How stable does stable have to be to be stable?

[glb]

Funny.. I only test now when something looks amis. I did discovering have a certain coral that burns tips when phosphate goes up. Usually my pellets are low.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

Hopefully I'll be there someday! I'm new to coral (not saltwater), so I'm testing like crazy for a week so I can learn what I need to dose. Alk, mg and ca and how they work together is still a bit unclear to me.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Love this thread! Great real world info.
I also want to get to where I have a better feel for what is going on in my tank.

 

[mcarroll]

to me, stable is the tank conditions not fluctuating on a weekly/monthly basis.

Well said.

If there's anything you're allowing to go longer than a week, then I'd say there's a chance your tank is not "stable enough". I'm thinking about ATO, dosing, water changes mostly. If you aren't adding makeup water daily for evap, as well as dosing daily for Ca and alkalinity, as well as doing weekly water changes in other words.

-Matt

 

[glb]

This is all great advice! My testing will go back to weekly once I figure out exactly how much my tank needs daily. I know this may be a bit of overkill, but I hope to keep sps in the future when I get a bigger tank, so I want to learn about stability now when my mistakes don't matter as much. I'm glad this thread is helpful to others!

 

[glb]

Well said.

If there's anything you're allowing to go longer than a week, then I'd say there's a chance your tank is not "stable enough". I'm thinking about ATO, dosing, water changes mostly. If you aren't adding makeup water daily for evap, as well as dosing daily for Ca and alkalinity, as well as doing weekly water changes in other words.

-Matt

You're absolutely right. I've always tested weekly and supplemented weekly, but I'd rather dose daily in small amounts to keep things steady. I don't have an ATO but I add ro water twice a day to topoff. I'm figuring out how to dose daily for alk and mg. My ca is never low for some reason. I was changing 1g weekly but I'm going to increase that to twice weekly to keep the nitrates between 5-10. Now that I have great test kits (salifert, Red Sea and hanna checkers), I can get a good handle on what's really going on. I'm doing all this extra work short term to maintain stability long term. There's so much to learn!

 

[gregoryleonard]

IMHO, the smaller the tank, the smaller the fluctuations should be (which is hard to do). A 12 gallon closed system will experience more issues than a 200 gallon system (assuming your husbandry practices are where they need to be).

Scrap the nano and go big! JK.

I will say that when I had a 55 gallon reef then went to a 125 with a 150 sump, it was easier to keep a healthier tank with the larger system than it was with just the 55 gallon. My personal opinion for a 12 gallon nano REEF (LPS, SPS, and Softies) would be ATO-a must, auto dosing of AK, CA, MG with a controller- a must have, and religious water changes to maintain a healthy environment- another must have.

 

[glb]

IMHO, the smaller the tank, the smaller the fluctuations should be (which is hard to do). A 12 gallon closed system will experience more issues than a 200 gallon system (assuming your husbandry practices are where they need to be).

Scrap the nano and go big! JK.

I will say that when I had a 55 gallon reef then went to a 125 with a 150 sump, it was easier to keep a healthier tank with the larger system than it was with just the 55 gallon. My personal opinion for a 12 gallon nano REEF (LPS, SPS, and Softies) would be ATO-a must, auto dosing of AK, CA, MG with a controller- a must have, and religious water changes to maintain a healthy environment- another must have.

I am going to get a bigger tank soon! I wouldn't dream of putting sps in this tank because I don't think I could keep it stable enough. But I would like to keep softies and a few lps successfully. So you think even though I'm topping off and dosing manually that it's still not stable enough?

 

[glb]

Ok, here's day 4:

I'm comfortable with nitrate, temp, ph and salinity being stable so I didn't test those today. Here's what I did test:

Mg: 1240 (+40ppm from 3 days ago, test day before yesterday invalid because the vial had residue in it. I added another 20ml Brightwell mg, so if my calculations are right, that will raise it another 52 ppm, up to 1292, minus whatever is depleted in 24 hours.

Ca: 450ppm (-25ppm)

Alk: 131ppm (down 3ppm from two days ago. I got some Reef fusion #2 today to raise the alk. I added 4.5ml for 10g, and according to my calculations, that should raise the alk 39.6ppm. I'll keep doing this until the alk is in the middle of the range and then I'll dose daily to maintain.

And now for my new reading, phosphates, courtesy of my new Hanna checker! 0.00! This is the low range tester and I'm thrilled with this number, if it's right. Lol. I'll check again tomorrow to make sure I did it right.

I feel like I'm getting closer to figuring all of this out! See everyone tomorrow!

 

[glb]

Do you think a water change will bring your alk down?

Actually the guy at the lfs said the same thing. Why is that?

 

[Hampton]

I have to disagree with the premise that it's easier to keep a larger tank stable. If everything was auto, i would agree, but having to do the work, there is so much more, and more difficult work to do in a large tank that I downsized from a120 to a 25 display. It's tons easier. 1 bucket water changes. I can reach the bottom, back, and sides.

Less dosing, less supplements, less energy, money, heat, and work!!! And, the sump represents a larger percentage of the total system which leads to more stability too. The skimmer is more effective. The carbon and phosban reactors are more effective. As a chemistry graduate, I understand the concept. I just haven't experienced the same.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[glb]

I have to disagree with the premise that it's easier to keep a larger tank stable. If everything was auto, i would agree, but having to do the work, there is so much more, and more difficult work to do in a large tank that I downsized from a120 to a 25 display. It's tons easier. 1 bucket water changes. I can reach the bottom, back, and sides.

Less dosing, less supplements, less energy, money, heat, and work!!! And, the sump represents a larger percentage of the total system which leads to more stability too. The skimmer is more effective. The carbon and phosban reactors are more effective. As a chemistry graduate, I understand the concept. I just haven't experienced the same.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Interesting! I bought a nano due to space restraints. I'd had freshwater aquariums for years so I knew some water chemistry and husbandry skills. I waited three years for corals while I got used to saltwater. I do agree that maintenance is easier and the tank is less expensive to maintain. I wouldn't recommend it to someone totally new to aquariums but it worked for me.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I have not experimented like you are but I think that the salt mix that I use at least does not have a high enough level of Alkalinity. So my theory is that when I do water changes it brings down the alkalinity.

 

[glb]

I have not experimented like you are but I think that the salt mix that I use at least does not have a high enough level of Alkalinity. So my theory is that when I do water changes it brings down the alkalinity.

That could be true. I use purified seawater from a lfs, as I live in south Florida and it's great quality. But I've never tested it before I put it in the tank. Since seawater typically has lower numbers than aquarium ideals, that could be my problem. I'm going to test it and see what I find.

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I tested the alkalinity of my water before I add it to the tank.

It is 6dkh!

I wonder why I am having so much trouble getting it to 9dkh.

What salt mix has a alkalinity reading of 8 to 9dkh?

 

[Zero Nitrates]

I was planning on adding Red Sea Pro because it has higher alkalinity when I run out of the mix I have.

 

[glb]

I tested the alkalinity of my water before I add it to the tank.

It is 6dkh!

I wonder why I am having so much trouble getting it to 9dkh.

What salt mix has a alkalinity reading of 8 to 9dkh?

I don't know because I don't use salt mix, but hopefully someone will chime in.

 

[pickupman66]

Um... not the one you are using? Seriously though I don't know. I've done well with reef crystals in my tank.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 4

 

[RacinRevo0818]

Yeah stability is only available if your checking your salt mix. Usually I test my salt when I open a new bag to see where the parameters are and adjust from there. You using nsw your probably always going to have fluctuations depending on where and when water was collected. I would suggest buying larger amounts of water and testing, then make adjustment to match your tank or slightly higher to eliminate dosing your tank, or just purchase artificial salt to have more control and not have gallons of water sitting for months.

 

[glb]

Yeah stability is only available if your checking your salt mix. Usually I test my salt when I open a new bag to see where the parameters are and adjust from there. You using nsw your probably always going to have fluctuations depending on where and when water was collected. I would suggest buying larger amounts of water and testing, then make adjustment to match your tank or slightly higher to eliminate dosing your tank, or just purchase artificial salt to have more control and not have gallons of water sitting for months.

These are good ideas. I only buy a few week's worth at a time so I'm not worried about it sitting around, but testing it and adjusting it before putting it in my tank is a great idea.

 

[glb]

Alright, here's day 5:

Mg: 1340 (+100ppm)
Alk: 150 (+19ppm)
Ca: 450 (same)

So my mg and ca are where they need to be for now, both on the high end though. I won't add any mg today and then I'll test again tomorrow to see how much is depleted. Then I will be able to come up with a daily dose to keep it steady. The alk is about 8.4kh so I added 4.5ml of reef fusion again today to raise it some more. I projected that this dosage would raise it about 40ppm. The actual increase was 19ppm. So maybe this means I lose 21ppm of alk daily. I want to get it up to 9.5-10kh and then hold it steady. I still don't understand why my ca doesn't ever need dosing when the alk and mg do. On another note, I took my hermits out of the tank today because I think they may be picking my zoas to death. I still have to capture the two emerald crabs and they are very sneaky. I plan to use only snails and peppermint shrimp in the tank. Any suggestions about any of this are welcome!