Scared to stop water changes... advice & help.

[Maggie321]

Tank is about a year old so still very new in the scheme of things. Specs coming up...
39g tank.
Reef octopus classic 100 HOB skimmer
about 30 lbs live rock (original dry weight)
2-3 inch aragonite substrate
IO RC salt
Livestock:
3" mimic tang
2" tangaroa goby
2" candy cane pistol shrimp
1 astrea snail
1 nassarus snail
4 or 5 hermit crabs red and blue legged
2 golf ball sized tuxedo urchins.
A heavy load of corals both SPS and LPS and a couple softies.

Let me start by saying in the next 3 to 4 months I am upgrading to a 210g display with a 55g sump. I know the tank is undersized for the tang. Sorry. I only bought him knowing I was upgrading. I will admit I thought I was going to be upgrading sooner. I just had a few other household emergencys. With that said, let me get on with it.

I change 5 gallons of water weekly. Occasionally I will stretch it to 2 weeks. When I test I typically am getting
between 435 and 460 calcium (hannah)
Alk floats between 9 & 10 (hahhah)
Phosphates are normally between 6 and 11 ppb (hannah ULR)
Nitrates are always between 0 & 5 (API)

I do use Kalkwasser. 1tsp per gallon of RODI. RODI is reading 0 TDS tested inline and with a handheld TDS meter.

1) Should I stop water changes to try to get my nitrates up?
2) I know I need a better nitrate test kit, please enlighten me which brand is most user friendly? I wish Hannah made a nitrate kit...
3) If I stop/reduce WC's should I increase kalk? Or start dosing CA and ALK? I am scared to start pouring things in the tank.

Keep in mind. In a few months, all this will be irrelevant. So I could always just keep going with the weekly Wc's and wait.
Pic is from 5/6/18. I'm not at the house to take a today pic. These numbers have been holding steady this way since January/ February.

 

[Flippers4pups]

5ppm is pretty good. If your consumption of calcium and alkalinity isn't big, skipping a water change isn't going to be a big deal.

Dosing alkalinity isn't a big deal when needed. Just go slow, even drip the amount needed over time is fine. No more than 1dkh a day is safe.

 

[mtraylor]

I would basically ask yourself the following questions.

1. Why am I trying to get my nitrates up? Is it because I read somewhere that it needs to be "x"
2. Is my aquarium stable?
3. Do I have a current issue with my aquarium?
4. What does increased nitrates going to do for me?

Your aquarium looks nice to me. My advice is ....if your are "chasing" some magical number for some parm. There really isn't such a thing. I think you are doing a good job with the way your aquarium looks. I would keep it steady and leave everything alone and keep what your doing. That stability is what you need. Your nitrates are fine.

If you start trying to make things complicated. Trust me they will get complicated. Keep up the good work. Once you get into your new aquarium, you will all kinds of time trying to chase numbers to get them where you are now. Enjoy the stability and rest that you have now.

 

[GoVols]

@Maggie321
Looks like your already in great hands

I'd go with the Salifert nitrate kit.

When you preform that test you look straight down the vial to the card's color. If you think your at 5ppm, then look thru the vial sideways against the card. It should read 50ppm.

The sideways check = 10 times your nitrates.

Your reef looks!!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The API kit may not be the best, but if nitrate is hitting zero frequently, there is potential for dinos and I’d dose some nitrate or feed more.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I like the red sea nitrate test even though i despise their alk and magnesium tests. BRS did a test of many nitrate tests and in the low ranges where moat of us are at, red sea was most accurate.

If you are upgrading to a bigger tank, then you may want to invest in a dosing pump and get used to testing your alk and cal and fine tuning your dosing.

If you get a bigger aquarium with more calcifying biota, then simply replenishing with water changes is not going to go well.