SPS Tank Parameters

[bkv1997]

Wanted to see what others were keeping there levels at and thorught i'd get a discussion going.

My current system parameters
DkH: 10
Calcium: 420
Magnesium: 1100
PH: 8.3
ORP: 330 day - 360 night

I'm curious at what levels most people are running there DKH at. Some of the newer more popular methods i'm reading about recommend lower levels closer to NSW in the range of 6 DKH. Tropic Marine has even started releasing products to Lower alk while raising Calcium. From my personal experience I see better results when keeping my Alk higher 9-11 range. Thoughts?

ORP... What levels are everyone keeping there tanks at? Using Ozone? Etc

Dosing... This is one I'd also like to discuss and see if others have noticed similiar results. When using a CA reactor and Kalk reactor maintaining all the same levels I have great growth, but notice the colors don't have that pop.... When backing off the CA Reactor a tad and adding manual supplements (Tropic Marine BIO Calcium and BIO Magnesium) once a week my colors are much better. Really can't explain why this is, but just thought i'd bring it up and see if others had experienced the same results.

Brandon

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

Current:

Ph - 8.0
Phos - <.20
Nitrates - <10ppm
Calcium - 420ppm
KH - 10.2
Alk - 3.66
Mag - 1440ppm

What I would like to have would be:

Ph - 8.3-8.4
Phos - <.10
Nitrates - <5
Calcium - Same
KH - 9
Alk - 3.2
Mag - Same

 

[bamachamp92]

My Tank Is :

Ph - 8.36
Phos - .1
Nitrates - Dont Check Them
Calcium - 424
Magnesium - 1380
Dkh - 10

Brandon,

This Is Just What I Was Told, So Take It As Just That, Bret At Fifth Day Talked To A Man At Tropic Marin And He Said That Magnesium Should Be 3 To 1 Ratio To Calcium Such As 420 Calcium 1260 Magnesium For Calcium And Mag To Be Boi Available. If It Is A Little Higher Of Lower He Said Higher Was Better. Now I Am Not Trying To Be A Newbie Chiming In With My Two Cents Worth, But You Know How Bret Is About Testing And Thats What He Said. My Mag Is A Little Higher Than 3 To 1 But I Cant Get Mag To Be Used As Fast As Calcium.

 

[bkv1997]

Yea that is the normal recommend levels.

Do you guys really have .1 ppm phosphates or is that just the level of accuracy the test kits you are using reads?

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

Yea that is the normal recommend levels.

Do you guys really have .1 ppm phosphates or is that just the level of accuracy the test kits you are using reads?

I use an API test and it doesn't register any Phos ... so I just assume it's <(less than) .10 ...

What other ways are there to test?

 

[bamachamp92]

Im Using A Tropic Marin Phos Test It Shows .1 No Way Of Knowing How Accurate It Is I Just Go By That Im Using 2 Phos Reactors With Rowa Phos In Them 480 Gallons Of Water Cant Hurt Any

 

[chadfarmer]

last time i checked alk was 9.5 cal was 400

cant remeber the rest was more than 6 months ago

i run a calcium reactor

 

[cee]

Alk 7-9, if it gets to 10 I back off
Ca- 420
Mg - 1350
Nitrates - 3 last I measured
Str - 4 (I have to dose this and have difficulty maintaining a higher level)
Phosphate - 0.015 according to Merck kit, don't trust it
pH - don't pay it much attention
K -don't measure yet, but need to. I think its importance is underestimated

I think you get much better color w/o a CaRX because the CaRX also adds phosphate from dissolving the media and tends to lower the pH through the addition of CO2. I stopped using mine about a year ago and went with peristaltic pumps. Couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Dave

 

[JGoslee]

Ca - 450
dKH - 10-11
Mag - 1400-1500

I keep my parameters in check by dosing kalk and adding 2-part.

 

[sdietz2469]

alk 9-10
cal 450-500
mag 1350-1500
str-dont test
pH 83-8.5
I-dont test
phos-dont test

i run a calcium reactor that is WAY too big for my system, so i am constantly having to turn my reactor off for a few day so i dont precipitate cal.... i have it tuned all the way down to where it is stable, and just know i have to turn it off every few days or so... as far a ph, i dont really worry about it, but it deffinately tells me when i need to turn off my CA reactor..... ORP i dont test for as it has so many values, that i just dont worry about it.... i think it is definately needed to test for stronium, Iodine, and boron every once in a while as your corals and fish use these to keep healthy and repair them selves.... JMO
shane

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

I think a couple of you guys are confusing ALK with dKH.

Alk should be around the 3 range ... dKH can be between 8-12.

For a healthy SPS tank all of the perameters are just as important as the others,IMHO.

Ph
Alk
Calcium
Nitrates
Phos
Mag
SG

If one of these is far out of range then the SPS will live but not prosper. Again this is my opinion ... I don't have facts to back that up.

 

[gflat65]

And I think that of those, alk/dKH is the most important (within ranges)...

pH-7.9-8.3
dKH/Alk/ppm CaCO3 -8/2.86/142.9-10 /3.57/178.6 (using LaMotte for ppm CaCO3, so had to find a few conversions)
Ca-350-425
Nitrates-no clue-I don't worry about them unless I see a problem.
Phos-don't test because you can't really believe hobbiest kits-I did see a relatively affordsable photometer, though...
Can't seem to get an Mg kit when I order (where ever I order form always has it on backorder). Need one.
SG-1.026

It had been running around 6-8 dKH before my recent attempts with the CR6 (bad quality on this one...) because I couldn't keep it higher with 2 part. I was dosing five heaping tablespoons in RO/DI every other day and nothing... Ca was running low, too. If the Ca were high, I'd have some anecdotal on the lower alk/dKH levels. Growth has been horribly slow, but not without good reason. THings have turned now. I started using B-Ionic 2 part because I quickly ran out of Dowflake and everythign came into check within a week and stabilized for me. Not sure why the homemade DIY widn't work for me. If I can get the Ca Rx to run without pulling air in through the production flaws in the oring channel on top of the main chamber (the tool was dull and someone wasn't paying attention...), I hope for it to keep things constant for me.

 

[bamachamp92]

tropic marin makes a really good calcium/magnesium combo test pretty easy to use, the calcium always reads right with the la motte test

 

[bkv1997]

So looks like everyone is keeping everything around the same levels.

Keeping all the levels the same have others noticed better results (Colors) when running CA reactor plus powder (CA and Mag) versus just a CA reactor. All the levels are staying the same.

I'm curious if this is due to the media etc, since switching from schuran media which i've been told can't be imported anymore. A few local hobbiest running similiar setups have noticed the above scenario and I was curious if others had seen similiar results.

 

[bkv1997]

Alk 7-9, if it gets to 10 I back off
I think you get much better color w/o a CaRX because the CaRX also adds phosphate from dissolving the media and tends to lower the pH through the addition of CO2. I stopped using mine about a year ago and went with peristaltic pumps. Couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Dave

Dave:

Could you provide more information about the products your dosing with the pumps?

 

[cee]

I basically dose baked baking soda with one dosing pump and DowFlake/StCl/pickling lime with the second. It took a bit of tweaking to get the amounts in solution correct based on the fixed dosing rate of the pumps, but once I did, it seems fairly constant. I also dose Randy's Mg solution as required manually. I am, however, obsessive/compulsive about measuring my levels twice a week. I think I dose about 1/4 cup of DowFlake every 2-3 days and 4-5 tablespoons of baked baking soda every 2-3 days in solution to give you an idea of how much my critters take up.

 

[Rickyrooz]

My current parameters as of today.

SG - 1.026
Temp. - 80.3
pH - 8.53
KH - 9.9
Alkalinity - 3.54
Calcium - 595
Magnesium - 1475

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

My current parameters as of today.

SG - 1.026
Temp. - 80.3
pH - 8.53
KH - 9.9
Alkalinity - 3.54
Calcium - 595
Magnesium - 1475

With a calcium level that high you should be seeing floating particles in your water ... you should stop dosing calcium .... this will also lower your Ph to an acceptable range.

 

[Rickyrooz]

The pH is high because I added Kalkwasser today. It's usually at 8.32. I usually keep my KH at 7.0 but I've been dosing two-part (baking soda). Why what do you think my KH should be?

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

The pH is high because I added Kalkwasser today. It's usually at 8.32. I usually keep my KH at 7.0 but I've been dosing two-part (baking soda). Why what do you think my KH should be?

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