Ideal tank perams and dosing

[AvaS]

Hi! I would just like to know what do you recommend personally as ideal perams for successful overall growth in a reef tank. I know that this is personal and depends on a bunch of factors but what perams do you find work well in your tank? I have a newer tank (6 months old) with happy corals in it (not my first reef tank) but not much growth. I feel with the amount of coral vs water volume I should start dosing to keep everyone happy. What should I shoot for with perams to keep everyone happy with enough nutrients without overdosing? I have mostly acan and acro frags in the tank right now. Thanks and let me know
-A

 

[nautical_nathaniel]

A newer tank will experience parameter shifts more often since it hasn't been long enough for a balance to establish itself. If you ask for preferred parameters, you will get a million answers but in general I like to keep my tank in the following ranges:

This chart came from Live Aquaria. My biggest recommendation for you is to find a point where your parameters like to stay within these ranges and just try to keep it stable, corals will always do best in stable conditions and number chasing or modifying parameters often will not result in good growth.

 

[AvaS]

Thanks so much for the response! I did use rock and water from 2+ year old established tanks so that really helped with stability. I will see if there are little changes that can help keep my perams within those guidelines but won’t make too many or any major changes. How is the best way to replenish calcium in a reef tank? Dosing? More frequent water changes? My calcium seems to be very low when I test it on the week between my water changes( I top off whenever needed but do biweekly water changes)