RED SEA FOUNDATION TANK PARAMETER ASSISTANCE

[SAMS]

I have a 1000L tank and due to health issues, I hadn't tested it for 2 months (bad I know :/ ).

I tested the tank yesterday and got the following results:

SALINITY: 1.023 (MILWAUKEE MA887 SALINITY REFRACTOMETER)
ALKALINITY 8.5DKH (HANNA DKH CHECKER)
CALCIUM 550PPM (RED SEA CALCIUM PRO TEST KIT)
MAGNESIUM 760PPM (RED SEA MAGNESIUM PRO TEST KIT)
NITRATES: BETWEEN 16-32PPM(RED SEA NITRATE PRO TEST KIT ON HIGH RANGE TEST)
PHOSPHATE: 0.13PPM (HANNA PHOSPHATE CHECKER)


Under the advice from a work contact at Red Sea I have been dosing the following on a daily basis:

RED SEA FOUNDATION A (CALCIUM) LIQUID: 40ML
RED SEA FOUNDATION B (KH/ALKALINITY) LIQUID: 120ML
RED SEA FOUNCTION C (MAGNESIUM): 3.0ML


However this advice was probably given to me in October/November time, when the tank was 5-6 months old and still drinking up ALK


I appreciate that my calcium is low on these most recent tests, could this also be causing my magnesium to be low.

I have done a 10% water change this afternoon (finished about 1 hour ago).
Would you suggest that I retest the water this afternoon?
Then turn all the dosers off tomorrow and retest it at the same time?


I just want to get the dosing dialled in.
Thanks in advance for any help

 

[SPR1968]

Your calcium is actually high at 550, not low and a good target is around 430-460

If the magnesium test result is correct (and the Red Sea test is not very reliable I’ve found, infact it went in the bin a few years ago) 760ppm is very low and as this affects how calcium and alkalinity interact you need to raise this up slowly as per the Foundation C instructions. A good target is around 1320-1350 or so.

For dosing bring all the elements to the correct levels and then you need to work out the daily usage. Test on day one and then about 4 days later, divide by 4 or however many days between the test and that’s the daily usage.

Then bring the elements back to the correct level, and then straight away start dosing the daily amount and that will keep it stable. Then test weekly and adjust as necessary

This is a good article on parameters

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/

 

[SAMS]

Thanks for your help.