0 nitrate 0 nitrite and 7dkh alkalinity

[Nburg's Reef]

You shouldn't have a high demand with those, but all things will use up Alk, so you still want to stay on top of it. You're biggest consumer might be coraline algae until your LPS get big.

 

[40breederzach]

the only algae i have is a light brown on rocks and sand i dont have any coraline growing yet even tho my tank has been up for 8 months

 

[Johnson556]

Dail it back, the skim should be nice and card, if anything under skim and then slowly dial it up (bit by bit) until you start to get a skim you're happy with.

Make sure you put the xenia on its own rock you will be able to throw it out in a couple months when you're sick of it haha

 

[Nburg's Reef]

Hmm, you should have plenty of coraline by now. Ever get any green algae? Hair algae, etc?

 

[40breederzach]

i have an algea not sure what it is it looks like if u took pellet food and it disintegrated and covered rocks sand and glass i also have a small 4" circle of what looks to be green algae but its almost black that just started growing in middle of sandbed.

 

[40breederzach]

This is what is looks like on the back glass don’t have good pics on rock

 

[FoxyFace]

Look into a float for the skimmer to prevent overflows. Some skimmers already have them built in. I think they are priceless.

 

[ReefGeezer]

I have never used kalkwasser because I find ATO fluctuates with humidity in my house...

I use kalk and dose about 1500 ml/day using a dosing pump. The ATO makes up the rest of the evaporation as needed. This works as long as the evaporation rate is higher than the amount of Kalk needed. My tank has a low calcium/alk demand and evaporates about 1.5 gallons in the winter and a little less in the summer.

I don't understand the whole alk/nutrient balance thing. My goal is to keep the alk stable at the number I selected based on the alk achieved with the ASW mix I use at 35ppt which is about 9 dKh. If I test my system, it will report 0 nitrate and maybe up to .05 ppm of phosphate. There is a little algae though, so I know there are nutrients available.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I use kalk and dose about 1500 ml/day using a dosing pump. The ATO makes up the rest of the evaporation as needed. This works as long as the evaporation rate is higher than the amount of Kalk needed. My tank has a low calcium/alk demand and evaporates about 1.5 gallons in the winter and a little less in the summer.

I don't understand the whole alk/nutrient balance thing. My goal is to keep the alk stable at the number I selected based on the alk achieved with the ASW mix I use at 35ppt which is about 9 dKh. If I test my system, it will report 0 nitrate and maybe up to .05 ppm of phosphate. There is a little algae though, so I know there are nutrients available.

yeah, the only numbers I chase are steady alk and decent but not too high PAR. everything else kinda falls in line.

 

[Hans-Werner]

Do you know the phosphate concentration in your tank? If it is also low you can easily start STN with dosing nitrate and alkalinity. Both are working against phosphate and if this is also low you most likely will kill your corals.

 

[40breederzach]

i dont have the test kit for phosphate only the marine care kit from red sea

 

[Gary Inwood]

I have read the having detectable nitrate and nitrite is beneficial to healthy coral growth. I also would like to raise my alkalinity. Any ideas on how to raise these three. Also should i try to raise them. I run gfo and carbon and a skimmer. I haven't done a water change in about a month trying to let those numbers rise but nothing is doing any good.

I have never run GFO my Nittrite is 0 but my nitrate is off the chart when i do a test using red sea test kit and all my corals are healthy and growing.easy way to rise alk is Kalkwasser in your auto top off

 

[Hans-Werner]

In this case I would expect that phosphate is also very low and would avoid any measure to alter the ratios. I recommend to feed the fish more or to feed the corals to raise nutrient levels. These are save measures.

6.5 °dKH is the normal alkalinity of natural seawater. As long as nutrient concentrations are low you will not get better growth or more stability if increasing alkalinity.

 

[40breederzach]

i am about to hookup a 2 part system