Water paramaters check..

[xaoswaters]

OK so Ive had my tank up and running for about 4 months now...stock is minimum at the moment. Tank Specs are...

55g
4 x54w T5 lamps
1 36w acintic blue lamp
70lbs live rock
2 Koralia current producers (4 &2)
Red Sea Berlin X2 Skimmer (rated for 225g tanks)
1 emperor 400 (no bio wheels, just LR rubble and carbon pads if needed)
Heater with temp around 79f
RO water used only and do at least 10% water changes per week sometimes twice a week
1 tomato clown
2 firefish
1 yellow watchman
1 red stripe angel
1 LTA
1 Squamosa Clam
2 feather dusters
1 bullseye pistol shrimp

so I tested my water today and my test results came back as this...

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
PH: 8.3 (is that ok?)
Nitrates: 10ppm
Calcium: 470
Phosphate: 0ppm

I know I need to check for Magnesium and Alkalinity, but I will go and buy those tests tomorrow.

Are those good readings, as far as being able to keep coral? I feed my fish a good meal about once every 2 or 3 days and spot feed the clam and dusters plankton once a week.

With those readings is there any wya to guess that my magnesium and alkalinity should be ok? Im trying to get coraline to grow (not wanting to use purple up or anything like that) I have quite a few nice size spots of purple coraline on the rocks that I lightly scrubbbed with a toothbrush to get it to seed. So my params good? Any feedback/suggestions will be pleasantly taken. Thanks!!

[Flipper62]

Everything looks good except for the Nitrates......10 ??? You only want 0.2 at the most.

Here is a great artical on parameters, By Randy Holmes Farley. It a good artical to hang on to.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

[airdog67]

If you only have fish your fine with 10ppm on nitrates, even if you have corals 10ppm isnt the end of the world.

[bertoni]

Stony corals might have some problems with nitrate at 10, but soft corals and fish won't care.

[chevellesteve]

you are fine to keep corals . nitrate of 10ppm is better than most people have . hell its better than i have and my stuff is all fine

[xaoswaters]

thanks guys for all the input, kind of freaked out for a moment thinking that I had to now work on getting my nitrates down to <.2ppm lol..Ive worked hard just to get it to 10

[cnote2991]

The key to growing coraline algea is Mg. Everytime I add it I have a coraline algea explosion. Even if you don't have a test kit for it, I would add some Mg. IMHO it is hard to get too much Mg, and have never seen any negative side effects from adding even large amounts.

[xaoswaters]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14918836#post14918836 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cnote2991
The key to growing coraline algea is Mg. Everytime I add it I have a coraline algea explosion. Even if you don't have a test kit for it, I would add some Mg. IMHO it is hard to get too much Mg, and have never seen any negative side effects from adding even large amounts.

ok will try a little, any recommendations on a Mg solution to use?

[cnote2991]

The cheapest Mg supplement is Epsom Salt. If soley using Epsom salt long term it has been said that the sulfates in it sould cause issues. Look at bulkreefsupply.com. They sell a mix of Mg sulfate(epsom salt) and Mg chloride (deicer) This is the best for long term use according to Randy in the chemistry forum.

That being said I have used just Epsom Salt in a pich several times with no neg side effects. I think you would have to use it for years to cause any problems with sulfates.

Also it really takes a lot to increase Mg very much. bulkreefsupply has a calculator to help you determine how much to add. It is very helpful.

[xaoswaters]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14919311#post14919311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cnote2991
The cheapest Mg supplement is Epsom Salt. If soley using Epsom salt long term it has been said that the sulfates in it sould cause issues. Look at bulkreefsupply.com. They sell a mix of Mg sulfate(epsom salt) and Mg chloride (deicer) This is the best for long term use according to Randy in the chemistry forum.

That being said I have used just Epsom Salt in a pich several times with no neg side effects. I think you would have to use it for years to cause any problems with sulfates.

Also it really takes a lot to increase Mg very much. bulkreefsupply has a calculator to help you determine how much to add. It is very helpful.

great! thanks for the info, will definately check that out...

[bertoni]

It's unusual, but not impossible, for magnesium to drop to problematic levels. I'd target about 1285 ppm. Most of the commercial supplements are fine, except for the SeaChem, which is mostly just epsom salts. There's a DIY recipe as well.