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Question on water parameters

njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
Ok guys I seen people on different forums posting different 'perfect' parameters. Most of the parameters are lower than what I try to keep mine at.

Now I dose with "Red Sea Reef Foundation" and these are the levels they list

Ca/Sr/Ba Supplement (Calcium) - I am for around 450
  • soft / low nutrient SPS - 430
  • LPS - 440
  • SPS - 465
Buffer Supplement (Carbonate Hardness) - I am for around 10
  • Fish - 7
  • Soft/low nutrient SPS - 8.1
  • LPS - 12
  • SPS - 12.6
Magnesium Supplement - I am for around 1390
  • soft / low nutrient SPS - 1280
  • LPS - 1310
  • SPS - 1390


Note I have a mix reef and wondering if I am way off base on the numbers I aim for.
 
art13

art13

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
alk can be kept between 7-12 and people can have successful tanks, calcium 400-450, mag any place from 1300-1600 you should be just fine. Stability is more important, the only thing you change is if you have a ultra low nutrient system, you really don't want to have the alk go over 8 - 8.4 or the sps will start to burn.
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
art13 said:
alk can be kept between 7-12 and people can have successful tanks, calcium 400-450, mag any place from 1300-1600 you should be just fine. Stability is more important, the only thing you change is if you have a ultra low nutrient system, you really don't want to have the alk go over 8 - 8.4 or the sps will start to burn.
Click to expand...

Yes I do understand stability is more important. I just wanted to make sure my stability numbers were not too high
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
my current parameters (tested about 10mins ago)
pH - 7.9
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 40
Calcium - 475
Akh - 8.2
Phosphate - 0
Magnesium - 1380
 
art13

art13

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
0 nitrates 0 phosphates is a ULNS system, basically you provide the nutrients via another way besides keeping nitrates and phosphates in the water, but you are always bordering on one wrong move and you nuke the tank. Your calcium is high, i would let that fall and just stop dosing it, Alk is just fine at 8.2, if you wanted to slowly raise it to 10 that would be fine as well. If you tank is doing fine, besides bringing down the calcium, i wouldn't mess with much else. I wish i was able to keep nitrates in my system at this point, its just a bit too efficient at removing them, even with dosing. I can dose my tank to 10ppm nitrates and its down to 0 within a few days.
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
art13 said:
0 nitrates 0 phosphates is a ULNS system, basically you provide the nutrients via another way besides keeping nitrates and phosphates in the water, but you are always bordering on one wrong move and you nuke the tank. Your calcium is high, i would let that fall and just stop dosing it, Alk is just fine at 8.2, if you wanted to slowly raise it to 10 that would be fine as well. If you tank is doing fine, besides bringing down the calcium, i wouldn't mess with much else. I wish i was able to keep nitrates in my system at this point, its just a bit too efficient at removing them, even with dosing. I can dose my tank to 10ppm nitrates and its down to 0 within a few days.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
Rikki Reef

Rikki Reef

Question on Magnesium? how bad is High lvl? working with red sea pro. Test, still a little tricky to read but think I'm close enough.
Temp: 80.5
salt: 34.9
Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate and phospates: 0
PH: 8.11
dKH: 9.1 - 9.8
Ca: 400
Mg: 1600 ?
 
joe b

joe b

Never used the Red Sea tests but have read that their Mg kit is tricky to use... maybe try a Salifert test. Curious what salt your using? I use IO and my Mg stays steady at @1300
 
njtiger24 aquariums

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
Rikki Reef said:
Question on Magnesium? how bad is High lvl? working with red sea pro. Test, still a little tricky to read but think I'm close enough.
Temp: 80.5
salt: 34.9
Ammonia,Nitrite,Nitrate and phospates: 0
PH: 8.11
dKH: 9.1 - 9.8
Ca: 400
Mg: 1600 ?
Click to expand...

I have heard people running mag at 1600 they even claim it help keep algae at bay. I use RC salt and for awhile my mag been at 1600 (I use red sea kit as well) but its now slowly coming down. On Saturday it was as 1460.
 
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