My Tank parameters - some questions and advice needed

[justrc]

My tank has been around for a while.

Has been impatient and adding stuff that I shouldnt have before I got the parameters right.

Causing some browned out acro and bleach some others.

Didnt really prepared enough for the tank for the past few months, until I moved to a new place and really could get into setting it up properly.

Changed some equipments, added more flow.

Now, tank parameters has been monitored very closely. May be considered paranoid for now. Testing too often.

But really wanna get it right this time.

2FT with sump / skimmer and chiller

25 degrees

1.023

PH 8.4

KH 8

Cal 480

Mg 1380

No3 between 10ppm and 25ppm (started at 25ppm, dosing NO3PO3 X for a week) Looks like its dropping

Phosphate not tested

Dosing Red sea Foundation B

Lighting period 6 hours, with AI Hydra (High on blues and low on whites)

Water change 10% weekly

Fish load

6 small fishes

Condition now

Frags like birdnest, and digita frags that I acquired a week ago are doing well, polyps extended well

I have a acropora I bought, polyps only slightly extended

One browned out acropora from my bro tank, after a week, it seems the tips are turning green

Rest of stuff like zoas, sun coral and acan doing well

Now questions

Can I do without reactors? Limited space in sump, can still squeeze in one FR though (ran rowaphos before)

Seen alot of comments on salt level at 1.025, should I bring mine up?

My brown acropora tips turning green is a good sign?

Do I really need to lessen the fish load?

Should I test my phosphate too? (Buying test kits alone is burning a hole in the pocket)

Any with AI Hydra for optimum settings to share?

I read that KH shouldnt fluctuate, I seen 7.4, 7.5 8.1 variations, is it ok?

Thank you for answering my questions in advance.

Will add on when I have more.

[justrc]

Oh yes, aiming at purely SPS only.

And no approval or permit for bigger tank.

[Clement Chen]

I bro I also running 2 feet with sump for sps. For small tanks water stability is important and also hard to achieve.

Should test for phosphates as well, maybe can wait for Aquamarin for sales on their salifert test kits.

Salinity wise can slowly bring up to 1.025 will be better. although i think shuld not be an issue at 1.023 as long as it is stable.

For KH should not to fluctuate. Do you dose calcium? And how do you dose. Might want to get a dosing pump to keep it stable.

[justrc]

I bro I also running 2 feet with sump for sps. For small tanks water stability is important and also hard to achieve.

Should test for phosphates as well, maybe can wait for Aquamarin for sales on their salifert test kits.

Salinity wise can slowly bring up to 1.025 will be better. although i think shuld not be an issue at 1.023 as long as it is stable.

For KH should not to fluctuate. Do you dose calcium? And how do you dose. Might want to get a dosing pump to keep it stable.

Hi bro, thanks for the reply.

Understand that too, regarding small tank.

Calcium has been very stable at 480 at this point of time, so no dosing yet (dosed before) worried that it might just shoot too high.

Actually my ATO is filled with slightly higher salinity water. Will try and bring it up gradually to see.

[Clement Chen]

sorry just to check ur ATO water u put salt inside?

[justrc]

sorry just to check ur ATO water u put salt inside?

mixed salt water.

[Clement Chen]

dangerous lei like that, top up shuld be fresh water. If not later will cause ur salinity to rise

[justrc]

dangerous lei like that, top up shuld be fresh water. If not later will cause ur salinity to rise

Oh, so far ok, i only put in 1.5 litres of top up salt mixed water (maybe ard 1.025) at a time. it takes a few days for the water to finish.

highest I notice it went up to was 1.024

[Clement Chen]

think most seniors also would advise against that. When u mix ur water make sure its 1.025 den top up with fresh water can already. Also what do u use to measure salinity

[Admiraltian]

Agreed with bro ClementC, top up is with ro/di pure water. Rem this, water will evaporate, salt won't. Too high salinity will kill ur corals.

[tofubox]

Hey bro, agree with clementC, need to slowly raise your SG to 1.025

On the other hand, i understand what u mean by using salt mix for the ATO to slowly raise the sg of the tank. I too use a similar method, but has to be monitored on a day to day basis. Once u reach your ideal 1.025, u can just use freshwater as ATO.

For me, if i just use freshwater, my sg in the display tends to drop fairly quickly, might be due to tank water removal too quickly during filter pad changes and wet skimming as opposed to just purely water evaporation. Hence my ATO is kept at 1.000. I found this amount for the ato to be just nice for me to maintain that 1.025 in the main display.

For KH, yes, you will experience some fluctuations, especially if u test at different times of the day / night. But these fluctuations should be limited to a range. I.e between 7.5 to 8.0. This gives room for the fluctuation and prevent any unnecessary excess dosing. Found this to be the easiest way to maintain KH, on top of that, it gives our test kits a margin of error during reading. As mentioned, a dosing unit is a good consideration in maintaining a stable KH or CA, if u ever get lazy of manual dose.

6 small fishes for a 2ft is reasonable. But i wont go more than that for a sps tank. I too keep 6 fishes, 1 small YT, 2 clowns, 1 6line, 2 anthias.

Brown acro turning green definately a good sign

And yes, u need to test for phosphate if u plan on keeping sps for the long term. (cheaper to buy test kits than sps)

6hrs Lighting period is too short in my opinion.

[justrc]

Thanks for all the helpful insights guy. Yes. My ato water is monitored. Hmm. Didnt occured to me about timing of test. Will keep that in mind.

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[Land2013]

If you intend to buy p04 test kit, i recommed to buy hanna better. The normal test kit wouldn't give you correct result even salifert. For sps, control phosphate is important and you will surprise the result between hanna n salifert as it happen to me. Diy the upflow ATS for nano tank would be a long term solution or you may try reactor with FM ultraphos but need to slowly bring down the phosphate as it will shock your coral.

[moonwater]

and i think as bro youdontknowme mentioned, using hanna Alkalinity checker - bonus +99999

[sherman]

Oop so you all keep your SG at 1.0025. I always keep at 1.0023.

Is mine too low?

[Admiraltian]

Oop so you all keep your SG at 1.0025. I always keep at 1.0023.

Is mine too low?

Its acceptable IMO but considered by many sps keepers to be low. No issues for lps & softies.

[woyeng**]

I use AI hydra. Used to do 20-25% white, 70%, 30% blue, red, green and Violet, 2% UV.

After some advice from a few fellow AI users my setting slowly increase over 2 months to :

100% all colors

, 70% UV

Using factory day-to-nite settings

My light is 1 ft from tank top. SPS mid to top.

So far no bleaching... Just to share

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marcuss]

For small tank, weekly 30% to 50% of water change will do and already reset your tank back to the basic requirement water parameter. Your observation are much more important than those test kit outside there.if u feel additional supplement are needed, just use the recommended minimum or basic dose from the product you intended to use.phosphate remover is a must even thought your po4 reading is zero because it will buffer your po4 rise in case over feeding your fish.

[justrc]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for the constructive advices.

Tank parameters update

Brought salt level to 1.025

ATO is now top up with DI water.

KH .7.7

Ca 455

PH8.35

Mg 1440

NO3 - finally below 10ppm (after 1 week+ of NO3.PO4 X)

PO4 - undetectable (Bought the test kit)

Currently not dosing my calcium and KH buffer. Both seems stable for now.

Dosing some Red sea color supplements (Started today)

Ordered dosing pump. (by end of the month)

Corals Birdnest / capitata polyps well extended.

Only acro slightly extended.

Now just keeping my fingers cross and monitoring the tank for improvement.

Thank you all.

[justrc]

Hi all,

Thank you very much for the constructive advices.

Tank parameters update

Brought salt level to 1.025

ATO is now top up with DI water.

KH .7.7

Ca 455

PH8.35

Mg 1440

NO3 - finally below 10ppm (after 1 week+ of NO3.PO4 X)

PO4 - undetectable (Bought the test kit)

Currently not dosing my calcium and KH buffer. Both seems stable for now.

Dosing some Red sea color supplements (Started today)

Ordered dosing pump. (by end of the month)

Corals Birdnest / capitata polyps well extended.

Only acro slightly extended.

Now just keeping my fingers cross and monitoring the tank for improvement.

Thank you all.

Comparing my test results, just dosed my KH buffer.

[Firestarter]

You can raise temp to 26'c to increase growth rate.

[justrc]

Tank Update

[FuEl]

Salinity if it's too low just observe your coralline, if no coralline growth or coralline starts dying means your salinity is not high enough. SG of 1.023 is about 20% lower in salinity compared to full strength seawater. For SPS I prefer a specific gravity of 1.026 to 1.028 (measured using an accurate digital refractometer or at the very least a calibrated manual refractometer).

[sherman]

Good info. Thank You for sharing. Bro Fuel