Parameters, dosing, good and bad, and being an ocean. FYI

[Sk8r]

My sig line, qv, has a decent set of numbers that will grow euphyllias under a 10000k light.
People ask if it has to be EXACTLY those numbers: no: there's wiggle room, and higher is ok---up a point or two. Mg can go considerably higher, up to 1450, etc, with no problem if you like pink (coralline can run amok.)

There are a few you DON'T want: ammonia should be zero, phosphate should be very low (not zero, as you want some algae in your fuge, which feeds the copepods which feed the...well, the circle of life needs a little). One big difference between the oceans and our tanks (well, outside of tides, big currents, and the sun and moon and all that water)---is how much nitrate we say is ok. The ocean if tested just doesn't have nitrate. We know corals don't like it, and we know fish can survive fairly high levels of it, as in clear up to 100, when corals really want it down to .2 and surely want it under 20. But since fish do fare well in an ocean, we can figure if you can knock that nitrate down, down, down even in your FOWLR, your fish may be happier for it---especially since nitrate is a pathway to ammonia, which fish do NOT survive. So track those things, and do your best. Tank-keeping is a learning curve, so don't be embarrassed by your initial numbers: ask around---somebody may have a suggestion you haven't tried.

Of course a good salt level is essential: salinity is not constant in the ocean: rain, storms, runoff from rivers, currents, etc---but fish can vote with their fins and move. Corals can spit out all their water, shrivel and wait for something more comfy. But in general---since we have limited space in the tanks, pick a nice salinity and hold it. I keep mine at 1.024 or 5, because evaporation, even with an ATO (autotopoff) can push it up a bit, and I'd rather stay in the favored zone, which stops at 1.026---and mind those O's and decimals!!! Your reef salt mix will turn out a 1.024 salinity at half a cup a gallon. Get measuring implements from the kitchen, create a couple of reliable proper sized buckets, and that way you won't have to count cups and lose your count midway. DO use your refractometer.

THE parameter many novice FOWLRs don't track and absolutely should --- is alkalinity. DKH Alkalinity buffer can correct a problem to a nice 8.3. Though 7.9 is not bad and 9 is not bad. Just be sure it's somewhere in that ballpark, because when water alkalinity sinks toward acid, down in the 6's, fish get peevish, cranky, sick, and prone to skin problems, not excluding parasites. PH is related to alkalinity, but it naturally bounces all over the map: keep your alkalinity ok, under ordinary circumstances, and that's all you need to do for your ph.

The Golden Three for a stony reef are alkalinity (8.3) and calcium (420 or higher) and 1300 (or higher) magnesium. If they're out of whack, your stony corals and clams will not be able to grow skeleton/shell. If they're not in synch, first raise magnesium: that's the 'lock' on the set. If it's not up, the other two can't rise and hold. So mg first, then alk, then cal. You need tests for all three, and supplements for all three. But if you want them just to hold steady without constant dosing of calcium---just put kalk into your topoff, and that cheap lime (calcium) dose will hold everything steady day to day until the magnesium runs out. If you have a very large packed reef, this won't be enough to feed them all, but a calcium reactor can do it. The supplement bottle is only for setting them right to start the kalk flow, because kalk alone can't 'set' it, only 'maintain' it once set. Got it?

Anyway, in our attempt to be an ocean, you can't supply millions of gallons of spare water, but you CAN stop a bad trend before it becomes a bad situation simply by keeping a logbook, paying attention to the rise and fall of these elements, and simply dose, say, more mg, before it runs out and lets the whole golden 3 collapse. SO as the ocean supplies more 'stuff' before it runs out---that becomes YOUR job. Dose into a trend, don't wait until it's a deficiency, and keep records so you can remember the last numbers.

That's how a little tank imitates a whole lot of water.

[stingeragent]

Very good and informative post. I personally rarely check alk, cal, mg, just because I don't have SPS . How often would you recommend checking those? At this point I don't dose anything, just w/c.

[Sk8r]

Weekly test is a good thing. If you're just setting up a new operation or in a crisis, daily is not overkill, but usually in a new tank, weekly is good, and can go down to bi-monthly once you've got everything under even keel.

[stingeragent]

Ok thanks. My 2 tanks, if you include an upgrade have been up a year and half now, but just never really tested for those. I have the kits but I guess I was under the impression it was mainly for SPS tanks. Will have to start checking.

[CStrickland]

it sounds so zen, like a yoga mantra "you must beee the ocean, ommm "

[thefishyboy]

Thank you. A very useful post for new reefers like me!

[SouthFla]

Sk8r, can't thank you enough for your continued concise, well-written and easy-to-grasp posts It certainly makes getting back into this wonderful hobby more enjoyable when you can get straightforward answers amidst all of the Internet clutter

[coolxborg]

Sk8r (or anyone) - In my 150g setup running for roughly 4-5 months with LPS and SPS (and very few softies/zoas), Ive been testing every 4-6 days and my alk/calcium/magnesium has stayed in the same range for last month or so after adding LPS/SPS.

Calcium: 420-440
Mag: 1320-1350
Alk: 7.7 (this took a dip from 8.6 about a week after adding LPS. Ive been dosing Kent's dkh buffer daily but has not risen).

I havent dose anything else but Im setup for it with Bubble Magus dosing pump.

Questions:
- Why arent my calcium/mg levels going down? Is it supposed to?
- Do i need to raise magnesium levels first so my alkalinity levels can go up?

Let me know if I should start my own thread instead of asking in this one.

[Sk8r]

Mg gets used very, very slowly, and re calcium, even stony coral can lunk along not eating much until one afternoon on a whim they start sucking up calcium like it was going out of style. If you have a good calcium load, and especiallly if you are supplying kalk or otherwise dosing it, THAT's not going to run down: it keeps coming. and your alk won't wobble while the cal and mg are up. So what really takes the golden 3 down is a mg deficiency, and happily, it is the slowest-used of the three. I've set my system on just a dump of kalk (Mrs Wages Pickling Lime, no joke: it really is) into a 32 gallon ro/di reservoir, stirred it once, had a second 32 gallons of reserve ro/di, and a faithful tanksitter to come in and dump more ro/si from can 2 into can 1. One beauty of kalk is that it won't overdose, ONLY 2 tsp per gallon can dissolve into 8.3 alkalinity water, (that's how the actual ocean does it---by dissolving old limestone)---and as long as you dump in more fresh water, more kalk rises off the bottom and goes into sollution. SO I was about to be gone for a month, with no adjustment of a coral reef's supply beyond just adding more fresh water---How? Because I had 1450 mg in there, and that wasn't going to run down past 1300 until more than a month. SO my tank was rock-steady while I was gone, and the corals were well fed by the kalk.

[Shawn O]

Great explanation of "the golden 3". Makes it much easier to understand and visualize.