Help Me Make My Param Perfect (SPS Tank)

Cleverbs · Mar 19, 2015

I am currently rebuilding my tank to be a pure SPS tank. Tank is 220g Display with a 30g sump and 30g frag tank so about 280g. I want my tank to have as close to perfect params as possible. Tank is also Bare Bottom.

As of last night here they are.

Salinity - 1.0264
Temp - 79.1
Ph - 8.36
Po4 - .06
Alk - 9.2
Cal - 430
Mag - 1380

How should I adjust them? IMO I would think everything is fine other then alk. I would like to bring alk down to 8-8.5 and keep my other param the same. However I am unsure that I am correct on this and would like to know what you all think. I am also trying to lower my Po4 to .03 - .05 however It is coming down slowly after removing my sand bed.

Rockhead · Mar 19, 2015

Everything looks good as is, know let the tank run its course, I found in my travels that I try and fix one little thing I'm screwing up something else, more sps you add the alk will start you come down slowly then start to dose alk to keep it where you want it.

NanaReefer · Mar 19, 2015

Your much better off shooting for stability and not so much perfect numbers. Yours look great! Your on the right track lowering the po4.
Agree with letting ALK lower naturally.

Cleverbs · Mar 19, 2015

I agree stability is the most important by far. However I would like the tank to have ideal param and stability. I have dosers waiting to be used but havent needed them yet because I only have 10-12 SPS frags right now.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 19, 2015

I don't think the alk needs to be any lower, unless you intend to drive nutrients into the ULNS range.

i would take phosphate down a bit.

This has more:

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/re...-coral-reef-aquarium-randy-holmes-farley.html

Cleverbs · Mar 23, 2015

Thinking about starting carbon dosing been doing a lot of reading and trying to decided if its osmething that will benefit my tank.

NanaReefer · Mar 23, 2015

KISS KISS! [emoji4]

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 23, 2015

Cleverbs said:
Thinking about starting carbon dosing been doing a lot of reading and trying to decided if its osmething that will benefit my tank.

The two potential benefits are reduced nutrients and feeding of filter feeders. Some tank creatures (such as corals) may also use the organic carbon directly.

Possible drawbacks can include reduced pH, reduced oxygen, and the possibility of driving the growth of harmful bacteria,

Cleverbs · Mar 23, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The two potential benefits are reduced nutrients and feeding of filter feeders. Some tank creatures (such as corals) may also use the organic carbon directly.

Possible drawbacks can include reduced pH, reduced oxygen, and the possibility of driving the growth of harmful bacteria,

Well I am thinking the Reduction is PH would be a positive for me because mine always sits at 8.4, oxygen I am not worried much about because of my surface skimming and oversized skimmer on my tank, Growth of harmful bacteria such as what?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 23, 2015

Cleverbs said:
Well I am thinking the Reduction is PH would be a positive for me because mine always sits at 8.4, oxygen I am not worried much about because of my surface skimming and oversized skimmer on my tank, Growth of harmful bacteria such as what?

IMO, 8.4 is fine and lower isn't necessarily better, but it also means you have room to allow the pH to drop without a concern. FWIW, if aeration is perfect, pH won't move day to night (unless your home air CO2 levels also change) and the pH will be below 8.4 unless the alk is fairly high. Aeration is not as good as many people expect.

Harmful bacteria such as those that might infect a fish or coral. Rare, but organic carbon dosing may contribute.

Cleverbs · Mar 23, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
IMO, 8.4 is fine and lower isn't necessarily better, but it also means you have room to allow the pH to drop without a concern. FWIW, if aeration is perfect, pH won't move day to night (unless your home air CO2 levels also change) and the pH will be below 8.4 unless the alk is fairly high. Aeration is not as good as many people expect.

Harmful bacteria such as those that might infect a fish or coral. Rare, but organic carbon dosing may contribute.

My ph swings from 8.38 to 8.41. I just ment I can deffinitly allow it to lower without harm. I dont really see any negatives to it on my end so I may give it a go after I replace my tank with the new one.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 23, 2015

Sounds good.

FWIW, I dose vinegar.

Cleverbs · Mar 23, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Sounds good.

FWIW, I dose vinegar.

I read that vinegar can lead to lower chance of cyno issues. Does dosing vinigar increase water clarity like vodka does? also Do you have a link to a guide. I found an artical regarding vodka that I think you wrote I could be wrong but not one with vinegar.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 23, 2015

The effects on water clarity, if any, will be similar to vodka.

This has more:

Reefkeeping Magazine - Vinegar Dosing Methodology for the Marine Aquarium

glb · Mar 23, 2015

Cleverbs said:
I agree stability is the most important by far. However I would like the tank to have ideal param and stability. I have dosers waiting to be used but havent needed them yet because I only have 10-12 SPS frags right now.

Fwiw, 'perfect' parameters depends on each tank. Successful tanks operate at different numbers and thrive. For example, my pH is usually 7.8 because of excess co2 in my house. But since everything else was fine, I stopped trying to raise it and everything was fine.

joekool · Mar 23, 2015

Have you thought of phytoplankton to consume nutrients. I use phyto feast and ocean magik from algae barn.

It also has many benefits.

I think your numbers aren't bad. I have a similar sized setup and even though I have a mixed reef I have mostly SPS. I do make my non SPS mad sometimes pushing SPS to grow.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 24, 2015

joekool said:
Have you thought of phytoplankton to consume nutrients. I use phyto feast and ocean magik from algae barn.

It also has many benefits.

You find you can (and want to) maintain living and growing phytoplankton in the water of the display tank?

Cleverbs · Mar 24, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
The effects on water clarity, if any, will be similar to vodka.

This has more:

Reefkeeping Magazine - Vinegar Dosing Methodology for the Marine Aquarium

Well after reading this I feel that what I want to achive will be better from Vodka dosing. Because one of the things I really want to push is Color and in that it says that vinegar dosing doesnt increase color. Also I would have to use a LOT of vinigar.

hart24601 · Mar 24, 2015

Honestly I have not found pure SPS tanks too hard these days. As others have said keep parameters stable. Not exactly a chemistry parameter, but IMO once the main levels are stable the most important thing is flow. Crazy flow. That's the best part of pure SPS tank, you can do that. I personally like nothing less than 100x tank turnover with all sps. Mixed reefs are hard to get everything happy.

Cleverbs · Mar 24, 2015

Yeah I know stability is key, I just wanted to make sure the params I thought where best are the ones I should keep stable. You cant just have stability you have to have stability with the correct ranges and balance of your params. I will be running ~24000GPH in my display and so thats about 110x Turnover. Like I said the tank will be basiclly all SPS. The thing I like about really strong flow in SPS tanks is it makes the sps grow nice thick branches.