Optimal water parameters for mixed reef

[35ppt]

Good to know. I currently have some red sea coral pro salt, which is run at my levels of alk 11 cal 450 en mag 1350. I will see what other salts my lfs had and what parameters they run. Currently my no3 and po4 are quite high due to the move. No3 about 15-20 ppm and po4 at about 0.4.

I would say No3 is fine, I would drop the Po4 to 0.08-0.1 with GFO.

 

[Christian0505]

Yes Po4 at 0.08 is what the previous owner ran at. He did not use any gfo or something. I therefore expect that my Po4 will equal at about 0.08-0.1 as wel. I will keep a close look at it though.

 

[Christian0505]

I have not a decent picture yet. At the moment the lights are ramping down, but this is what the tank looks like

 

[35ppt]

Yes Po4 at 0.08 is what the previous owner ran at. He did not use any gfo or something. I therefore expect that my Po4 will equal at about 0.08-0.1 as wel. I will keep a close look at it though.

I would only use the GFO to reduce to that number then discontinue use or use as needed to maintain that level.

 

[35ppt]

I have not a decent picture yet. At the moment the lights are ramping down, but this is what the tank looks like

Nice tank! I see a little Banggai guy hiding back there any other fish?

/Oh and a little black/white clown in the hammer.

 

[madweazl]

Mixes originally had the higher levels because we didnt dose in the manner we do now. If you had a salt that mixed up at natural sea water levels and you used it for water changes, the parameters would continually go down. Mixes had elevated levels to combat the consumption of these elements. Some pushed this much higher than others (Reef Crystals for instance). They replenished a portion of the used elements in an attempt to keep it close to natural sea water levels. Because the changes were fairly small (i.e. 10-20%), the increase in alkalinity (for instance) wasnt sharp enough to create problems but still buffered parameters.

Today, we dose all manner of things to our tank. Various balling methods exist that require no supplement from water changes at all. There are some salts tailored to that as well (i.e. Tropic Marin Pro mixes up close to NSW). Yes, elevated alkalinity can lead to increased growth rates but I'm much more keen on keeping things closer to natural levels; these corals have evolved over millions of years to them after all. There is a wide range where things will grow, you just have to pick one.

Edit: My opinion, natural sea water is optimal and everything else is a deviation from that. Doesn't mean it cant, wont, or doesn't work, it's just different.

 

[Christian0505]

Nice tank! I see a little Banggai guy hiding back there any other fish?

/Oh and a little black/white clown in the hammer.

Yes 2 clown, 2 banggai (male and female) a dragonhornet if i am right? (The guys that only eat copepods) a royal gamma and 2 purple fish i don’t know the name of. And 2 shrimp, one peppermint.

 

[35ppt]

Yes 2 clown, 2 banggai (male and female) a dragonhornet if i am right? (The guys that only eat copepods) a royal gamma and 2 purple fish i don’t know the name of. And 2 shrimp, one peppermint.

Very cool. Yep, dragonettes are the pod eaters and scoot around on the sand and rocks. The purple fish are probably Purple Firefish (Nemateleotris decora).

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Again, what do we mean by nutritions? Amino acids? Or are we talking no3 and po4?

People generally mean nitrate and phosphate. Those may not be all that corals consume, but it is indicative of the availability of N and P. Amino acids can be a good source of N, but you cannot measure them and would just add them to enhance coral nutrition.

 

[Christian0505]

Very cool. Yep, dragonettes are the pod eaters and scoot around on the sand and rocks. The purple fish are probably Purple Firefish (Nemateleotris decora).

It’s not the purple firefish, I googled that one. They are extremely shy, and fast.. i tried to make a screenshot of a video in which i saw one appear. It’s very unclear but maybe it helps.

 

[Christian0505]

People generally mean nitrate and phosphate. Those may not be all that corals consume, but it is indicative of the availability of N and P. Amino acids can be a good source of N, but you cannot measure them and would just add them to enhance coral nutrition.

I add the red sea energy A and B components. That should help right?

 

[35ppt]

It’s not the purple firefish, I googled that one. They are extremely shy, and fast.. i tried to make a screenshot of a video in which i saw one appear. It’s very unclear but maybe it helps.

Ah Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani)

 

[Tjm23slo]

Dear fellow reefers,

I get confused more and more by the overload of information available on the internet.

I currently own a mixed reef. The water parameters i am for are the ones recommended by the red sea foundation programm for mixed reefs, meaning.

Salt 1.025
Alkalinity 11
Calcium 450
Magnesium 1350
Ph 8.3

What i don’t get is that i see a lot of people on youtube owning mixed reefs with a alkalinity of about 8. Why would one go for 11 and why for 8. Could anyone clarify please.

Kind regards,
Christian

Set your parameters towards your pickiest corals. There was a good article here about a guys who ran Red Sea and did some experiments with high and low levels.

my caution with Red Sea foundations is that they try to balance other elements like barium and boron which is good if you are up taking vs precipitating Ca/Mg. These can get out of balance. I stopped using them as I got all out of whack. Most likely my fault but I couldn’t control my elements with the foundation and colors.

I just suggest using an ICP test from time to time.We all spend a lot of money on this stuff. Shelling out$ for a few ICP tests to keep you honest might help in the long run. Some will tell you they aren’t accurate. I understand ATI while slow is pretty reliable.

 

[Christian0505]

Ah Orchid Dottyback (Pseudochromis fridmani)

Yes that’s the one!

 

[Christian0505]

Set your parameters towards your pickiest corals. There was a good article here about a guys who ran Red Sea and did some experiments with high and low levels.

my caution with Red Sea foundations is that they try to balance other elements like barium and boron which is good if you are up taking vs precipitating Ca/Mg. These can get out of balance. I stopped using them as I got all out of whack. Most likely my fault but I couldn’t control my elements with the foundation and colors.

I just suggest using an ICP test from time to time.We all spend a lot of money on this stuff. Shelling out$ for a few ICP tests to keep you honest might help in the long run. Some will tell you they aren’t accurate. I understand ATI while slow is pretty reliable.

I sadly do not know which would be my pickiest coral for now... i will keep this in mind though

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I have not a decent picture yet. At the moment the lights are ramping down, but this is what the tank looks like

Looking good!

 

[ScottB]

My 2 cents is run as close as possible to what your salt is. And I agree with ScottB

This is a great point. @Copingwithpods that is a good suggestion too.

I use IORC salt which mixes much higher than my 8ish. It has caused issues in the case of large WCs. It is OK if my WC is 10-15% but beyond that I have to knock it down with acid buffer, then gas off the CO2 to get pH back up. Kind of a drag but does not happen often.

Changing salt scares me though, so I just deal.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I add the red sea energy A and B components. That should help right?

It may be a desirable thing to supplement with, if that's what you mean. It isn't a substitute for having appropriate nitrate and phosphate levels.

 

[Copingwithpods]

This is a great point. @Copingwithpods that is a good suggestion too.

I use IORC salt which mixes much higher than my 8ish. It has caused issues in the case of large WCs. It is OK if my WC is 10-15% but beyond that I have to knock it down with acid buffer, then gas off the CO2 to get pH back up. Kind of a drag but does not happen often.

Changing salt scares me though, so I just deal.

It scares me too lol

I'm looking to switch here in a bit as I run higher parameters now and I'm sick and tired of dosing my incoming water so the way Ill do it, every 5 gallon water change I'll substitute a scoop with the new salt, so starting from 5/5 I'll do a water change at 1/5 and do that for 2 water changes then 2/5 and do that for 2 water changes and so on. I'm hoping by taking it slow I won't stress anything out.

 

[Christian0505]

Valid point... i’ve read horror stories about changing salt and corals... i gues it all depends on the waterparameters my lfs uses