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Unread 06/25/2020, 04:48 PM   #1
Sk8r
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Spokane WA
Posts: 34,628
Blog Entries: 55
The BEST way to have your tank work...

This needs to be said.
It's the water.

No matter what else you do, fancy or plain, water matters. When you test, get NUMBERS wherever possible. And write down those numbers, because they will vary. If they are varying in a bad direction, and haven't got there yet, don't wait: fix them. That's all. Just correct a bad direction before it gets to bad territory. That's why you keep a test logbook. Get tests that give you actual numbers, and use them often at first. After you get experience, you won't have to be quite as often---but early on, call it a learning curve. Tanks differ in how they respond. Learn yours.

The parameters I prefer are salinity 1.024, alk 8.3, cal 420, and magnesium 1250. That will grow stony coral. It also (if you dump 2 tsp kalk powder per gallon of fresh ro/di in your topoff) will feed stony coral and hold that balance rock steady until the mg runs below 1200, one of those neat low-tech tricks.

I have never known fish or softies to complain about the above water parameters, just that neither will absorb kalk (calcium) the way stony does, so if you just maintain your initial balance, you don't need kalk. Unless you're a clam fanatic: clams use it up, too.

Just remember, the core thing, ahead of all the fancy gear, is just a good test kit, a record that shows you your up and down trends, and good water quality, no matter what you're keeping.


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Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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