What makes a "stable" tank

[twilliard]

I always thought you had to keep po4 at 0.03 or else the corals would basically die. hmm.

.016 to .018 Po4 is where I hang around
.03 is high IMO

 

[djd3mon]

.016 to .018 Po4 is where I hang around
.03 is high IMO

thanks.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Water parameters in check and water volume keeps a tank stable.

 

[Marquiseo]

Stability in this hobby refers to a set pattern with marginal deviatiations from that pattern over time. This is at any set parameters, ideal or not. Changes are inevitable with reef tanks. Once the animals adapt, they will thrive in those conditions. If too many changes occur rapidly, they won't be able to adapt to the circumstances and will die off.

 

[twilliard]

Stability in this hobby refers to a set pattern with marginal deviatiations from that pattern over time. This is at any set parameters, ideal or not. Changes are inevitable with reef tanks. Once the animals adapt, they will thrive in those conditions. If too many changes occur rapidly, they won't be able to adapt to the circumstances and will die off.

Well said there! I cant think that complex early in the morning LOL

 

[djd3mon]

Stability in this hobby refers to a set pattern with marginal deviatiations from that pattern over time. This is at any set parameters, ideal or not. Changes are inevitable with reef tanks. Once the animals adapt, they will thrive in those conditions. If too many changes occur rapidly, they won't be able to adapt to the circumstances and will die off.

Very well said.

 

[djd3mon]

Thank you everyone for your tips, knowledge, insights and help!!!

I truly appreciate it.

@twilliard
@Coastie Reefer
@kenjung
@john.m.cole3
@Brew12
@thabizness
@Flippers4pups
@Marquiseo

 

[markalot]

Putting my answers in red in the quote.

Ive been in the saltwater aquarium hobby now for about 7 months. Ive had my downs and finally my ups. I have lost more high end SPS than I care to admit to myself. I've recently bought a dosing pump (cheap Jebao) and have begun to dose B-Ionic Alkalinity & Calcium. Also going to start supplementing AcroPower weekly. Purchased an APEX system to keep things automated and this is a real game changer vs manual dosing, etc.

So to my main question. What makes a stable tank? When I first entered the hobby I understood what stable meant but not in an aquarium sense. Let me see if I have this correct.

(These numbers may vary from user to user, this is what I believe is right for my tank for the research I have done)

1. Keep pH at 8.30 without major fluctuation. No, and trying to keep PH stable can cause BIG issues Mine varies from 7.75 to 8.5 depennding on the time of the year. Typical daily variation is 7.8 to 8.3.

2. Keep Calcium at 420 - 430 by dosing daily. Increase dosage as you add corals or corals grow. Test Alk and dose a balanced 2 part, Kalk, or use CalRx to maintain.

3. Keep Alkalinity at 9 - 10 dKH by dosing daily. Increase dosage as you add corals or corals grow. I would target 7 and not vary by more than .2 Most important with KH in my experience ... falling too low annoy and if not corrected eventually will hurt acros, rising too high too fast, especially when nutrients are low, will cause significant long term damage.

4. Keep Magnesium at 1350 ppm by dosing.

5. Keep Salinity at 1.024 - 1.026 (Check a couple times a week with refractometer) I see no reason to vary from 1.026
6. Use ATO with clean and fresh RODI water to maintain salinity
7. Do weekly 10 -25% water changes. (Fun, Fun, Fun!)
8. Keep Temp at 78 (use quality heater controlled by APEX)

9. Keep phosphates at 0.03 (run GFO and clean tank weekly or bi-weekly) .03 - .06 works ok for me. Stable PO4 is also critical so be careful with GFO, especially if PO4 get's high. A quick downward swing can cause a lot of damage.

10. keep Ammonia and Nitrate at 0 (should never really be an issue since no fish are present)
11. Keep Nitrate under 10 ppm. (will be managed by weekly water changes)

12. Dip all corals to prevent pests, RTN, STN...etc Since this is the SPS forum, I would only dip in Bayer, break off frag plugs, and inspect for eggs. I do not believe in dipping after the initial pest dip but it's a personal preference.

Am I missing anything?

 

[Ezeke1]

I keep track of my tank through Triton when it comes to trace elements.
I am one of the few you will hear about that does not change water. The only reason IMO to change water is to export buildup of No3 and Po4 which I do not have a problem in. I actualy add these.
An infusion pump.. hmm.. think of it this way. Drip by drip 24 hours a day. Can not get more consistent (stable) than that. About 1 drip every 3 minutes at 1ml an hour

Are you dripping for topoff or adding trace elements? This is an interesting idea.

 

[twilliard]

Are you dripping for topoff or adding trace elements? This is an interesting idea.

Trace elements are included with the calcium. also I dose h2o2.

 

[Brew12]

Trace elements are included with the calcium. also I dose h2o2.

I love the dosing containers! Most of the ones I see don't come with handles like that! Those must have cost a fortune!

 

[twilliard]

I love the dosing containers! Most of the ones I see don't come with handles like that! Those must have cost a fortune!

If there is one thing I live for besides my family is the ability to be creative and open minded. (drives me nuts!)

 

[Paul B]

To me stable means you can go out for a nice dinner and maybe a bottle of Merlot or even a trip to Europe and not have to worry about your tank. You as a Noob need to worry about all those parameters and use those test kits, but as you "age" in the hobby those test kits will get smaller and smaller until, like me, you won't need them any more as seawater, eventually, is very stable as long as you don't mess with it.
Eventually you will be able to tell exactly what your parameters by looking at your corals but that will take a number of years.
Also, Eventually you will also not have to be concerned with diseases or fish dying before their natural life expectancy. New fish will eat when you put them in your tank and not give you any problems.
That is a stable tank to me.
Remember, this is a hobby and should not be a cause for concern or overly expensive.

 

[djd3mon]

Putting my answers in red in the quote.

thank you.

 

[djd3mon]

To me stable means you can go out for a nice dinner and maybe a bottle of Merlot or even a trip to Europe and not have to worry about your tank. You as a Noob need to worry about all those parameters and use those test kits, but as you "age" in the hobby those test kits will get smaller and smaller until, like me, you won't need them any more as seawater, eventually, is very stable as long as you don't mess with it.
Eventually you will be able to tell exactly what your parameters by looking at your corals but that will take a number of years.
Also, Eventually you will also not have to be concerned with diseases or fish dying before their natural life expectancy. New fish will eat when you put them in your tank and not give you any problems.
That is a stable tank to me.
Remember, this is a hobby and should not be a cause for concern or overly expensive.

I hope to be there one day where I can take a trip longer than 2 days away from the tank, lol

nothing happens while I'm gone...I just worry about "what if..." while I'm gone.

Thank you

 

[john.m.cole3]

I worry about what if when I'm sleeping! I wake up to the sound of my ATO kicking on. It was worse when I first set up this tank.

 

[Paul B]

I hope to be there one day where I can take a trip longer than 2 days away from the tank, lol

nothing happens while I'm gone...I just worry about "what if..." while I'm gone.

Thank you

I taught my fish and crabs to worry for me.

 

[markalot]

As far as it has to do with stability, what failures are people so worried about? Let's talk about them, how bad they could be, and if anything differently can be done to avoid them. I have yet to harm a tank by being away, it's always been the idiot reefer (me) standing in front of the tank doing something that has harmed it.

 

[djd3mon]

I taught my fish and crabs to worry for me.

 

[djd3mon]

As far as it has to do with stability, what failures are people so worried about? Let's talk about them, how bad they could be, and if anything differently can be done to avoid them. I have yet to harm a tank by being away, it's always been the idiot reefer (me) standing in front of the tank doing something that has harmed it.

my #1 worry: heater failing