I’m so confused and maybe I just need to quit testing so much but nothing is making any sense to me!
Ok so I have a 120g tank + 55g sump. This is my first reef tank and has been up for 5-6mo. I only had measurable nitrates in the first couple of months, now consistently 0. I do have chaeto and a protein skimmer but nothing else.
Parameters currently:
Salinity 1.025
Nitrates 0
Phosphates 0.11
Temp 79
Alk 7.6 (has been very steady at 8.3 for months)
Cal 380ish?
Mag 1350
PH 8.0
I have 10 fish, a bunch of snails, and some LPS and softies. Feed frozen/flakes twice per day pretty heavily and feed my corals every 3 days with a mix of things.
Corals are doing fine but now my alk and calcium are dropping.
Here’s the part I don’t really want to admit lol.. I have only done one water change since this tank has been running. ONE. Because my nitrates are always 0. I don’t understand why!
So with this in mind, should I just do one anyway? How much to avoid shocking my system? And if not, is there any way to naturally bring up alk and cal? I’m not ready to start dosing with the small number of corals I have. They do seem to be doing well but growing slowly. I also wanted to avoid dosing nitrates but I’m not sure if that will help. Thoughts? Ideas? Help? Lol I have no idea what to do!
Ok so I have a 120g tank + 55g sump. This is my first reef tank and has been up for 5-6mo. I only had measurable nitrates in the first couple of months, now consistently 0. I do have chaeto and a protein skimmer but nothing else.
Parameters currently:
Salinity 1.025
Nitrates 0
Phosphates 0.11
Temp 79
Alk 7.6 (has been very steady at 8.3 for months)
Cal 380ish?
Mag 1350
PH 8.0
I have 10 fish, a bunch of snails, and some LPS and softies. Feed frozen/flakes twice per day pretty heavily and feed my corals every 3 days with a mix of things.
Corals are doing fine but now my alk and calcium are dropping.
Here’s the part I don’t really want to admit lol.. I have only done one water change since this tank has been running. ONE. Because my nitrates are always 0. I don’t understand why!
So with this in mind, should I just do one anyway? How much to avoid shocking my system? And if not, is there any way to naturally bring up alk and cal? I’m not ready to start dosing with the small number of corals I have. They do seem to be doing well but growing slowly. I also wanted to avoid dosing nitrates but I’m not sure if that will help. Thoughts? Ideas? Help? Lol I have no idea what to do!