Tank Parameters

[Carlosa19]

my tank parameters were high as I Was dosing Kent a and b Nano reef. When I found out they were high I let it run its course and simply fed every 2-3 days and slowly decreased salinity from 1.035 to 1.024 by Rodi water changes. My concern now is will my levels continue to drop or will I be good?

 

[paulsz]

Sorry what do you mean by keep dropping? which parameters exactly?

I see your nitrates and phosphates are both 0. You may want to raise them to have nitrates be 5-10 and phosphates 0.03-0.1. Your tank needs nitrates and phosphates.

 

[Carlosa19]

Sorry what do you mean by keep dropping? which parameters exactly?

I see your nitrates and phosphates are both 0. You may want to raise them to have nitrates be 5-10 and phosphates 0.03-0.1. Your tank needs nitrates and phosphates.

My calcium and Kh are the ones that keep dropping. I'll probably feed every two days to raise the nitrates. As For the phosphates do you have any suggestions?

 

[paulsz]

feeding also helps with the phosphates.

Your calcium and Kh will drop if something is consuming it (corals, coralline, etc.). usually you can just replenish it with water changes every week or two weeks.

Do you have any corals?

 

[Carlosa19]

feeding also helps with the phosphates.

Your calcium and Kh will drop if something is consuming it (corals, coralline, etc.). usually you can just replenish it with water changes every week or two weeks.

Do you have any corals?

Ohhh it probably dropped since I removed saltwater and put fresh water. Yes I have a rainbow anemone, rock anemone, gsp, couple of zoas, kenya tree, Duncan, and a handful of mixed macroalgae.

 

[paulsz]

How big of a tank? How old is it ?

Doing water changes regularly may be enough to replenish that's needed (and keep the parameters stable), but you won't know until you test. Test every week before a water change to see

 

[paulsz]

Ohhh it probably dropped since I removed saltwater and put fresh water.

Yes that's why it dropped so much

 

[Carlosa19]

How big of a tank? How old is it ?

Doing water changes regularly may be enough to replenish that's needed (and keep the parameters stable), but you won't know until you test. Test every week before a water change to see

40 Gallons its about 4-5 months old I wiped the tank out and re-did it but a reef this time with black sand. Yes ive been monitoring my parameters and writing them Down to stay on top of them and catch anything bad before it unfolds

 

[paulsz]

okay yeah so just keep doing your regular water changes, test once a week (around same time each week). Your corals shouldn't use up too much kH and cal, so you should be okay to just do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. Get your nitrates up to 5-10 ppm, phosphates at 0.03-0.1. Whatever happens, don't let them stay at 0. Feed more for now. If they don't go up in a couple of weeks, think of maybe dosing some (using stuff like seachem flourish and seachem phosphorus, or neophos and neonitro).

I have no experience with anemones, so i couldn't tell you what they use up.

 

[Carlosa19]

okay yeah so just keep doing your regular water changes, test once a week (around same time each week). Your corals shouldn't use up too much kH and cal, so you should be okay to just do weekly or bi-weekly water changes. Get your nitrates up to 5-10 ppm, phosphates at 0.03-0.1. Whatever happens, don't let them stay at 0. Feed more for now. If they don't go up in a couple of weeks, think of maybe dosing some (using stuff like seachem flourish and seachem phosphorus, or neophos and neonitro).

I have no experience with anemones, so i couldn't tell you what they use up.

Thanks I've been feeding more with the aim of raising nitrates and phosphates. They're doing pretty good so far. And my nitrates raised to around 5 and phosphates around .0.25ppm

 

[IslandLifeReef]

One thing that seems strange is that your NO3 went from 40 ppm to 0 ppm in about two weeks. It is also strange that your PO4 went from 0.25 ppm to 0.00 ppm in the same amount of time. I doubt that the handful of macro algae would have consumed that much in just two weeks, especially if you only reduced your feeding and didn't stop feeding all together.

 

[Carlosa19]

One thing that seems strange is that your NO3 went from 40 ppm to 0 ppm in about two weeks. It is also strange that your PO4 went from 0.25 ppm to 0.00 ppm in the same amount of time. I doubt that the handful of macro algae would have consumed that much in just two weeks, especially if you only reduced your feeding and didn't stop feeding all together.

I've been doing a handful of water changes to lower salinity and didn't feed till 3 days. I should've kept it like that because here I am now trying to raise them back up for the nutrients