dosing/additives... should I?

[SKurj]

Ok new tank, almost 1 month old, cycled. Eventually a softie, LPS reef.. no corals yet cept some hitchhiking shrooms

Today's tests:
ALk: 7
CA: 370
Mag:1200
Salinity: 1.023
Nitrate: 20
temp: 78 deg

I have a Tunze calcium hydroxide kit for my ATO which is not yet setup.

Should I be dosing something to adjust those CA, Mag and ALK numbers? In any particular order? I had read that these levels should be adjusted prior to adding CA to the ATO topoff, just not sure what I should be doing...

Thanks

[shifty51008]

i would start by bringing up the mag to at least 1300-1500ppm. then adjust the cal. to 420-460ppm, then th alk to 7-11dkh.

[ek9vboi]

I would start with some water changes and bring those nitrate levels down. A few weekly water changes should bring levels back to par... have you been doing water changes throughout the cycling process?

[SKurj]

Did first water change of roughly 25% last weekend.

Up iuntil then I had been using store bought pre-mixed SW. Since I discovered the store bought water was questionable quality, starting next weekend I will be mixing my own. I also want to get the salinity up closer to 1.025

[bnumair]

if u bring up the salinity to 1.025-1.026 range it will increase the mag cal and alk somewhat. then test it to see what u need to add.

[ek9vboi]

Originally Posted by SKurj

Did first water change of roughly 25% last weekend.

Up iuntil then I had been using store bought pre-mixed SW. Since I discovered the store bought water was questionable quality, starting next weekend I will be mixing my own. I also want to get the salinity up closer to 1.025

That's good that you know that now. But I would do a few weekly water changes to stabilize the tank before dosing. As of now, I highly doubt your tank is pulling that much alk/calc from the water since it's a new tank. You would be surprised how a few water changes can change your parameters.

Make your salt mixes @1.025-1.026 and just do the water changes. A good way to bring that salinity up is to use salt water instead of freshwater for top off with your ATO but keep an eye on it.

[sponger0]

Originally Posted by bnumair

if u bring up the salinity to 1.025-1.026 range it will increase the mag cal and alk somewhat. then test it to see what u need to add.

I agree with just worrying about your salinity first before anything. And with no corals, no need to dose anything yet.

[SKurj]

Originally Posted by ek9vboi

Make your salt mixes @1.025-1.026 and just do the water changes. A good way to bring that salinity up is to use salt water instead of freshwater for top off with your ATO but keep an eye on it.

I don't have the ATO setup yet, missing a part so waiting for that to ship, but I did intend on using top ups with SW to try and raise the salinity slowly.

Going to get some sw mix today.

[sponger0]

I would just get some saltwater. Measure the salinity. Remove some water from your tank. Add new saltwater. Give it some time to mix in the tank. Test salinity again.

And do this until you have it at a proper salinity.

And once you have the salinity right, wait 24 hrs and test your trace elements again

[SKurj]

Update from today's tests, I have just been using SW to topoff with and my salinity has gone up, its a hair under 1.025 now but so close:

So here's the numbers:

ALK 6.4 down from 7
MAG 1300 up from 1200
ca 390 up from 370
temp 78 deg
Nitrate looks around 15

I haven't changed any water since the original tests, will be doing at least 10% this weekend.

GHA is now starting in the tank (well most ferociously on the skimmer return), I did add chaeto and lrubble to the fuge last weekend and have been running fuge lighting 12hrs/day with DT lighting 7 hrs. The skimmer is finally starting to get some dark goo too.

Should I be adding something to boost alk? or something else? Suggestions for product?

Still waiting on kalk for the tunze, but hopefully will get the setup installed at least for ATO this weekend.

[cwbhawk]

Looks like things are moving in the right directions for the most part! You're probably going to want to use a buffer to increase your alk. If water changes don't bring your calcium farther up you may want an additive for that. Kalk should keep them in check once you get them there!

[SKurj]

Ok here are today's results..

Getting there but NO3 is still an issue..

temp 79
Salinity 1.025
Alk 7.3
Ammo 0
NO2 0
NO3 20
PO4 0
CA 400
Mg 1350

I did add some REEF Carbonate yesterday, and today I did a 10% water change. Today I also removed 2 rocks and my skimmer return sponge (its a hob) and used Hydrogen Peroxide on them to kill off some GHA and bubble algae.

I do have 2 1" gobies in the tank and I am sure I am overfeeding, its easier to feed lots of fish than just a couple tiny ones..

I do have everything I need to start kalk dosing with the ATO, and errm I jumped ahead abit and got some corals yesterday, a Brain coral frag, Hammer, Elegance(probably a big mistake), a Zoa and GSP frag.

I also this week swapped out the carbon and Phoszorb that had been in the hob fuge since day one, and put in its place chemi pure (not sure if I should add carbon or gfo to supplement or just see how this stuff does).

I have noticed GHA starting (the rock i cleaned came into the tank suffering from it) and also a little RHA.

I have 9 snails at the moment, 3 trochus, 3 astrea, and 3 nassarius, perhaps it is time I added more?

FTS