Parameter help

[Frasercm]

Hi everyone - wondering how I can get my parameters more balanced. I do weekly water changes. Have a hob filter. 2 clowns, 1 cleaner shrimp and 2 nassarius snails. I have 1 zoa (seems to be doing okay?). Tank is 7ish months old now.

Thanks for any kind help!

Parameters:

Salinity 1.025
Temp 77/78 degrees
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 25ppm
Phosphate 0.25-0.5ppm
Alkalinity 8.3 dKH (was lower but slowly raised with baking soda)
Magnesium 1230ppm
Calcium 350ppm

 

[Ron Reefman]

How big is your tank?
How big are your water changes? (once a week could be to many if they are a big percentage of the tank)
What parameters are the ones giving you trouble?
How much do the vary between high and low readings?
What test kits are you using?
What and how much are you feeding the tank?

I'll try to help. but I need more info from you.

I've been in the hobby for 20+ years and at one point I had over 600g of salt water in the house between 4 tanks and 2 big refugiums. I've seriously downsized and now I have a 40g aio with just anemones, a few zoas and a few inverts and a 17g aio with just coral and a couple of snails. I do weekly testing of SG, Ca, and alk. I test for Nitrate and phosphate only when I see an issue which is almost never. I do a 10% to 25% water change maybe every 4 to 6 months. I feed the nems maybe once every week or 2 and hardly ever feed the corals.

 

[Frasercm]

How big is your tank?
How big are your water changes? (once a week could be to many if they are a big percentage of the tank)
What parameters are the ones giving you trouble?
How much do the vary between high and low readings?
What test kits are you using?
What and how much are you feeding the tank?

I'll try to help. but I need more info from you.

I've been in the hobby for 20+ years and at one point I had over 600g of salt water in the house between 4 tanks and 2 big refugiums. I've seriously downsized and now I have a 40g aio with just anemones, a few zoas and a few inverts and a 17g aio with just coral and a couple of snails. I do weekly testing of SG, Ca, and alk. I test for Nitrate and phosphate only when I see an issue which is almost never. I do a 10% to 25% water change maybe every 4 to 6 months. I feed the nems maybe once every week or 2 and hardly ever feed the corals.

Thanks for your help!

Tank is 30G
Water changes 10% every week
Salifert test kits
Food I feed frozen mysis and marine pellets (rotate) once per day.
I’m not sure I have any problem necessarily but I want to put more coral and I’m nervous about my high nitrate/phosphate. Calcium/magnesium are lower than ideal from my research. Am I over thinking? Or should I get the numbers more in order? Doesn’t seem to swing, seems to stick around those number.

 

[Ron Reefman]

The only number that looked 'out of line' was Ca at 350. And that should be super easy to push up into the low 400's. If you aren't experiencing swings in your numbers, you are probably OK.

Don't rush to add new stuff. Do it slowly. Stick to soft or LPS corals at first. And understand that all corals are not the same. The parameters in your tank may be fine for a lot of different corals (maybe even most corals), but some corals may need something just outside the range of your parameters and may die. It happens. Don't get depressed over it. And don't spend more than you can afford to on new corals. The ones that survive will grow and your tank will look fine.