Are these parameters ok?

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Just wondering if these parameters are ok. My tank is primarily SPS with a few LPS. but i'd say 80% SPS. Anyways it seems like these numbers are little out of wack. What do you guys think?

All tests were done with hanna checkers except MAG "Salifert" Mag is about 1510 (still trying to slowly get this number down)

Also i am not too familiar with Nitrites compared to Nitrates too much. But the Hanna checker i have is for Nitrites. I can test Nitrates tonight with a salifert test.

Also if it matters my salinity is 1.026

Reeferdood · Dec 2, 2016

How old is the setup?
You really should not be seeing nitrites at all and your phosphate is elevated as well.
Everything else looks ok

Diesel · Dec 2, 2016

Your No2 is at 0.14 or do you mistaken that for No3?
If that's ^^^^ is correct you need to try to zero it out and see if you can get a reading on No3.
Cal can be bit lower but not bad at all.
Try to fill in your PH, NSW and MAG and we can say more.

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Thanks, I will test the Nitrites again today. And see what it looks like. I also have a Salifert Nitrate test i can use. That will probably paint a better picture right? Also the phosphorus test is done in PPB. so i think that will change those numbers a bit right?

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Never mind your right i already did the conversion. The phosphorus came in at 21 PPB which was 0064 ppm. Sorry my mistake.

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Reeferdood said:
How old is the setup?
You really should not be seeing nitrites at all and your phosphate is elevated as well.
Everything else looks ok

The setup is almost 1 year old.

Reeferdood · Dec 2, 2016

scfurse77 said:
The setup is almost 1 year old.

Ok,
You should not see nitrites anymore if you biological filtration is working properly..

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Reeferdood said:
Ok,
You should not see nitrites anymore if you biological filtration is working properly..

Ok, That's what i thought. i will test again today and see what it shows. I will also test Nitrates and see what that looks like.

Reeferdood · Dec 2, 2016

Test for everything you can...
pH, Mg. Etc...

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Reeferdood said:
Test for everything you can...
pH, Mg. Etc...

I tested for Mag already it's 1510. I know its a bit high. But i've been fighting high mag for awhile. Now it's slowly lowering since i changed my salt mix a few months back.

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

All of my coral and fish seem to be doing good. SPS is growing like crazy, But not quite getting the color out of some of them yet. I'm sure it will come especially once i get my parameters in order.

Diesel · Dec 2, 2016

scfurse77 said:
All of my coral and fish seem to be doing good. SPS is growing like crazy, But not quite getting the color out of some of them yet. I'm sure it will come especially once i get my parameters in order.

What SPS need are No3's to be on their best.

jsker · Dec 2, 2016

Instead of the phone shot, could you please post all of you parameters, below is what we have so far

Ca 467
Mg 1510
Alk 9.1
Po4 21ppm
No3 ??
Is there algae in the tank? Are you running GFO? Carbon?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Dec 2, 2016

Why do you think something is out of whack?

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

I just feel like my colors of my acro's aren't where they should be. The growth is good. But the colors aren't great.

So @Diesel you have everything right. I will test my Po4 tonight and see where that is. I run both RowaPhos and carbon. I had some algae in the tank. So added a little bit more Rowa and the algae is just about gone. It took about 3-4 weeks for it to start going away.

jsker · Dec 2, 2016

scfurse77 said:
I just feel like my colors of my acro's aren't where they should be. The growth is good. But the colors aren't great.

So @Diesel you have everything right. I will test my Po4 tonight and see where that is. I run both RowaPhos and carbon. I had some algae in the tank. So added a little bit more Rowa and the algae is just about gone. It took about 3-4 weeks for it to start going away.

What salt are you using now? Once we have your current Po4 and No3 reading we can give you more feed back in what would be good way to get you color up. One other question, what kind of light are you using?

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

jsker said:
What salt are you using now? Once we have your current Po4 and No3 reading we can give you more feed back in what would be good way to get you color up. One other question, what kind of light are you using?

Yeah so i was using the Oceanic for the first 8 months or so and a while back i switched to RedSea Coral Pro. Also i have been using the Coral Colors once a week in very small amounts.

As far as lighting i have an 8 Bulb dimmable ATI fixture. Using 5 blue+ 2 Coral + and one Purple+ I also have a SB reef light SBAR LED strip that is attached to the ATI fixture. But i currently am keeping that off because it seemed like that was too much light and was bleaching my coral. They said they are coming out with a dimmable piece for the light next month. So i'll wait for that until i start using that again.

jsker · Dec 2, 2016

scfurse77 said:
Yeah so i was using the Oceanic for the first 8 months or so and a while back i switched to RedSea Coral Pro. Also i have been using the Coral Colors once a week in very small amounts.

As far as lighting i have an 8 Bulb dimmable ATI fixture. Using 5 blue+ 2 Coral + and one Purple+ I also have a SB reef light SBAR LED strip that is attached to the ATI fixture. But i currently am keeping that off because it seemed like that was too much light and was bleaching my coral. They said they are coming out with a dimmable piece for the light next month. So i'll wait for that until i start using that again.

It looks like you have all the right equipment in place and using the right products. Now you have me wondering what you nitrates and phosphate are really at. Can you tank a water sample to the local fish store to compare with your tests, if you have not already done so?

I am going to call in the #reefsquad for some more minds on this. again if you could please get use current
Ca
Mg
alk
Po4's
No3's
You are now using RS coral Pro, and dosing small amount of Rs Coral colors
You are using ATI 8 bulb dimmable fixture

scfurse77 said:
Using 5 blue+ 2 Coral + and one Purple+ I also have a SB reef light SBAR LED strip that is attached to the ATI fixture. But i currently am keeping that off because it seemed like that was too much light and was bleaching my coral. They said they are coming out with a dimmable piece for the light next month. So i'll wait for that until i start using that again.

dbl · Dec 2, 2016

As well as the parameters requested, the old adage stands...a picture is worth a thousands words. Can you post a few shots of the tank and maybe some of the corals you feel aren't up to par? Might help us understand what you're referring to.

scfurse77 · Dec 2, 2016

Ok so I just finished testing everything i could for the night. I'm guessing last time I tested was right after my doser went off for ALK and CAL so things were a little elevated. I tested twice today to make sure of my numbers.

Salinity-1.026
Temp-78
Nitrates-2 (salifert)
Nitrites-10 ppb = .10 ppm (Hanna)
Phosphorus 19 ppb =0,058 ppm (Hanna)
Phosphates 0 (salifert)
PH - 8.2 (API)
ALK - 8.3 (Hanna)
CAL - 438 (Hanna)
MAG - 1490 (Salifert)

Let me see if I can find some pictures of what I'm talking about.