Deff water chemistry. I get phosphate and nitrate are made from poos and over feeding and to keepthem down by dosing,water changes n such. i understand magnesium and calcium are compounds in the salt water and they help corals grow and u can keep those up by dosing and regular water changes expectially if youhave hard corals. Also its not good if there too high. But basically thats all i understand lol. I dont understand alkininity and wat its levels should be or why. I dont understand starting a tank up wat ur meant to do to get chemistry right and why mainly cause i brought my tank second hand. I dont understand nitrites what it is and why. Or what charcol does to you tank (i was given some with my salt) no idea what to do with it lol. Also any other things i should kmow that i dont know lol i have sps lps soft corals and anenomes. Think ive winged most of it lol. Tank was dumped on me when i brought it second hand i wasnt shown much. Also id love my rasta xoas to open after two weeks they still havent despite water flow, lighting, parimiters all being corrected to suit. Ive had the tank 7 months. Would love to feel more confident in it all. No set website that i can find that explains all this to u in lamens terms lol. P.s i must be doing something right as went grom 3 anenomes to 7 since i had the tank would also be awesome to know wat exactly it is im doing right lol loads of pictures but wont hogg the page with them all haha
Great thank youIt can be extremely overwhelming, there is a lot of information, a lot of conflicting information and more than one way to achieve the same goal.
For chemistry I always go to Randy Holmes- Farley our resident chemistry expert.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-by-randy-holmes-farley.295/
Your chemistry questions will be addressed regardless of you skill level, be proactive and create threads. In layman terms alkalinity is a solutions ability to maintain it's pH value. Charcoal is a medium used to remove pollutants and to a lesser extent some dissolved organics, some use it to polish the water (remove yellow tint) or to absorb potential toxins created by corals.
Nitrates are the end result of the nitrogen cycle.
1. Metabolism by livestock produces ammonia which is toxic to fish and inverts. Ammonia is also produced by organic decay, such as uneaten foods, death of livestock or bacteria.
2. There are types of bacteria that utilize that ammonia and convert the ammonia to nitrites, nitrites are still toxic, another group of bacteria utilize the nitrites and produce nitrates which is not toxic as the appropriate levels.
Rastas as with many zoanthids can be tricky.
The easiest and best intervention for your corals and fish are routine water changes to remove pollutants and replenish elements.
Please create threads with your concerns, everyone has been in the same boat and others have the same questions.
