reefwisher
06/07/2008, 07:12 PM
Any ideas what going on in my tank? My parameter are Ammonia 0,Nitrite 0, Nitrate 15. Since last May 2007 I have had a steady reading of Nitrate of 40 on my API test kit. And been dosing 30-40 ml. of B-ionic 2 part (alk. & cal.) daily. The reading has been tested daily with the Alk. at 10.9-11.2 steady and the cal. at 425-440 steady. Also the house has been closed up with A/C running through the summer and pretty much after that, we had a short fall and a long winter. The ph was at a 7.8-8.0. Also was doing 20% water change weekly to keep nitrate in check. The tank is a 40 gal br. with a 10 gal. fuge with protein skimmer. It is stock full of soft corals and 4 LPS and one derassa clam that has grown from 2 inch to now 4 inch. I also have 2 ocellaris clowns 1 bi-color blenny 1 royal gramma a 1 small tomini tang and my clean-up crews. Now here where it begin in the past month the weather been nice so the windows are open and fans running and to boot the nitrate has fallen from 40 ppm to 15 ppm and staying there steady. My alk started dropping from 11.2 to 9.9 I have had to boot my daily dosing of 40ml to 70-80 ml per day and my cal. has went from 425 to 400-410 and dosing 70-80 ml of calcium per day. My ph now are reading 8.3 in the morning and climb to 8.4 at night.. I have been reading Randy Holmes-Farley articles to find out what going on in relations to Ph,Alk.,and Cal. But also wondering when my nitrates went down that the corals started demanding more Alk. and Cal. and I am sure the clam also. Also know that the ph is up and that changes too and more outside air is in the house. I am just curious to know if I am doing the right thing by monitoring my level and dosing that much or will dosing that much will hurt anything. Also any ideas what is going on in my tank and why this happen? One thing for sure I'll know more when it get hot out and we shut the house up for the A/C.