What parameters should I be focusing on now?

CaliCO · Nov 23, 2020

Hi,
So I have my reef tank 29 gallon with a 40-70 gph canister filter (no room for sump) setup going with 4 small fish and a shrimp, and just got my first coral. My tanks been running for 4 months. It is running great so far because I have been proactive about staying ahead of problems and I've gone slow. Been changing water every 2 weeks and my nitrates are stable at under 4ppm. Im considering doing weekly changes now that I got a coral and plan to get more. There's an overwhelming amount of info about parameters like alkalinity, calcium, magnesium and phosphate out there. My question is how much do I need to concern myself with these parameters if I do weekly water changes and add corals slowly? If I do 12% weekly water changes, will that keep all my numbers stable or will I need to start monitoring more parameters and dosing accordingly? What is my strategy moving forward? Thanks for any tips!

laverda · Nov 23, 2020

At this point water changes should be all you need to do if your new water has the correct parameters. Many do not, but can be supplemented to make them correct. Some salts like oceanic are very high in Calcium, so you would end up with Calcium level that are too high quickly. So you need to test your new saltwater so you know what to expect. You really want a salt that mixes close or slightly higher than what you want to keep your tank at.
As you add corals and clams your water changes my not be enough to keep parameters consistent.

CaliCO · Nov 23, 2020

laverda said:
At this point water changes should be all you need to do if your new water has the correct parameters. Many do not, but can be supplemented to make them correct. Some salts like oceanic are very high in Calcium, so you would end up with Calcium level that are too high quickly. So you need to test your new saltwater so you know what to expect. You really want a salt that mixes close or slightly higher than what you want to keep your tank at.
As you add corals and clams your water changes my not be enough to keep parameters consistent.

Ok so it sounds like I will just ease into worrying about all that stuff as I add more corals and such. Probably the only way to really be on top of it is to just test for those things early and then adjust if needed.

Spieg · Nov 23, 2020

In a cycled tank receiving routine water changes, you really only need to monitor salinity, Nitrate, Alkalinity and Phosphate. Stay on top of salinity in particular if you don't have an ATO as evaporation can cause big swings in that. The others can probably be checked once a month or so until you get a collection of corals growing. Then Alkalinity will need more attention.