Keeping a lps tank dirty?

[Fishyj]

I have been reading about general care for lps corals and most people are saying to keep the water on the dirty side. What is actually the "dirty side"? My tank is a 13.5 and I mostly will be keeping acans, hammers, duncans, and a couple of anemones. I also have at the moment 2 clown fish and my clean up crew. I feed the fish every day, and the anemone at least once a week and broad cast coral food at least twice a week. Every 2 0r 3 days I replace my filter floss, and do a 5 gallon water change weekly. Should I be doing more feedings or water changes? In the past I never really fed my corals and just did my weekly water changes with out any testing. Now that I am overfeeding the tank, what testing should I be watching for? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kendavjac]

simple answer: How do the corals/anemones look? Do you have "good" growth? Do you have an algae problem? If it is working for you, then don't change anything.

Recommended testing is usually: Alk, Nitrates, Calcium, Phosphates. The recommended levels are all over this forum. I have been successful keep LPS's with Nitrates at unreadable and steady at 15. If you don't have an algae problem then your Nitrates and Phosphates are probably good. With 30% water change every week then you are probably keeping up with AlK and Calcium. I personally only test Alk. Since I use KALK water to maintain my Alk, I know that my Calcium will be OK. I normally don't bother testing Nitrates or Phosphates, I just watch the tank and look to see if my corals are happy or I'm starting to get Algae. Once I see something odd I may expand my testing, but mostly I just do a water change.

I guess my short answer is: Follow the KISS principle and don't chase #'s. Watch your tank. It will let you know if you know if it is not happy.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

what testing should I be watching for?

if your going by eye, lil bits of cyano or algae. big happy polyps.
you can, skip a week on the wc and see what happens.

 

[ClownnGoby]

My tank has acans , torch , hammer and a bubble coral have had these corals for couple years now

I run the AF system with .02 nitrate and 0 P04 and done have any issues with water being too clean or not "dirty water "
Before that I ran zeovit with pretty much same reading but with that system I was dosing LPS Aminos

My take is long as you have a nice fish population and u feed your tank well they will be alright , I feed my tank 3 times a day and have 12 fish in a 90

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

My tank has acans , torch , hammer and a bubble coral have had these corals for couple years now

I run the AF system with .02 nitrate and 0 P04 and done have any issues with water being too clean or not "dirty water "
Before that I ran zeovit with pretty much same reading but with that system I was dosing LPS Aminos

My take is long as you have a nice fish population and u feed your tank well they will be alright , I feed my tank 3 times a day and have 12 fish in a 90

i think it has a lot to do with intake and export too. feed hard skim hard. they say. if your feeding well and exporting well, you clearly don't "need" "dirty water". all the food is being used efficiently and not building up.
light and flow also factors there.
One more bit of science as to why every tank is different I think.