Ca and dkH levels in new Reef tank???

Andrew Schubert · Aug 29, 2018

I've had my tank setup with corals for about a month now. I added 15 new coral frags that I purchased from world wide corals. These include 4 SPS, and the rest LPS (duncans, zios, ricordias, Lords, torch, hammerhead, and a couple chalices). I am using Instant Ocean Reef Cyrstals for my salt mix. My tank is a 120 gallon with a 30 gal refugium. I'm assuming it is due to the refugium and protein skimmer, but I still have 0 nitrate going on a month strong now (ammonia and nitrite are also 0) I waited 2 months for a full cycle before adding my first fish. Therefore, I have never had to do a water change yet. However, I've noticed that my kh and ca have barely changed, if at all. Currently my Ca is at 440ppm, and my dkH is at 11. PH is at 8, not sure about magnesium. For my lighting I have 2 Kessel's AP700 shinning at 50% on the 4ft, 2ft deep tank. I've been raising the brightness of these lights a couple % a week (started at 30%). Figured I'd keep raising it until it seemed they didn't like it and then dail it back down.

The corals all look to be doing great. In fact, many of them have shown visual growth already. My God of Armor Zio has already tippled in size for 3 polyps to 9! However, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong here as I expected the ca and dKH to have shown some change after a month. Is this just because the frags are still so small, or should I be concerned something isn't right? I have this big bag of 2-part I bought just collecting dust waiting to be used!

glb · Aug 30, 2018

It could be that your coral isn’t taking up to much Ca yet to affect your numbers. If everything looks good I would just leave it alone. Tinkering can cause more problems. Keep a close eye on your numbers and enjoy that new coral!

Andrew Schubert · Aug 30, 2018

glb said:
It could be that your coral isn’t taking up to much Ca yet to affect your numbers. If everything looks good I would just leave it alone. Tinkering can cause more problems. Keep a close eye on your numbers and enjoy that new coral!

Yeah, that's what I'm questioning. Why is that it? I know they r a bunch of small frags, but after a month I figured there would some change in the water chemestry.....I guess night

Mortie31 · Aug 30, 2018

As your hard corals start to grow, you will see the levels reduce, it may take a few months if there very small, your soft corals and Zoas won’t affect levels at all.

dwest · Aug 30, 2018

Andrew Schubert said:
I've had my tank setup with corals for about a month now. I added 15 new coral frags that I purchased from world wide corals. These include 4 SPS, and the rest LPS (duncans, zios, ricordias, Lords, torch, hammerhead, and a couple chalices). I am using Instant Ocean Reef Cyrstals for my salt mix. My tank is a 120 gallon with a 30 gal refugium. I'm assuming it is due to the refugium and protein skimmer, but I still have 0 nitrate going on a month strong now (ammonia and nitrite are also 0) I waited 2 months for a full cycle before adding my first fish. Therefore, I have never had to do a water change yet. However, I've noticed that my kh and ca have barely changed, if at all. Currently my Ca is at 440ppm, and my dkH is at 11. PH is at 8, not sure about magnesium. For my lighting I have 2 Kessel's AP700 shinning at 50% on the 4ft, 2ft deep tank. I've been raising the brightness of these lights a couple % a week (started at 30%). Figured I'd keep raising it until it seemed they didn't like it and then dail it back down.

The corals all look to be doing great. In fact, many of them have shown visual growth already. My God of Armor Zio has already tippled in size for 3 polyps to 9! However, I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong here as I expected the ca and dKH to have shown some change after a month. Is this just because the frags are still so small, or should I be concerned something isn't right? I have this big bag of 2-part I bought just collecting dust waiting to be used!

Things look great! You’ll see a drop in alkalinity and calcium when you get more growth. Make sure you have a good alkalinity test kit (salifert or Hanna). I would start a 10 % weekly wc schedule, test alkalinity, not worry about the other parameters for a while, and enjoy your hobby.

Andrew Schubert · Aug 30, 2018

dwest said:
Things look great! You’ll see a drop in alkalinity and calcium when you get more growth. Make sure you have a good alkalinity test kit (salifert or Hanna). I would start a 10 % weekly wc schedule, test alkalinity, not worry about the other parameters for a while, and enjoy your hobby.

Why would I need to do a 10% wc if all the parameters were still all good? My nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate are all at 0? Is there still a benefit of doing a water change that I'm not aware about?

dwest · Aug 30, 2018

Andrew Schubert said:
Why would I need to do a 10% wc if all the parameters were still all good? My nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate are all at 0? Is there still a benefit of doing a water change that I'm not aware about?

That’s a great question. There are some people that run on limited or no water changes, but the rest of us do them. Water changes will provide stability to your tanks key water parameters as well as flush out bad stuff we don’t measure as well as add trace elements we don’t measure. I’m sure if you google your question, you will have lots of good reading. I’ve been doing this 25 years and wc are still something I believe strongly in.

Andrew Schubert · Aug 30, 2018

dwest said:
That’s a great question. There are some people that run on limited or no water changes, but the rest of us do them. Water changes will provide stability to your tanks key water parameters as well as flush out bad stuff we don’t measure as well as add trace elements we don’t measure. I’m sure if you google your question, you will have lots of good reading. I’ve been doing this 25 years and wc are still something I believe strongly in.

I take it then that's where the Triton method comes in for those that don't do water changes? Add back in those trace elements

IslandLifeReef · Aug 30, 2018

Andrew Schubert said:
Why would I need to do a 10% wc if all the parameters were still all good? My nitrite, ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate are all at 0? Is there still a benefit of doing a water change that I'm not aware about?

You might want to do some reading on nutrient levels as well. 0 nitrate and phosphate levels can be a problem, especially with new tanks that are still developing their bacterial and algae bases. If your tank has only been cycled for a little over a month, I would slow down and just watch things a bit. Just a suggestion.

Andrew Schubert · Aug 30, 2018

IslandLifeReef said:
You might want to do some reading on nutrient levels as well. 0 nitrate and phosphate levels can be a problem, especially with new tanks that are still developing their bacterial and algae bases. If your tank has only been cycled for a little over a month, I would slow down and just watch things a bit. Just a suggestion.

I had the rock cycling in a tub by itself for 2 months...and then in the tank with just 2 clown fish for another month. So in total it's been cycled getting close to 3 1/2 to 4 months now

Andrew Schubert · Aug 30, 2018

Andrew Schubert said:
I had the rock cycling in a tub by itself for 2 months...and then in the tank with just 2 clown fish for another month. So in total it's been cycled getting close to 3 1/2 to 4 months now

The nitrates r zero bc of the refugium and skimmer. I have 3 fish in my 20 gallon QT that I place a piece of rock from my DT in and totally didn't think about checking the nitrates since it's always been zero in the DT. I just checked was keeping an eye on ammonia. Well after a week I did a nitrates test on the QT and it was almost at 40 ppm. Did a 80% wc on the QT and all is good again. But that shows the beneficial bacteria is there....just the PS and refugium must be doing there work on my DT[emoji3].

IslandLifeReef · Aug 30, 2018

Andrew Schubert said:
The nitrates r zero bc of the refugium and skimmer. I have 3 fish in my 20 gallon QT that I place a piece of rock from my DT in and totally didn't think about checking the nitrates since it's always been zero in the DT. I just checked was keeping an eye on ammonia. Well after a week I did a nitrates test on the QT and it was almost at 40 ppm. Did a 80% wc on the QT and all is good again. But that shows the beneficial bacteria is there....just the PS and refugium must be doing there work on my DT[emoji3].

Andrew Schubert said:
I had the rock cycling in a tub by itself for 2 months...and then in the tank with just 2 clown fish for another month. So in total it's been cycled getting close to 3 1/2 to 4 months now

Well OK. I guess you have this wired. No further reading is necessary.