Complete Noob Chem Question

[Outlaw]

Hey all,
So I have a 75 gal and have recently begun to acquire corals (Zoas, favias, shrooms and a few Montis, all of which are doing quite well!) I also have 2 clowns, a wrasse and a goby/shrimp pair. Upon testing last night, it appears my params are a tad out of whack. I am not currently dosing and am using Tropic Marin reef pro (after this bucket, don't think I'll use anymore).

Anywho, my parameters as of last night are as follows. I hope you can advise me on my levels (low alk/ high Ca/Mg, and the best way to correct.)

Thanks!

pH: 8-8.1 (API)
T: 78-79
NH4: 0 (API)
NO2: 0 (API)
NO3: <5 (API)
PO4: 0 (Hanna)
dKH: 7 (API), 6.7 (Red Sea)
Ca: 480-500 (Red Sea)
Mg: 1540 (Red Sea)
SG: 1.023 (slowly bringing back up)

 

[UK_Pete]

You know to bring your salinity up. Where do you want to run your alk? I run mine at 7 dkh now. Thats natural sea water and is fine. If you want to go higher you can, as long as your N and P are not too low (your P might be too low for you to safely raise your alk much). Your calcium and mag seem slightly high, I run mine about those levels though, but maybe someone will pipe up and say its not ideal, I'm not sure. But its certainly not far out. If you want to boost your alk slightly I suggest Randys 2 part

An Improved Do-it-Yourself Two-Part Calcium and Alkalinity Supplement System by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

Or you can buy 'buffer' at the LFS. Or baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) at the supermarket, same thing, much cheaper. Randys article describes how much to use, and I highly recommend reading it first thing, and if you don't fully understand you can always come back and ask once you read the article.

If you want to bring your mag down, you need a different salt probably.

 

[KoleTang]

You should check your salt mix if your magnesium and calcium are high even though you're not dosing.

 

[Outlaw]

Thanks. Yeah, pretty sure it's the salt. Tested my nano in my office (4 days old, cycling) and dKH is 7ish. Didn't test ca and mg.

Buckets almost gone, any salt suggestions?

To answer your question, I'd like my Params in the oft-quoted range:
9ish dKH
420ish ca
1350ish mg

*if these are in fact ideal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

To answer your question, I'd like my Params in the oft-quoted range:
9ish dKH
420ish ca
1350ish mg

*if these are in fact ideal.

FWIW, those goals sound fine.

 

[UK_Pete]

Being from the UK the brands from here are mostly different to the US, so I can't recommend anything myself, although I would say that frequently it seems that cheaper salts have lower calcium, mag and alk in my limited experience with different brands. I suggest you find out what is available to you and pick something that does not exceed any of your target values. Its easier to raise for instance calcium and alk than it is to reduce calcium. So go to your LFS, see what they sell, if the important elements are not printed on the label then go home and look up the values on the web. The 'pro' salts seem to contain more calcium and alk, probably because they are designed for the novice reef keepers to maintain calcium and alk with just WCs, although thats a very expensive and laborious way to maintain these. A more basic but high quality salt designed for fish only might not have these levels boosted. Then you can raise the levels to whatever you desire using, for instance, Randys DIY 2 part, or brand versions if you are not ready to source the DIY components and dont mind paying more. You can always mix a high calcium salt with a low calcium salt to get a medium calcium salt, for instance, if you want to use up the bucket you have already.

 

[Outlaw]

Thanks so much. Some great advice.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Great advice above as usual from Randy and now from Pete as well. For a good value and consistent Salt mix I'd suggest good ol' Instant Ocean with a tweak* unless your system is so Coral heavy to demand otherwise. By tweaking not twerking it I mean as an example for a 15 gallon new batch of SW using I/O 8+ cups of salt mix, plus 1 squirt(1 Tablespoon) Tech M (Mg supplement), plus 1 heaping teaspoon of Calcium Hydroxide (Kalk) you will end up with the equivalent of a nice and much more expensive 'Pro Reef' salt mix IMHO. You can obviously adjust these additives to meet your systems needs. I successfully ran my systems this way for 20 plus years and another 5+ previous years without any adjusting. Just somewhat recently I switched to SeaChem Reef plus dosing 3-part to keep up with a massive amount of Coral growth in current system and after I finish off my current box of may end up going back as feel I/O has a very nice base mix to work with.


Cheers, Todd

 

[UK_Pete]

Thanks Todd, I agree completely that making your own mix from a decent but low (ie natural) Ca / Mg / alk salt is the best way to get control over the levels if you want it. I find the so called pro salts in the UK at least are far too high for anything other than a small water change, if you ever want to do a really large WC or replace 100% of the tank water, there is just no way to bring things like calcium down, and bringing alk down is an effort that is wasted considering you pay more for the extra effort!. Although it required a little bit of understanding to modify a low calcium etc salt, that understanding is essential to maintain water when you need to start dosing. So I think the pro salts should probably be called 'starter' or 'novice' salts and that in most situations people should aim to learn how to adjust the WC to their desired parameters as it will help them learn to dose the tank too.

 

[Outlaw]

Just bought a 50 gallon bag of garden variety I/O. Mixed it with what's left of the Tropic Marin pro (less left than I thought). Will mix up a batch tonight and test. Added a first small dose of carbonate (reef code B; I was at the LPS and that's what they had...) and will check levels of that as well. Certainly don't think I'll be needing to dose Ca and Mg anytime soon, all of my corals are still kind of at the frag stage.

Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the input.