Adjusting Tank Parameters & Red Sea Coral Pro Salt

[Reef Boi Rich]

Hi,

This is my first reef tank and it's about 5 months old. It's been about 3.5 months since I first put fish/coral in. I think I've made a mistake regarding keeping stable parameters. When I first started out, I didn't monitor alkalinity/calcium/magnesium very closely, thinking that water changes could replenish those. When I did start monitoring and dosing for those parameters, I kept alkalinity close to ~8.5 dKH and calcium around 410 ppm and didn't really pay attention to magnesium.

Anyways, I realized that the salt that I have been using, Red Sea Coral Pro, has parameters closer to 11.8-12.2 dKH, calcium 430-450 ppm, and magnesium 1280-1340 at 1.023 specific gravity. So that means that every time I do a water change, it'll result in a sizable swing in water parameters. My most recent parameters measured from today are:

Alkalinity: 9.2 dKH
Calcium: 450 ppm
Magnesium: 1440 ppm
Phosphates: ~0 ppm
Nitrates: 0-2 ppm
Salinity: 1.026

I want to adjust my water parameters to match the salt that I currently have so water changes would be more stable. That means alkalinity would be increased pretty significantly. But I also don't want to be "chasing parameters".

My question is, is my plan a good idea? And if so, how should I go about raising alkalinity in a safe way? Is a week too quick to raise alk? Or would a month be better?

Quite a few of my corals aren't very happy right now: goniopora, some zoas, toadstool, stylophora, frogspawn, torch, GSP. I'm afraid that changing my water parameters rapidly would make them even more unhappy but I'm not sure what to do at this point with my salt situation.

 

[Silent]

If you just keep doing water changes your DT will get closer to the salt mix. You don't have a high demand of cal/alk corals yet. Smaller more frequent water changes.

 

[BeejReef]

With the livestock you have and as low as you keep your nitrate and phosphate, I might be inclined to switch to a salt that is closer to where you are... something with a dkh of 8-9. The real high alkalinity and calcium mixes are usually associated with folks keeping a ton of stony corals and higher nutrients in well-established systems... OR peeps that use frequent, smaller water changes to maintain their parameters without dosing.

I'd be afraid to try and run my tank that high bc an overshoot would quickly be well into the danger zone, and all the issues of precipitation and having to be overly concerned with ph.

 

[Reef Boi Rich]

Okay I will consider switching salts and aiming for lower parameters. I've actually been having some problems keeping my phosphates and nitrates up. They've been testing at 0 or close to zero (salifert tests, hard to tell) for about the past two months and I've been struggling to keep it elevated. I took out my chaeto and started to feed the fish and coral more frequently but it seems like nuisance algae consumes the phosphates and nitrates as soon as it is produced. What can I do to maintain elevated levels while keeping nuisance algae at bay?