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Brian Mountain

Brian Mountain

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Just finished my weekly water change and general cleaning. I wanted to post my test results and get everyone's varied opinions ( ) on the good/bad/ ugly.

NH3/NO3/NO4 = 0
Ph 8.2
Alkalinity 12.9
Ca 420
Mg 1460
 
The NH3/NO3/NO4 being 0 is obviously good. Your pH and CA are good too.

Your Alkalinity and MG in my opinion are a little too high. For 420 Ca your balanced Alk should be 8.2. I prefer to keep my Mg at 1325. Ca at 425 and Alk at 9.0.

You might want to drop your Mg a little. Just don't dose for a few days and it will drop gradually.
 
BlueDevil said:
The NH3/NO3/NO4 being 0 is obviously good. Your pH and CA are good too.

Your Alkalinity and MG in my opinion are a little too high. For 420 Ca your balanced Alk should be 8.2. I prefer to keep my Mg at 1325. Ca at 425 and Alk at 9.0.

You might want to drop your Mg a little. Just don't dose for a few days and it will drop gradually.
Click to expand...
I don't do any kind of dosing. How else would you bring down? I plan on putting in a dual reactor for GFO/Carbon soon and then adding in a doser pending what I need.
 
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Brian Mountain said:
I don't do any kind of dosing. How else would you bring down? I plan on putting in a dual reactor for GFO/Carbon soon and then adding in a doser pending what I need.
Click to expand...

If you don't dose anything and your alk is that high, your salt mix is probably the cause. Have you checked the levels in your salt water? If you salt mixes really high alk you can do several small water changes with water that you know is lower in alk.

Carbon/GFO reactor will help you with general water clarity and PO4. They won't help much in reducing any of your other parameters.
 
Red Sea Coral Pro by chance?

The Mg is not as much of a concern, as some will maintain even higher levels on purpose.

High alk and low nutrients can be bad, burnt tips and so on, but it should come down on it own as it's taken up.

Agree with Yash, prolly the salt mix.

Share your Balance table/calculator @BlueDevil! I'd love to have that. [emoji14]
 
CastAway said:
Share your Balance table/calculator @BlueDevil! I'd love to have that. [emoji14]
Click to expand...

I got the table from Randy's article on the Calcium/Alk relationship. Very interesting read!

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/

He has a sample table at the bottom of the article that you can extrapolate further. Basically every 10 pt increase in Ca needs a 0.5 meq increase in alk to maintain the balance. Bear in mind this is meq but that can easily be converted to dkh.

Agreed on the high Mg levels. Many people keep Mg higher than normal. I just prefer to keep mine NSW levels. Higher Mg won't hurt anything though the higher Alk certainly will, especially in a ULNS as Jeff pointed out.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
BlueDevil said:
You might want to drop your Mg a little. Just don't dose for a few days and it will drop gradually.
Click to expand...

Edit: In this quote I meant to say Alk not Mg. Your Alk should drop by itself over a week of no water changes or dosing. My tank consumes ~0.4 dkh in one day.
 
I've been using reef crystals salt.

What salt is everyone using and why do you like it???
 
I have used reef crystals for as long as I have been in the hobby,...I guess going on twenty years now,...and for the first time I am considering changing salt brands.

Reef Crystals mixes much higher in alk. than I keep my tank, 11.5dkh verses 9dkh where I would like to keep my tank. I have noticed slight bumps in alk. when doing weekly water changes and would like the alk. to stay more stable. I am also concerned with needing to do a large emergency water change, this would cause more than a slight "bump" in alk. that could be detrimental to my sps. Truth is I just haven't taken the time to do the research on what other salts would fit my needs.

Reef crystals is good salt, many, many people use it(at one time it was by far the most popular salt mix) with amazing results.:)
 
AS
Mark75 said:
I have used reef crystals for as long as I have been in the hobby,...I guess going on twenty years now,...and for the first time I am considering changing salt brands.

Reef Crystals mixes much higher in alk. than I keep my tank, 11.5dkh verses 9dkh where I would like to keep my tank. I have noticed slight bumps in alk. when doing weekly water changes and would like the alk. to stay more stable. I am also concerned with needing to do a large emergency water change, this would cause more than a slight "bump" in alk. that could be detrimental to my sps. Truth is I just haven't taken the time to do the research on what other salts would fit my needs.

Reef crystals is good salt, many, many people use it(at one time it was by far the most popular salt mix) with amazing results.:)
Click to expand...

I'm trying Tropic Marin for the first time ever. Used either instant ocean or reef crystals for the entire time I've been in the hobby.
 
To be honest I have not measured alk. in fresh mix salt water in some time,...probably should! The last I checked reef crystals mixed to [email protected] salinity.

I did a 6g. water change on 60g. total water volume system and it bumped my alk. up a full dkh, from 9dkh to 10dkh. I am sure someone can do the math and figure out what dkh my fresh mix was but I can't.o_O
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Brian - looks like you found the cause for your higher alk levels.

I currently don't make my own SW so I'm no help with salt mix preferences. If all goes well, I should have my station set up within the next month.

I plan on using HW- Marinemix when I do start making my own water. It is slightly more expensive than the others but I have heard very good things about it. Mixing clean and true to advertised parameters are the more common pros that I have seen. Which is a big deal to me.
 
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
On a side note, I just did measurements. My pH is up a little, my alk is down a solid point and there's no slime in the mix container. I love this stuff!
 
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I like this salt... Because it has an analysis right on the bucket and when I have tested freshly mixed (not that I have for a long time either) it's spot on...
IMG_1471840146.216892.jpg
IMG_1471840158.794468.jpg


I've only used IORC and AVS so I can't be more of help there.
 

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