Please check out my parameters and help me set up a plan moving forward

raklassen

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 23, 2021
Messages
54
Reaction score
26
Location
Waukomis
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hey all! Thank you for taking the time to check out my thread here and any advice you could give me going forward.

A little background first: I'm new to the hobby and this is my first saltwater tank. Like many new people to the hobby, the information about testing numbers and all things involved can be a bit overwhelming. This is a small tank, an Innovative Marine 30L (30Gallon aio), I have had water, rock, and sand in for about 5 months now. I have had lights off until last week and right now the only livestock are a couple of clownfish (in the tank for about a month) and a firefish that I added last week. No corals at all, but I hope to add corals once things in the tank start to settle down. Right now I'm dealing with the "ugly stage" and have a nasty diatom outbreak. A clean up crew from ReefCleaners.org is on the way and should be here later in the week.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get my parameters ready so I can start to add coral. I've been testing salinity and nitrate regularly for awhile now (basically since adding water 5 months ago). I've also tested alkalinity and Ph in the past, but haven't been too concerned with that since there have been no coral in the tank.

Today I tested for the major parameters and I'd like to share those numbers, get some advice and speculation on them, and hopefully some advice on how to get the numbers within acceptable hobby range.

Salinity (using a BRS refractometer)-1.026
Temp-78
Nitrate (Salifert) is ~5ppm
Ph (Salifert)is 8.2
Phosphate (Hanna)is .15
Alkalinity (Hanna)is 6.4
Calcium (RedSea) is ~490
Magnesium (Nyos)is ~1380

Currently I'm using water from my LFS and topping off with RODI water I make at home using the BRS 4-stage kit reading 0TDS coming out.

I feel temp, salinity, nitrate, and Ph are fine. But the Alkalinity and Phosphate are WAY off it seems and most concerning to me. Also, the calcium and magnesium seem to be quite a bit higher than acceptable.

What are yall's thoughts on the numbers? And how would yall go about getting magnesium, calcium, alkalinity, and phosphate to normal range.

Thank you all for any and all help.
 

PatW

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 14, 2013
Messages
2,539
Reaction score
1,943
Location
Orlando, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I agree that the phosphate is too high. Have you tested the LFS water before adding it to the tank? Phosphates can bind to substrate like rock and release in the aquarium. There are a number of methods of reducing phosphate levels from something that chemically removes it like GFO to just brute force massive water changes.

The ALK is too low in my opinion. Fortunately, you can add some diluted soda ash to elevate your ALK. I buy the stuff from Bulk Reef Supply.

As for Magnesium, I have used several different tests and none seem that consistent. I understand that Mg is expensive to add to a salt mix so the mix is unlikely to have too much. So as long as your reading is not too low, you are probably good (unless it is WAY TOO HIGH) and yours is not.

Your other parameters are fine.

Before fiddling with stuff, you might want to get a second opinion on your levels either at the LFS or another LFS to cross check. Or you can try to confirm with another test kit.
 

mdb_talon

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 6, 2010
Messages
4,938
Reaction score
7,753
Location
Illinois
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I feel temp, salinity, nitrate, and Ph are fine. But the Alkalinity and Phosphate are WAY off it seems and most concerning to me. Also, the calcium and magnesium seem to be quite a bit higher than acceptable.

My main advice is to not get too worked up on hitting "ideal" numbers, and you can get 200 different opinions for ideal numbers. Obviously you want them to be in a reasonable range. Can find plenty of examples of nice sucessful tanks similar to the numbers you describe. Even the phosphate that people freak out about there are plenty of amazing tanks in that range or even multiple times that.

Having said that if it were me i would want that alk above that. I keep mine around 9. Seems most people find sucess in the 7-9 range from what i see, but again can find examples anywhere from 6 to 12.

Phoshpate i would try to get below .1.

Calc and mg look perfectly fine to me.
 
OP
OP
raklassen

raklassen

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 23, 2021
Messages
54
Reaction score
26
Location
Waukomis
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
The ALK is too low in my opinion. Fortunately, you can add some diluted soda ash to elevate your ALK. I buy the stuff from Bulk Reef Supply.
I have Tropic Marin All-For-Reef I picked up from BRS. Any reason why I shouldn't start dosing with that?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,858
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMO, a little alk dosing is all you need. :)

The All for Reef is ok, but it is hard to judge the dosing of it based on alk since it won't show up readily in an alk test, at least initially.
 
OP
OP
raklassen

raklassen

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 23, 2021
Messages
54
Reaction score
26
Location
Waukomis
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMO, a little alk dosing is all you need. :)

The All for Reef is ok, but it is hard to judge the dosing of it based on alk since it won't show up readily
IMO, a little alk dosing is all you need. :)

The All for Reef is ok, but it is hard to judge the dosing of it based on alk since it won't show up readily in an alk test, at least initially.
What would you recommend instead of the All for Reef?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,858
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What would you recommend instead of the All for Reef?

I'd use baking soda for an initial boost, then see how long it takes to be needed again, and you can switch to All for Reef or something else (or baking soda) at that point, knowing the daily demand.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 57 49.6%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 63 54.8%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 26 22.6%
  • None.

    Votes: 28 24.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 7.8%
Back
Top