Tank Parameters Inquiry

[Drummingbaker2010]

Hello all,

currently my parameters are:

salinity - 1.025
nitrates - 5 ppm
phosphates - .25 ppm
ammonia - o ppm
nitrites-0 ppm
PH - 8.3
Calcium - 440

I am waiting on a test for my alkalinity, but I believe it's around 200. Earlier this week, I did a 5% water change to attempt to keep my nitrate levels closer to 0 which my test kit was reading at the time, but over night I had a conch die on me, but I don't think that would have risen the nitrate levels that much.

Will this be good enough to support coraline algae growth if I maintain these levels or lower on my nitrates and phosphates? I have a GSP in there currently, but I'd like to eventually have the ability to add others. It has fully cycled, although under not ideal conditions. Can someone please let me know?

 

[Aquajamin]

Those look like solid parameters to grow coraline but really need to see the alkalinity.
I would expect the nitrate and phosphate to be growing nuisance algae?
I’m curious why your nitrate and phosphate are so high with just a GSP?

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

Those look like solid parameters to grow coraline but really need to see the alkalinity.
I would expect the nitrate and phosphate to be growing nuisance algae?
I’m curious why your nitrate and phosphate are so high with just a GSP?

I have some other fish in there.

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

I have a couple clowns, cardinals, a diamond goby, some star fish, and cleaning crew.

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

I have a couple clowns, cardinals, a diamond goby, some star fish, and cleaning crew.

I have some chaeto in a refugium as well, but I don't know why it's not doing much right now. It's been in there for a while. It's a biocube with small modifications and not really any tumbling room, but I don't know what else could be wrong to prevent it from eating the nitrates and phosphates, perhaps you could shed some light on that as well. I have a light running on it 24/7.

 

[Aquajamin]

I have some other fish in there.

The PH looks good but what is your alk?
Anything above 7.5 and stable should be good but i like to run mine around 9 and have excellent results.

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

The PH looks good but what is your alk?
Anything above 7.5 and stable should be good but i like to run mine around 9 and have excellent results.

I just picked up a test kit today. It looks like it's at 11. My understanding is that between 9-11 is best, but I'd like to bring it down a little bit if 11 is a little high.

 

[Lavey29]

Hello all,

currently my parameters are:

salinity - 1.025
nitrates - 5 ppm
phosphates - .25 ppm
ammonia - o ppm
nitrites-0 ppm
PH - 8.3
Calcium - 440

I am waiting on a test for my alkalinity, but I believe it's around 200. Earlier this week, I did a 5% water change to attempt to keep my nitrate levels closer to 0 which my test kit was reading at the time, but over night I had a conch die on me, but I don't think that would have risen the nitrate levels that much.

Will this be good enough to support coraline algae growth if I maintain these levels or lower on my nitrates and phosphates? I have a GSP in there currently, but I'd like to eventually have the ability to add others. It has fully cycled, although under not ideal conditions. Can someone please let me know?

Numbers look pretty good depending on alk. Stability is key and tank maturity. I didn't see noticeable coraline growth till maybe 8 or 9 months. You will see it on the plastic piwerheads first.

 

[Lavey29]

I just picked up a test kit today. It looks like it's at 11. My understanding is that between 9-11 is best, but I'd like to bring it down a little bit if 11 is a little high.

That is the upper end of the alk range and leaves you no room for error. You would be better in the 8 to 9 range.

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

That is the upper end of the alk range and leaves you no room for error. You would be better in the 8 to 9 range.

My alkalinity is between 9 and 10

 

[Drummingbaker2010]

My alkalinity is between 9 and 10

I've been hearing that 12 is prime reef tank though.

 

[Lavey29]

My alkalinity is between 9 and 10

That's fine if your corals like it. The vendors I buy from keep theirs at 8 so I keep mine in that range.

 

[Aquajamin]

Agree with Lavey29.
IMO 11 is too high since it may start to precipitate the calcium and then you chasing numbers. I like to keep mine around 9 and stable.
When you drop your ALK you will probably see a drop in PH but that is okay, there are other ways to boost you PH but anything above 8.1 is excellent.
Your coraline will start to grow, just keep the parameters as stable as you can. Mine fluctuate +-0.2 with no issues, nobodies perfect.

 

[MaxTremors]

I have some chaeto in a refugium as well, but I don't know why it's not doing much right now. It's been in there for a while. It's a biocube with small modifications and not really any tumbling room, but I don't know what else could be wrong to prevent it from eating the nitrates and phosphates, perhaps you could shed some light on that as well. I have a light running on it 24/7.

You don’t need to tumble chaeto, people do it just to ensure there are parts that don’t get light. In a biocube back chamber that’s not really a concern. I trim a grocery bag half full of chaeto out of my refugium on my 28 gallon every 7-10 days without any tumbling. I would get some better test kits (based on the numbers you gave, it’s clear that you’re using API). API is notoriously inaccurate, but they also don’t have great resolution (for example,’for phosphates it’s recommend you keep them between 0.03 and 0.08, but the API test goes from 0 to 0.25, so it’s useless for reefing applications. Again, I would get better test kits and test every few days to get an idea of how stable everything is, and then from there we can help you to fine tune.