FarmerTy Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 After 7 years of never testing my parameters, I broke down and finally bought kits and tested. Here are my results: Ca- 420ppm Alk- 6.8 dKH Mg- 1360ppm PO4- 0.6-0.8ppm NO3- 2-3ppm **Please excuse the units since I'm doing this from the top of my head and hopefully I remembered all the units correctly. I was very surprised that my tank is sitting pretty close to optimal for Ca, Alk, and Mg without ever dosing. I've been using the Red Sea Pro Salt for a number of years now. If anybody recommends has any suggestions for optimal levels, please feel free to comment as I would appreciate the feedback. I have a mixed reef tank with SPS, LPS, and some softies. Another thing that surprised me was my nitrate and phosphate levels. My macro algae (halimeda and chaeto) have not been growing for the last 3-4 months so I just assumed lower levels of nitrates and phosphates, but I guess I was wrong. I am currently in the process of ordering Ecobak pellets (Amazon) and a reactor from BRS to try to do solid carbon dosing to lower my sulfates and nitrates, in hopes that my SPS will color up nicely and will achieve a faster growing rate. I have a great skimmer that will complement this process. Any personal experience with this is much appreciated. Wish me luck. I will document with before and after pictures so that I can share my own personal experience. Thanks! -Ty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Here is a chart I've used for year: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasonHoff Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 bring your alk up. carbon will just make you water clearer! try a mix of seachem purigen and chemi pure elite. I have heard this is a great way to go! or people go back and forth alternating one after another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Congradulations on keeping a system stable for so long! I'm not too surprised by your parameters. Once a good balance is achieved in a system it can remain very stable for a very long time. I would still recommend the new hobbiest test a lot though. Since your corals have been doing so well for so long I'm curious to see how your corals fair over time with the change (this may be presumptuous on my part but I'm assuming you're still seeing good growth and haven't needed to add many new corals). You do understand you are not actually coloring up the corals but reducing the brown symbiotic zoanthellea algae which is muting some of pigmentation the coral has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 What brand of test kit are you using? 2-3ppm NO3 is pretty low on a good test kit. API ones are pretty touch and go. Try taking 5 tests in a row and see how many are different... I use NPX biopellets and am pleased with them so far. However, if your nitrates are already under control, I don't think I would change anything as far as nitrate removal goes. The biopellets aren't especially good at removing PO4, so you may be better of with a GFO reactor instead of pellets. You might be able to get them down to zero, but then you're going to have even more of a nutrient deficit situation going. As far as growth factors go, what temp does your tank run at, how often do you do water changes, what lighting do you have, and do you do any dosing? You might look into dosing supplements or lighting or other environmental factors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Wow, the quick responses surprised me. Thanks all! Timfish- The 7 years of reefkeeping have morphed tanks over the years, so the corals and live rock have not been consistent over the years. Starting with a nanocube and currently on a 125-gallon, there are many corals that made the move with me but their maturity has been stunted with all the tank moves (3 tanks). Yes, that was what I was meaning by coloring up but I appreciate the clarification. I know that phosphates can inhibit/slow SPS growth rates so I wanted to lower my phosphates as low as possible without creating a ultra low nutrient environment. Jestep- I am using the Seachem brand of tests. It may be possible that I am remembering the wrong concentration since my test results are written on a pad at home currently. My temps range from 78-80... I change my water twice a month (15% water change)... and I recently bought 2-part calcium dosing mix and magnesium mix from BRS with the intent to dose. But after obtaining my readings, I feel like that is not needed right now. The only thing is I may try to increase my alkalinity since it is a little low and at the same time go ahead and increase my calcium (even though I am happy with 420ppm on the calcium) since the higher alkalinity will allow me to have a higher calcium level so... why not. BTW, just for clarification, I am trying to start organic carbon dosing (aka vodka... though without the vodka). I am NOT referring to using your standard inorganic activated carbon to remove organics from the water/remove the yellow look. The terms are so similar that I get confused myself sometimes when people discuss carbon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 everything looks good to me. Keep in mind carbon dosing will probably drop your Alk. I've run my ALK in the 5 range for a while and saw no issues. Remember, #'s are largely guidelines, not an absolute value to live/die by Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Well that makes me feel better about my alkalinity levels. Mark, are you doing anything as far as reactors/carbon/pellets/vodka/zeovit is concerned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Well that makes me feel better about my alkalinity levels. Mark, are you doing anything as far as reactors/carbon/pellets/vodka/zeovit is concerned? I was doing Polyp labs, but I'm working on something secret right now. I'll be rolling it out about MACNA time I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 You're like the CIA of reefkeeping Mark, there's always some secret project brewing. Consider my interest peaked right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteorflower Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Reef tank black ops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 Reef tank black ops I'm actually torn between James Bond and The A-team. "I ain't gonna add no pellets Hannibal!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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