These are my parameters, grill me !

[D3DPrintedThingz]

Ok don't be super mean, but I am looking for advice. I am now proud to report I have detectable nitrates in my tank. I had to add 4 more fish and some potassium nitrate additives to get it jumpstarted, but 15 is the highest my nitrates have ever been! This is my aquatic log with my most recent measurements and inhabitants. What do you all think ?

 

[Spare time]

Calcium is a bit low. Phosphate is a little high (depending on the test kit). Other than that everything is ok in my opinion.

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

Calcium is a bit low. Phosphate is a little high (depending on the test kit). Other than that everything is ok in my opinion.

Concur.

 

[D3DPrintedThingz]

Calcium is a bit low. Phosphate is a little high (depending on the test kit). Other than that everything is ok in my opinion.

I can attribute the high phosphate to my extreme feeding schedule. It will be one that I watch and make sure it does not get out of hand, I know there is a filter medium similar to carbon that works to pull out phosphate out of the water, will employ this tactic if it needs.

The low calcium - this is most likely just from the coral using the calcium to grow? It is replenished through water changes, yes ? I am a couple days late on my routine water change, will be curious to see what the levels are after I change the water.

Thank you for the help !

 

[PatW]

Off the top of my head, my suggestions are like those above.

Calcium should range from 370 to the mid 400s. I try to keep mine above 400 to have a margin of error.

pH is fine

Salinity is fine.

Alkalinity is 8.2. I run mine a tad lower. This is pretty close to natural seawater. But if you have a considerable amount of creatures who make calcium carbonate lIke clams, SPS corals, and coralline algae, your ALK can decline rapidly into the tank crash area. So if you have a high demand tank, you should have automatic dosing of ALK and check the ALK daily. If you have a low demand system, you don’t have to be that vigilant.

At 15, nitrates are kind of high. Most people run anywhere from 1 ppm to 10 ppm. But many people run nitrates up to 20. It depends on your system.

Phosphate is a bit high. The recommendation is no higher than .03. But I have heard of people who run there systems at this level and higher.

Temperature is good.

I scuba dive and coral reefs do fine even into the high 60s. But 78 degrees is a good level. Coral reefs flirt with coral bleaching when they get into the mid eighties and that is happening more and more.

 

[OfficeReefer]

Probably okay. Usually, I see higher numbers is predator tanks but the feeding would explain this. Invest in another macroalgae biome aka refugium, you'll need it with that green expanding. UV can also maintain too.

 

[homer1475]

Other then low calcium(420 is a good round number to keep it at), everything else looks fine.


If you drop your nitrates, and phosphates, the green will subside some.

In my very mature system, my nutrient number(nitrate/phosphate) match yours with nearly 0 algae as I have the coral biomass to uptake the nutrients.

 

[mwil79]

maybe its just me but the one thing that really sticks out is a 90g tank and no snails? Urchins are great but having a bunch of snails including nassarius is a huge must to clean up your sand bed. If you add 4 more fish you won't need to add potassium nitrates any longer. I run a 65g with 11 fish, a skimmer, refugium and purigen and struggle to keep them below 25ppm. I would definitely add more clean up crew however.

Other than that slightly low calcium but the rest looks good.

 

[homer1475]

maybe its just me but the one thing that really sticks out is a 90g tank and no snails? Urchins are great but having a bunch of snails including nassarius is a huge must to clean up your sand bed. If you add 4 more fish you won't need to add potassium nitrates any longer. I run a 65g with 11 fish, a skimmer, refugium and purigen and struggle to keep them below 25ppm. I would definitely add more clean up crew however.

Other than that slightly low calcium but the rest looks good.

Thought the same thing, 0 inverts, but didn't type it out as the OP only asked about his parameters.

 

[Bucs20fan]

While I do agree with everyone above, Parameters are just that, a snapshot in time of testing. Everything has a range but theres not alot you cannot have success with if you keep you parameters near what you already have. Calcium is easy enough to bring up so no biggie there.

 

[D3DPrintedThingz]

I was just too lazy to list/add the CUC to the log, I have 7 or 8 hermits 3 big nassarius 10+ small nassarius 2 conch and sparing amounts of trochus/astrea snails have been dwindling, I lost a good chunk of CUC moving from 75g to 90g tank, being in the sand and a couple maybe got smashed by rocks on accident. I had a reefcleaners order set to ship out this Monday so I'd be throwing in a new batch of CUC today but a little miscommunication so I am waiting next batch of shipments go out next Monday, so it'll be another week

I have a refugium set up, all ready for macro algae when the need is there. It currently only has a ton of live rock rubble in there, but helps with filtering nonetheless. I think I will try to do dragons breath instead of chaeto.

At 15, nitrates are kind of high. Most people run anywhere from 1 ppm to 10 ppm. But many people run nitrates up to 20. It depends on your system.

I do have question specific to this. I tested with Salifert and it is not a digital but color chart. The '15' is not a specific number, but rather a slight increase in color from the salifert chart when I was getting almost an exact 10 ppm. The jump goes from 10 to 25, and the color was between this range.

Is there any chance of keeping a successful reef if I am never able to narrow down the nitrates between 10-25 ppm ? The next option up would be the Hanna testers but I am patiently waiting on a package deal for a group of them. No one really resells the Hanna testers for a good deal - used ones still expensive.

 

[Spare time]

I was just too lazy to list/add the CUC to the log, I have 7 or 8 hermits 3 big nassarius 10+ small nassarius 2 conch and sparing amounts of trochus/astrea snails have been dwindling, I lost a good chunk of CUC moving from 75g to 90g tank, being in the sand and a couple maybe got smashed by rocks on accident. I had a reefcleaners order set to ship out this Monday so I'd be throwing in a new batch of CUC today but a little miscommunication so I am waiting next batch of shipments go out next Monday, so it'll be another week

I have a refugium set up, all ready for macro algae when the need is there. It currently only has a ton of live rock rubble in there, but helps with filtering nonetheless. I think I will try to do dragons breath instead of chaeto.

I do have question specific to this. I tested with Salifert and it is not a digital but color chart. The '15' is not a specific number, but rather a slight increase in color from the salifert chart when I was getting almost an exact 10 ppm. The jump goes from 10 to 25, and the color was between this range.

Is there any chance of keeping a successful reef if I am never able to narrow down the nitrates between 10-25 ppm ? The next option up would be the Hanna testers but I am patiently waiting on a package deal for a group of them. No one really resells the Hanna testers for a good deal - used ones still expensive.

Yes its fine