Parameters

[mihali]

Stocking is
1 clownfish
1 conch
1 algae blenny
1 banngai cardinal
1 regal damsel
1 green coral goby
2 turbo snails
3 nas snails
1 toadstool leather coral
Parameters
Alk 8 dh
Ph 8,2
Gh over 30 dh have to test drop by drop and I would waste it if I kept doing it so I couldn’t bother doing it
nitrate 35 mg/L
Nitrite 0mg/L
Ammonia 0mg/L
Phosphate 0,5 mg/L
Planning to get zoas and Kenya tree coral

 

[edsbeaker]

I’m not sure what you are asking. Do you want us to give you feedback on your parameters?
Please include tank size and how long it’s been set up.

 

[mihali]

Ah sorry I was wondering if these are ok parameters it’s 46 gal don’t know how long set up as I bought it fully set up I think it’s probably more than a year

 

[edsbeaker]

Got it!

I like to keep my nitrates under 20, and phosphates under .1. Yours are a bit high.
Are you having any nuisance algae issues?
Are you planning on adding any harder to keep corals, LPS, SPS?

Softies and some LPS like higher nutrients, but if you are having nuisance algae growing that is a good indication that your levels are too high.

I would also look into testing for calcium and magnesium. gH testing isn’t necessary.

 

[mihali]

Um yes algae all over rocks but my blenny has started getting to work chomping it down and phosphate is 0 it was typo

 

[mihali]

I just got 2 Kenya trees a zoa and splatter hammer coral

 

[mihali]

I did a water change yesterday but a heavy feeding after so nitrate went up again should I do another one

 

[mihali]

I have the Colombo test lab test kit and the nitrate was in between 20 and 50 but there was no in between

 

[mihali]

So I just guessed on what it would be

 

[mihali]

I just put this stuff in the filter it brings nitrate to 5 mg/L

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Gh over 30 dh have to test drop by drop and I would waste it if I kept doing it so I couldn’t bother doing it

FWIW, GH is not useful in seawater. It is an unusual mathematical mix of calcium, magnesium, and strontium.

 

[mihali]

But I don’t really need to test cal and mag and alk if I do weekly water changes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

But I don’t really need to test cal and mag and alk if I do weekly water changes

Don’t you? Seems like ignorance is bliss. No water change short of 100% can EVER maintain the same alk and calcium as the salt mix has when there is any demand at all. Every day those values will tick lower until demand matches the gap between the salt mix and the tank water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Like this:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php

Even with small demand, alk declines a lot.

Figure 23. Alkalinity as a function of time when performing very large daily water changes of 0% (no changes), 5%, 10%, 15% and 30% of the total volume EACH DAY. In this example, alkalinity is present at 4 meq/L (11 dKH) at the start and is depleted at a low rate of 0.2 meq/L per day.

 

[mihali]

So should I test them

 

[mihali]

Where I got my coral she had hard coral and said that she doesn’t dose cal mag and alk because she does frequent water changes

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, alkalinity is the thing to test, and you can decide if it is in the range you would want alk to be or not. It's neither expensive nor hard to do, and really is a mainstay of reefing.

Not all water change plans give the same results. A tank using a very high alk salt mix for water changes will stabilize at a higher alk than one with a lower alk salt mix.

 

[mihali]

I don’t get what anyone is saying so to only test for alkalinity and keep doing water changes?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I don’t get what anyone is saying so to only test for alkalinity and keep doing water changes?

I suggest you do more reading and I'll give some articles to get you started, but alkalinity is the first thing to indicate that water changes are not keeping up.

If alkalinity has dropped below where you want it (you need to decide that, but I recommend 7-11 dKH), then you'll need to change water faster, or dose.

These have more:

Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley

[note: edited on 5/29/2022 to update the nitrate and phosphate sections with higher recommended levels.] One of the main roles of an aquarist with a coral reef aquarium is to ensure that the conditions are right for their tank inhabitants. There...

www.reef2reef.com

The Many Methods for Supplementing Calcium and Alkalinity - REEFEDITION

There is no aspect of reef aquarium chemistry more important than calcium and alkalinity. Many of my previous articles have described various aspects of these systems in detail. In reading those articles, aquarists will note one pervasive theme: that maintaining appropriate levels of each are...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bubbgee]

Don’t you? Seems like ignorance is bliss. No water change short of 100% can EVER maintain the same alk and calcium as the salt mix has when there is any demand at all. Every day those values will tick lower until demand matches the gap between the salt mix and the tank water.

This is what people new to the hobby need to understand. Some people can get away without testing and just do frequent water changes but some neglect to remember to use the same amount of water, the same salt mix or temperature. Eventually, when they do test as the tank undergoes a salinity or alkalinity swing, it will be too late.

Then they say, numbers they have are within parameters, when they don't really have anything to go with except how their corals looked yesterday. Laziness with testing will catch up eventually.