*What are your ideal reef tank parameters?

jsker · Mar 24, 2019

srad750c said:
Ca 425-450 ppm
Mg 1500 ppm
Alk 10 dKH
No3 1 ppm
Po4 0.03-.010
salinity 1.026
Temp 75.5
system type - 90 mixed

I ran these parameters for a long time, but now I have PO4 0.114, system still fine but I don’t like the increased algae and diatoms. Gotta day the corals love it. Going to have to use GFO or some other means of control. May just leave it alone.

;Hilarious;Hilarious "If is looks good, do not change it" I have a hard time sticking with that advice took

Mudder · Mar 24, 2019

jsker said:
;Hilarious;Hilarious "If is looks good, do not change it" I have a hard time sticking with that advice took

Agreed..I chased numbers forever but my tank fought me still does lol..now I just try to keep my dkh where I want it and monitor the rest

srad750c · Mar 24, 2019

jsker said:
;Hilarious;Hilarious "If is looks good, do not change it" I have a hard time sticking with that advice took

I work a lot so it’s easy to ignore the algae and diatoms, I clean front glass 1-2 time a week. Like you said, I will probably enjoy it the way it is.

NY_Caveman · Mar 25, 2019

It’s Monday. The weekend is over. I know you all tested your parameters, so post them up!

Hitman · Mar 25, 2019

Let's see those numbers!

RussiReef · Mar 26, 2019

CA:420-440 MA:1300-1400 ALK:7.5-8.5 NO3:5-10 ppm PO4:0.03-0.08ppm SAL:1.026 TEMP:78-79 280 gal sps reef.

NY_Caveman · Mar 27, 2019

I have started entering and organizing the values. Bumping for more data! Thanks!

Hitman · Mar 27, 2019

I'm interested to see the averages when the data is completed. Seems like people are running Alk much higher then nsw and there obviously is a reason why. Maybe after the data is gathered we should ask what those reasons are.

NY_Caveman · Mar 28, 2019

Here are the preliminary numbers. Before I get to them a few notes.

all salinity measures were converted to SG
all temperature measures were converted to *F (sorry rest of the world)
when people used “less than” for Nitrate I assumed the minimum of 0.1 ppm, not 0
for Phosphate I set the minimum at 0.01 ppm
when data was missing I went by what users had in their builds and other threads
@jsker forgot his own numbers, but since I know he posts them I created a range for him based on the past two months
there were a couple of outlier numbers and eventually I will run the averages again without them
These are basic averages. I used the limited Google Sheets to get the data in, but I will eventually dump it all into Excel so I can create fancy charts with the ranges. I would like to include Mean, Median and Mode as well as these seem relevant to me.

There were no major surprises. I note the Mixed Reef and SPS systems from this limited data were pretty close. Funny that SPS has slightly higher Nitrate, but they were basically the same. SPS did have a lower Phosphate average which I would expect. Last note, the Alkalinity average came in at 8.6 dKH which would imply a balanced Calcium of 422 ppm. The number from our data was higher at 438 ppm.

jsker · Mar 28, 2019

@NY_Caveman thank you for putting this together.

My numbers

jsker · Mar 28, 2019

NY_Caveman said:

This is very interesting to see the average numbers

jtl · Mar 28, 2019

The NO3 and PO4 numbers are much higher than I would have expected, but I keep mine on the low side. I wonder if this in intentional or if people just cannot keep them down.

jsker · Mar 28, 2019

jtl said:
The NO3 and PO4 numbers are much higher than I would have expected, but I keep mine on the low side. I wonder if this in intentional or if people just cannot keep them down.

It is very interesting to see what members are really running as far as parameters. It is great to ask and get the responses that we are getting, to better understand and advise members with real time parameters are instead of what we are told.

homer1475 · Mar 28, 2019

I'll play....

Ca - 420
Mg - 1350
Alk - 8.0
No3 - 12 (working on getting this down! Would ideally like it around 5)
Po4 - .02
salinity -1.026
Temp - 80ish
System type - mainly LPS, just getting into the SPS game, like 2 softies(one small zoa colony, and 2 large photosynthetic gorgonians)

NY_Caveman · Mar 28, 2019

Cool. Keep the numbers coming and I will keep updating the data.

homer1475 · Mar 28, 2019

I test every sunday, although my numbers usually never change(hopefully with carbon dosing that nitrate number will go down some).

I'll keep posting until someone tells me to stop. lol

jsker · Mar 28, 2019

homer1475 said:
I test every sunday, although my numbers usually never change(hopefully with carbon dosing that nitrate number will go down some).

I'll keep posting until someone tells me to stop. lol

;Hilarious;Hilarious

What brought my No3’s down was running bio media I run Life Bio Fil but Siorox works well too. I was run carbon and yes it be help but not with the results like running a bio media

Firemanreefkeeper · Mar 29, 2019

jtl said:
The NO3 and PO4 numbers are much higher than I would have expected, but I keep mine on the low side. I wonder if this in intentional or if people just cannot keep them down.

I don't keep my nitrates high intentionally (25ppm or more), I can't get them down. I have A lot of crud in my sump, overflow box and sand bed that I try to keep out but its A lot of work to clean the sand and sump regularly. I do try but changing larger quantities of water(30% a week) is easier at the moment. Plus the tank doesn't seem to mind it, everything is growing. My new build is bare bottom and a shadow overflow so my focus will be keeping the sump cleaner.

homer1475 · Apr 2, 2019

This weeks tests.

Ca - 420
Mgc - 1350
Alk - 8.1
No3 - 4ppm(Finally coming down!)
Po4 - .034
salinity - 1.026
Temp - 80

Timrpn · Apr 2, 2019

Sallstrom said:
Ca = 440 ppm
Mg = 1300-1500 ppm
Alk = 6,5-7,5 dKH
No3 = 0,5-10 ppm
Po4 = 0.01-0.08 ppm
Salinity = 35 ppt
Temp = 26-28 C

System types: Mixed reefs

The numbers depend on the aquarium. Some tanks do well with measureable PO4 at 0,01, while for other tanks that number is too close to zero. So what ever numbers I go for, looking at the corals is just as important.

How is your coral growth at that level of Alk? Ca?