My nitrate issue?

[mcarroll]

7 is natural sea water level. And at the rate we dose our tanks today, theres no reason to go above it anymore. Its easy to keep 7dKH. And its a tweener, alot of peeps keeping SPS keep it in the lower range.

Despite what may seem popular at the moment...

People have been getting excellent results from targeting 8-11 over a long period of time - decades now - with many of those people on the higher end of that scale. And there are solid, pragmatic reasons detailed in many well known articles for maintaining these levels above natural seawater levels - which are not as homogenous as you may think anyway. It's not bad to do, but there is really nothing to gain from keeping alkalinity at 7.

-Matt

 

[Reefing Madness]

Well, coming from Randal Farley-Holmes, there's nothing to lose from leaving it at 7 either. Those number of 8-12 were made up aling time ago, and technology is well past that, there is no reason to elevate those numbers if your dosing.

 

[Mark C]

Besides getting my water parameters in order, and using quality salt, do any of you add anything else?

 

[Mark C]

I'm just trying to figure out why certain corals die off while others are thriving. I want to be able to keep trumpets, brains, torches, and hammers alive and not slowly withering away. Thanks everyone!

 

[glb]

I'm just trying to figure out why certain corals die off while others are thriving. I want to be able to keep trumpets, brains, torches, and hammers alive and not slowly withering away. Thanks everyone!

That is sometimes a mystery! Lol. In addition to checking mg, ca and alk, make sure there aren't big temp swings, keep salinity stable, make sure flow is right for each coral, keep corals away from each other's feeding tentacles and look for critters that might be irritating them.

 

[Dalmatia]

7 is natural sea water level. And at the rate we dose our tanks today, theres no reason to go above it anymore. Its easy to keep 7dKH. And its a tweener, alot of peeps keeping SPS keep it in the lower range.

We aren't the sea so prob we are missing a lot of their nutrients in our tanks, maybe KH (alkalinity) being a bit elevated would sorta be like a supplement or in some contribute towards helping the corals thrive?

 

[Mark C]

Just thought I would let the gang know that my water parameters are finally in the recommended and acceptable ranges!
I believe my low alkalinity levels was the problem with my trumpet corals because now they are actually growing!
Thanks for the help!