it once a week ,, if that ,, you don't have that many corals ,, I am guessing your fish waste should be taking care of the corals needs ,, I am not telling you not to feed ,, what I am saying is be very careful ,, corals do better jmo with the least amount of water changes you can get away with ,,

This hobby has a lot to learn ,, it takes forever lol if you can learn maintain a 20g system ,, when you upgrade to a larger system ,,it will be a walk in the park ,, you are going to have problems ,, learn and just keep on keeping on one of the best things you can do ,, what is required to be in this hobby is to test water ,, its one of those thing ,, if you don't like water testing ,,, take up golfing

 

[Rip3618]

My advice ,, the amount of corals has nothing to do with if / when you should start dosing ,, what matters is the number you get after you test ,, you don't have much in the tank ,,

I would test Calcium once a week ,, or right before any water change you do ,, most salts ,, well the one I use anyway lol ,, will keep your Calcium level well above your target number ,, which should be in the 450 range ,, until your tank starts using it ,, your number will most likely be pegged at over 500 ,, don't worry about that two weeks ago ,, my calcium number was pegged at over 500 yesterday it was 500 ,, my target number is 450 ,, I have a pretty new tank ,, it was a tank upgrade ,,

Alk. I guess most people ,, with what you have in the tank right now ,, would say test every 3 days ,, I would test every other day ,, thats just me though ,, just looking at your graph for alk its kinda all over the place for a bit ,, then it kinda levels out ,, what you want is a straight line across the graph ,, as best as you can ,, my target number in my tank is 9.0 ,, I have ,, and am getting more SPS frags in my tank ,, most would tell you to use ,, say ,, 8.3 as a target number ,, I find its easier to maintain a 9.0 alk number with very few swings in the level ,, than a 8. whatever number ,,

Don't worry about coralline algae ,, get that out of your mind ,, use those brain cells for other stuff ,, that will come when it comes and at some point you will be trying to figure out how to stop it

Ok ,,, here comes my best lighting advice ,, its the best lighting advice you will ever get it really doesn't matter what kind of lights you have ,, all you need to know about lights is ,, Par ,, and how much Par the corals you are putting into your tank need to make them happy ,, and its just not the Par number ,, the different colors of light you are putting into the tank ,, some corals like their lighting to be on the bluer side ,, others might want to get more white side ,, my advise ,, put you hands on a Par meter ,, not knowing where to place your corals in the tank according to your Par numbers ,, will cost you money in coral losses ,, not being able to hit the Par numbers you want to keep your corals happy ,, will help you in deciding if your light of choice is up to the capabilities you need it to be at ,, Take your acans as an example ,, you can hit the Par number you want for them ,, but if its to much on the white spectrum ,, you might cause them to fade and lose some of the pretty colors in them ,,

My only other advice for you ,, with what you have posted ,, you didn't post what kind or how many fish you have in this tank ,, that kinda matters ,, or how you deal with nutrient export in your system ,, I am guessing water changes ,, you have a 20g tank ,, not a large system ,, the smaller the tank ,, the harder it is to maintain ,, lots of people getting into this hobby think ,, I will start out with a small system ,, in reality ,, its the wrong choice ,, larger is better ,, target feeding your corals twice a week ,, I would stop this ,,at best I would do it once a week ,, if that ,, you don't have that many corals ,, I am guessing your fish waste should be taking care of the corals needs ,, I am not telling you not to feed ,, what I am saying is be very careful ,, corals do better jmo with the least amount of water changes you can get away with ,,

This hobby has a lot to learn ,, it takes forever lol if you can learn maintain a 20g system ,, when you upgrade to a larger system ,,it will be a walk in the park ,, you are going to have problems ,, learn and just keep on keeping on one of the best things you can do ,, what is required to be in this hobby is to test water ,, its one of those thing ,, if you don't like water testing ,,, take up golfing

Thanks for the detailed advice.

My calcium is a tad low and my alk is high. What can I do to address that? Start dosing?

The distance from my light to the sand bed is almost 12” on the dot. Per the Current USA website, my Current IC LED PAR at 12” is 120-90, my acan and blasto are on the sand bed. The PAR at 6” is 300-160, all my zoas are pretty close to that distance. I’m guessing I may need to move them a little further (deeper). I tweaked the color spectrum when I got my first softies. I’ll do some research and try to find the best compromise for all my corals and tweak the spectrum again.

I have two clowns, one dotty-back, one cleaner shrimp and a clean up crew. I use water changes to export my nutrients. My nitrates have been, what I thought, high so I’ve been doing a weekly 50% water change. I’d love to stretch it out to bi-weekly water changes or weekly 25% changes but the plan of action was appropriate to keep nitrates down. I've heard different opinions on nitrates and I keep trying to hit the target numbers based on Aquarimate. Maybe I need to relax a little bit. I mean, is maintain nitrates at 10ppm a good number? I’ll try giving it two weeks and test my water before a change this coming weekend.

I promise I’ve been reading countless material, watching hours of video and lurking this forum day after day (even before joining) inn an effort to become as educated as I can be. One of my favorite parts of the hobby is the exciting (he said sarcastically) task of continuously educating myself. However, sometimes everything starts to blend together and say, “Screw it. Let some experienced reefers point me in the right direction.” So I appreciate any help I can get.

 

[Braves Fan]

Ok ,, I will try and answer some of the stuff you asked

I will start the important one ,, Nutrients ,, opinions can differ greatly on this ,, I am going to give you my thoughts ,, you don't want to be doing 50% water changes ,, corals like softys & LPS corals don't like it ,, growth will suffer ,, you should be doing like 5 gallon water changes weekly ,, stop with the coral target feedings ,, maybe do one target feeding every two weeks ,, when you do that ,, put a few LPS pellet food onto your Duncan, Blasto and Acan ,, not much ,, like one pellet each head ,, The less food you put into your tank ,, the better your Nitrates & Phosphates will be ,, You can get away with more in a larger tank than you can in a small tank.

Calcium & Alk. ,, what I am going to tell you here is ,, make your calcium target number 450 ,, now here is the thing ,, test it like 3 days before your 5 gallon weekly water change,, test it again right before the water change ,, and then again the day after the water change ,, what your trying to do here is ,, get a feel for how much calcium your tank is using and how much your calcium goes up after the water change because of the salt you are using ,, your tank shouldn't be using much ,, After you get a feel for what your tank is using ,, you might say to yourself,, well,, my calcium or Alk is a bit low ,, but I have a water change coming the next day or in two days,, I know my salt will raise it X amount so I will only dose either nothing or 1/2 half of what I need to get to my target number ,, because I know i will hit the other 1/2 of what I need the next day or in two days because of the water change ,,

Alk. not much you can do about it being to high ,, it will go down as it gets used up ,, test that every two days ,, do the same as with the calcium ,, test right before a water change ,, the day after the water change ,, reason is the same as Calcium ,, after you have been testing a lot ,, you will get a better feel for what your tank is doing and can adjust as you see fit,, I told you my Alk number in my tank is 9.0 ,, ,, I am going to tell you to make your number 8.5 ,,

My advice for your lights is the same ,, get your hands on a Par Meter ,, I trust what I see ,, not on what the light maker tells me it should be ,, I am not going to say they fudge numbers but there is no guessing with a Par meter ,, some LFS have one you can use ,, other Reefers in your area ,, someone will have one ,, if they let you use it ,, get it back to them when you are done ,, don't make them have to come ask for it ,,,, read that part again you want to test with your power heads running ,, the more flow you have in the tank ,, the higher you need to turn your lights up to maintain a Par number you want ,, thats why you don't trust what the light maker says ,, did they have more flow,, less flow than what you have ,, Par Meter Make a drawing of your tank ,, fill it in with your Par numbers all over the tank at different water depths.

Hope that helps ,,

 

[Rip3618]

Three days before 5% water change and my calcium climbed to from 415 to 425 and my alk dropped from 11.2 to 8.9. Looks like I’m on the right track. I’ll test again the day before and the day after my water change then come up with a dosing plan.

 

[David Matthews]

I would just keep up my parameters with water changes for all the more coral you have. I would try to keep my alk a little more stable as well.

 

[Rip3618]

Brave Fam, after following your advice here are my results:

Day before 5% water change; Cal - 430, Alk - 9.1

Day after; Cal - 425, Alk - 8.6

What do you think?

 

[Braves Fan]

What kind of salt are you using ,, I use one of the cheaper salts IO in the orange box,, that salt jmo raises Alk & Calcium ,, I know that brand of salt ,, in the purple box JMO tends to do what you are finding with what ever salt you are using ,, it will lower your Cal & Alk ,, that purple box salt jmo is better used on Fish Only Tanks ,, its a cheaper salt ,, there is a reason for it being cheaper ,, there isn't much added to it ,, added to it means ,, less helpful to your corals ,, What I would do is start testing the water you will be using for your water changes ,, after its mixed ,, if the numbers are lower than your target numbers ,, dose the water to your target numbers ,, keep in mind what the numbers are in your tank ,, you might need to switch salts ,, and I would suggest you do ,, maybe ,, I am not a salt expert ,, some salts are cheaper and don't have the additives to them that a tank with corals in it need ,, they are geared towards a Fish Only tank ,, anyway ,, I would retest your tanks water ,, dose the tank up to your target numbers ,,

I would also be testing your Nitrates often ,, you want to know what they are doing ,, especially in a small system ,, things can get out of hand quickly in a small system ,, I should be able to ask you any day ,, any time ,, what your tank numbers are ,, if I go test your tank ,, that is what they will be ,, I will say this here ,, you don't have a SPS system ,, the corals you are getting like Nitrates & Phosphates to be higher ,, I will say for Nitrates ,, in the 6 to 10 range ,, Phosphates ,, I could get in trouble here ,, I will say 4 to 5 range ,,

Dealing with Nitrates is a big picture kind of thing ,, " read that part again " you have to look at everything you have going on ,, you have to learn your system ,, read that part again what you have to do is ,, feed your fish the way you want to ,, feed your corals the way you want to ,, all the while testing your systems water ,, if your doing everything the way you want to do it ,, your Nitrates & Phosphates are staying higher than your target numbers ,, you have to adjust ,, if they are staying less than your target numbers ,, then keep on keeping on

When I say adjust ,, what that means is ,, taking measures to lower those numbers ,, when I say that ,,, water changes are the last thing you do ,, that is JMO I told you before ,, corals don't like water changes ,, you can incorporate a way to grow Chatto into your system ,, I would suggest that you do this yesterday ,, if your nitrates are staying above your target number you can feed fish & corals less ,, most people way over feed both of these ,, my suggestion ,, go to your LFS ,, watch them feed their fish ,, when you think you have it figured out what you need to feed your fish ,, go back and watch your LFS feed their fish again adjusting how much you feed both will be the biggest thing you can do to help lower your Nitrates & Phosphates ,, you can't remove something that didn't make it into your system ,, after you are doing all of this ,, you feel you are doing everything you can do to either prevent Nitrates and Phosphates from entering your system ,, and removing them to keep the numbers at your target numbers ,, and you are still above your target numbers ,, then ,, you use water changes to help get you to your target number ,,

Nitrate removal methods , vinegar and Vodka dosing ,,, Phosphate media's ,, there are media's you can use to help lower Nitrates and Phosphates ,, this is again jmo ,, my suggestion to you is to not use these ,, at least right now ,, you need to learn your system ,, read that part again ,, you need to do what you want with your system ,, learn the consequences of those actions ,, to insure that things don't get out of hand quickly in a small system ,, you test your water a lot ,, after you are doing everything above ,, but you are having to do ,, to large of a water change to stay in your target number ranges ,, this is when you take a look at the ,, artificial removing methods ,, if you start out using these media's and methods ,, you haven't learned anything about your system that is again jmo

I know I have a lot of JMO ,, what I am not lol I am not a Pro I am not really even a good amateur this is kind of ABC stuff for the hobby ,, if any of the Pros reading this and think I am giving you bad advice ,, please chime in ,, you won't offend me

 

[Braves Fan]

Well ,, I got to thinking after I made that post ,, I could be wrong about using Phosphate removing media's ,, I don't know what you phosphate number is ,, whatever rock you have in your tank could be ,, leaching enough phosphates into your system ,, that sitting up a phosphate reactor and running GFO might be needed ,, I would have to know your phosphate number and nitrate number to decide that ,, lets says your nitrate number isn't that high or out of range ,, but your phosphates number is higher proportionately than the nitrate number ,, the cause could be from phosphates leaching out of your rock ,,

 

[Rip3618]

I like all the “JMO”. It’s the main reason why I joined this forum, for all the opinions and real world experience from real reefers and not articles (though I still read tons of articles!).

I haven’t bit the bullet and bought a RODI filter yet. I get my saltwater from my LFS. Hell, most of the time I’m only buying five gallons a week. A RODI filter is in my future though because I do want to mix my own water.

I test nitrates and phosphates as often as everything else. Nitrates haven’t crept above 10 and phosphates hold steady, for the most part, at .5. I don’t have the space a refugium. My filter floss and Chemi-pure Blue will have to do and they seem to be doing a good job (I only started Chemi-pure six weeks ago).