Testing and dosing

[Jack Sparrow]

Have a 5 gallon reef with lots of lps that aren't growing much, dont dose just water change with reef crystals. Need to start taking better care of them by testing, what do I absolutely need to test for to make them grow, can I just test calcium or do I also need alkilinity and magnesium? Can I just test nitrates, or do I have to do phosphates aswhell? What are some good test kits that are acruarete but wont break the bank. Should I dose something, if so what?

Thanks

 

[PatW]

Coral uses calcium and carbonate to form their Stoney structure, calcium carbonate. In so doing, they decrease calcium and carbonate.

Large polyp corals consume some alk and Ca but are not high demand like SPS corals.

Alkalinity is the most important thing to keep constant. You want it to change less than 1 DKH in a day. It is best if it stays pretty constant. Most reefers keep it between 8 - 12.

Calcium should be between 400 - 460. It just needs to be high enough.

Magnesium between 1300 - 1400. For most people water changes are enough to maintain this.

What LPS like is a slightly nutrient rich environment. They need some phosphates and nitrates to grow but not too much either. I think your problem might well be here. I think your problem is probably here. You are probably starving your corals of nutrients or giving them way too much. I bet on the former because mainly reefers lower nutrient to control algae.

You want your nitrate to be between 1-5 ppm maybe between 1 - 10 ppm. If you get much above 10 ppm, say over 20 ppm.

Your phosphates should be measurable. The only useful test I have found is the Hanna ULR. You want phosphates over .01 ppm but supposedly under .03 ppm. For LPS, you are probably ok below .05 ppm.

Other things to look at are water flow. Corals tend to like more than one would think. SPS corals like about a 30 plus flow. LPS like less but you still want about 20.

Corals also like light. SPS corals like lots of light ... par values of 300 - 500. I think LPS corals like less about 100 - 200. The spectrum of the light is important. Photosynthetic pigments absorb light going from ultraviolet to blue with some absorption in the higher wave lengths. You need a light fixture that can do this.

Above all else corals like stability. An ATO is almost mandatory to keep salinity nearly constant.

Good luck to you.

 

[Jack Sparrow]

Thanks for your help I appreciate it, what do you dose to keep all these parameters stable?

Coral uses calcium and carbonate to form their Stoney structure, calcium carbonate. In so doing, they decrease calcium and carbonate.

Large polyp corals consume some alk and Ca but are not high demand like SPS corals.

Alkalinity is the most important thing to keep constant. You want it to change less than 1 DKH in a day. It is best if it stays pretty constant. Most reefers keep it between 8 - 12.

Calcium should be between 400 - 460. It just needs to be high enough.

Magnesium between 1300 - 1400. For most people water changes are enough to maintain this.

What LPS like is a slightly nutrient rich environment. They need some phosphates and nitrates to grow but not too much either. I think your problem might well be here. I think your problem is probably here. You are probably starving your corals of nutrients or giving them way too much. I bet on the former because mainly reefers lower nutrient to control algae.

You want your nitrate to be between 1-5 ppm maybe between 1 - 10 ppm. If you get much above 10 ppm, say over 20 ppm.

Your phosphates should be measurable. The only useful test I have found is the Hanna ULR. You want phosphates over .01 ppm but supposedly under .03 ppm. For LPS, you are probably ok below .05 ppm.

Other things to look at are water flow. Corals tend to like more than one would think. SPS corals like about a 30 plus flow. LPS like less but you still want about 20.

Corals also like light. SPS corals like lots of light ... par values of 300 - 500. I think LPS corals like less about 100 - 200. The spectrum of the light is important. Photosynthetic pigments absorb light going from ultraviolet to blue with some absorption in the higher wave lengths. You need a light fixture that can do this.

Above all else corals like stability. An ATO is almost mandatory to keep salinity nearly constant.

Good luck to you.