Water Parameter Advice

[kdtorgy]

I've had a reef tank for a year (140 gallon) and the company that installed it has been maintaining it. I've slowly started managing it myself and am wondering if anyone has suggestions on these parameters:

Temp: 78.1
Alk 9.69
pH 8.0
Mg 1354
Ca 410
NH3 0.0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 84
Phosphate 1.5

I've got a clown, yellow tang, blue tang, flame angel, 2 filefish, orchid pseudochromis, 6 lined wrasse, flame hawkfish, fairy basslet, filefish, 2 gobies, 4 green chromic, a blood shrip, banded coral shrimp, some crabs and snails, two RTBAs and a feather duster worm.
Corals are: 2 green star polyp colonies, some musroom corals, leather corals, Kenya trees, frog spawn and 2 rock flowers.

I've read that we don't want to knock nitrate and phosphate down to 0 in order to keep corals happy but I don't know what good numbers should be.

The tank looks nice and healthy so I'm guessing the parameters are good but I wanted to get some experienced advice.

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[lapin]

If the tank is looking good then your good. I know its hard to not mess with stuff, but when things go good, just leave it at that

 

[aws2266]

I'm rather new to keeping corals but the two things that stand out to me are your nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites should be 0ppm and Nitrates should be 30ppm or less. I've read that anything over 40 is harmful to fish and inverts.

Having said all that stability is key. Your fish have more than likely acclimated to the higher levels. I'd look at ways to bring the nitrite and nitrate down because while your fish don't show any signs of distress now, you never know when that's gonna change. Your PH is just outside what you usually see suggested. I believe you want 8.1-8.5 with 8.3 being the sweet spot. Mine has been sitting at 8.0 and just yesterday bought Marine Buffer. It safelty raises your PH to 8.3. Hope this helps.

 

[blaxsun]

Nitrates and phosphates seem high, but otherwise the other parameters look good. Salinity? I try to keep my nitrates between 5-10ppm and phosphates under 0.25ppm - but that’s just my tank.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

I've had a reef tank for a year (140 gallon) and the company that installed it has been maintaining it. I've slowly started managing it myself and am wondering if anyone has suggestions on these parameters:

Temp: 78.1
Alk 9.69
pH 8.0
Mg 1354
Ca 410
NH3 0.0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 84
Phosphate 1.5

I've got a clown, yellow tang, blue tang, flame angel, 2 filefish, orchid pseudochromis, 6 lined wrasse, flame hawkfish, fairy basslet, filefish, 2 gobies, 4 green chromic, a blood shrip, banded coral shrimp, some crabs and snails, two RTBAs and a feather duster worm.
Corals are: 2 green star polyp colonies, some musroom corals, leather corals, Kenya trees, frog spawn and 2 rock flowers.

I've read that we don't want to knock nitrate and phosphate down to 0 in order to keep corals happy but I don't know what good numbers should be.

The tank looks nice and healthy so I'm guessing the parameters are good but I wanted to get some experienced advice.

Thanks,
Kurt

Hi Kurt and great numbers though phosphates and nitrates high - perhaps water change happening soon - that tends to knock numbers back down - I'm an over feeder which contributes to my high phosphates and nitrates (and is feeding my ugly hair algae) so finally added a biopellet reactor to try and reach better numbers

That nitrite might be a fluke OR maybe you just added something so don't chase nitrite number, just know it tends to self resolve

slightly higher ph helps corals build stronger skelotons, but you've got softies

When your tank is doing well, don't chase your numbers.

 

[kdtorgy]

I'm rather new to keeping corals but the two things that stand out to me are your nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites should be 0ppm and Nitrates should be 30ppm or less. I've read that anything over 40 is harmful to fish and inverts.

Having said all that stability is key. Your fish have more than likely acclimated to the higher levels. I'd look at ways to bring the nitrite and nitrate down because while your fish don't show any signs of distress now, you never know when that's gonna change. Your PH is just outside what you usually see suggested. I believe you want 8.1-8.5 with 8.3 being the sweet spot. Mine has been sitting at 8.0 and just yesterday bought Marine Buffer. It safelty raises your PH to 8.3. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'm going to try to bring the nitrate and phosphate down a bit into more acceptable ranges

 

[kdtorgy]

Nitrates and phosphates seem high, but otherwise the other parameters look good. Salinity? I try to keep my nitrates between 5-10ppm and phosphates under 0.25ppm - but that’s just my tank.

salinity is 1.025. I'm going to try and bring the nitrates and phosphates down a bit to acceptable levels.

 

[kdtorgy]

Hi Kurt and great numbers though phosphates and nitrates high - perhaps water change happening soon - that tends to knock numbers back down - I'm an over feeder which contributes to my high phosphates and nitrates (and is feeding my ugly hair algae) so finally added a biopellet reactor to try and reach better numbers

That nitrite might be a fluke OR maybe you just added something so don't chase nitrite number, just know it tends to self resolve

slightly higher ph helps corals build stronger skelotons, but you've got softies

When your tank is doing well, don't chase your numbers.

The nitrates and phosphates have always been high so I think I'm going to try and bring them down a bit. I know the pH is a bit on the low side of acceptable. Will keep monitoring and see if that changes but it's always between 8.0 and 8.1. Thanks for the response

 

[14 foot reef]

I've had a reef tank for a year (140 gallon) and the company that installed it has been maintaining it. I've slowly started managing it myself and am wondering if anyone has suggestions on these parameters:

Temp: 78.1
Alk 9.69
pH 8.0
Mg 1354
Ca 410
NH3 0.0
Nitrite 0.1
Nitrate 84
Phosphate 1.5

I've got a clown, yellow tang, blue tang, flame angel, 2 filefish, orchid pseudochromis, 6 lined wrasse, flame hawkfish, fairy basslet, filefish, 2 gobies, 4 green chromic, a blood shrip, banded coral shrimp, some crabs and snails, two RTBAs and a feather duster worm.
Corals are: 2 green star polyp colonies, some musroom corals, leather corals, Kenya trees, frog spawn and 2 rock flowers.

I've read that we don't want to knock nitrate and phosphate down to 0 in order to keep corals happy but I don't know what good numbers should be.

The tank looks nice and healthy so I'm guessing the parameters are good but I wanted to get some experienced advice.

Thanks,
Kurt

This was posted by BRS the other day, I found
This to be a very solid table

 

[adittam]

Don’t chase numbers. DON’T CHASE NUMBERS.

I would highly caution against making any big changes if your tank looks good. That said, most softies are more tolerant of parameters being outside of ideal ranges than stony corals, so if you’re planning on adding more stony corals, I would gradually work on decreasing your nitrates and phosphates. That is, don’t use additives to decrease them, work on getting them down naturally.