New build parameters/salt questions

KristianS · Mar 5, 2023

Starting a new tank and looking for guidance. Ive had one 2yr basic pico mixed reef with great success, and one huge fail with a 20 gallon higher tech mixed reef (brooklynella combined with acidic premix salt). Looking for some feedback on salt mix and ideal parametwrs for my goal of stocking with some high end lps/sps and growing out for a 130 gallon build in about 18 months, then this will become my office tank:

-15 IM Fusion Cube w stand
-Hyger wave mini powerhead
-NooPsyche K7 mini (supposedly better par and spread than ai 16hd, at $93 shipped worth a try)
-Bubble Magus MiniQ
-ATO w .7 gallon resevoir
- fiji pink sand
-Caribsea liferock

My thought is to go zero dosing to keep it simple and use red sea coral pro to get my trace elements (5 gallon water change 3-4x a month)

Or

Start out with red sea salt initially, and then do my waterchanges with red sea coral pro to start with not such high alk

Thank you in advance!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 6, 2023

IMO, water changes to maintain alk and calcium in a 130 gallon tank will be very expensive and very time consuming (unless you use an auto water changer).

What target level will you have for alk?

Let's suppose it is 8 dKH, and the Red Sea Coral pro comes in at their claimed 12 dKH.

Then this is the alk boost per water change of different sizes:

10% 0.4 dKH
20% 0.8 dKH
30% 1.2 dKH
40% 1.6 dKH
50% 2 dKH

Thus you may need to change 30-50+% daily to achieve this result.

arking_mark · Mar 6, 2023

Stability is key.

Everything starts and ends with your water and tank maintenance routines.

For my tanks, I pick a salt that matches my desired levels. In my case, I like parameters closer to natural sea water, so I use TM Pro. By maintaining the salt mix levels, water changes never impact stability.

So I recommend just picking a salt and maintaining those levels.

To maintain parameters, I've automated almost everything from filtration, to monitoring, to dosing.

However, I believe there are only a couple of things needed to maintain stability:

Meaure salinity monthly and replace evaporated water daily to maintain salinity.
Measure Alk weekly and dose balanced Ca/Alk daily based on actual consumption. Ca test kits are notably inaccurate and Ca changes much more slowly. For balanced dosing, I like Kalkwasser and AFR. Kalkwasser gives a nice pH boost and AFR gives trace.
Every 6 months get an ICP test and rebalance Ca/Alk and other elements and ions you believe impact your tank.
For nutrient control, I like heavy in/out. In is food and fish waste where I balance dry (heavier in PO4) and wet (heavier in NO3). Out is mechanical filtration, fuge, Coral, carbon dosing, and Skimmer.
If you want pH stability, which I think can most likely be ignored as long as tank has good aeration, then kalkwasser drip with either a recirculating scrubber/Skimmer combo or Skimmer fed with fresh air.

KristianS · Mar 6, 2023

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
IMO, water changes to maintain alk and calcium in a 130 gallon tank will be very expensive and very time consuming (unless you use an auto water changer).

What target level will you have for alk?

Let's suppose it is 8 dKH, and the Red Sea Coral pro comes in at their claimed 12 dKH.

Then this is the alk boost per water change of different sizes:

10% 0.4 dKH
20% 0.8 dKH
30% 1.2 dKH
40% 1.6 dKH
50% 2 dKH

Thus you may need to change 30-50+% daily to achieve this result.

Thank you for the info Randy i really appreciate your time. This tank I’m referencing is only a 15 gallon tank. I am using this tank for a grow out for a future 130 gallon (that i will certainly dose). Would this make any difference?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 7, 2023

KristianS said:
Thank you for the info Randy i really appreciate your time. This tank I’m referencing is only a 15 gallon tank. I am using this tank for a grow out for a future 130 gallon (that i will certainly dose). Would this make any difference?

The percentages I posted are the same, but the costs of those water changes will decline. Maybe low enough for you to want to go for it.

However, dosing is always cheaper than water changes done only to maintain alk and calcium.