When to check parameters?

[Tony Jacot]

Simple but often over looked question: When do you guys usually check all of your parameters of your tanks? I usually keep up with my salinity every week with water changes but was wondering how often and when do you all do a ph, alk , phosphate, nitrate test?

 

[bang guy]

Initially once a week. Once everything is going nicely then every other week. Once the tank is mature it's once a month unless something looks off.

 

[jay0705]

Agreed

 

[silverado61]

I agree also but it should depend on what size tank it is and how experienced you are. The smaller the tank, the quicker it can go wrong.

 

[Tony Jacot]

Thanks for the input guys!! I'm one year in with a stock bio-cube and just got the reefmaster test kit ordered. ph been a consistent 7.9 with nitrates around 15-20 so i also ordered chemi-pure elite and thinking about slowly removing the bio-balls and modifying the filtration. corals seem to go from happy to sad daily. Guessing the small tank size? This may need a new thread?

 

[bang guy]

What's the Alkalinity?

 

[Tony Jacot]

Havnt been able to test alk yet but i did get a 390 on calcium at the lfs if that helps any? tank consists of branching coral, duncan coral, frogspawn, gsp, pulsing xenia...wil chemi-pure help with calcium and alk or should i get something to dose or wait for my filter mod?

 

[bang guy]

First test to see if it's OK. Chemi-Pure will not help with Alkalinity. If it's low Sodium Bicarbonate added to your topoff water will help. But only if it's actually low.

 

[Tony Jacot]

Awesome!!..Thanks a bunch for advice!!

 

[kerenlinder]

FYI
this recomendations for fish & aquatic

 

[john suh]

After every 10-15pct water change which I do every week.

 

[pegasus]

Your corals will probably be happier with a lower nitrate level. Try to get it down to 5ppm or less. Regular water changes to keep the level down, along with a good salt mix, should also keep you alkalinity and calcium levels up. 425-450ppm of calcium and 8-10 dKH of alkalinity is what's normally recommended for hard corals (your Duncan), so alkalinity is equally as important, and some will argue that it's more important. It takes proper amounts of alkalinity (carbonate/bi-carbonate) and calcium for corals to build their skeletons, as they combine the two to form calcium carbonate.

 

[Tony Jacot]

i do 5 gallon weekly water changes with salinity salt mix. Ever since my tank has cylcled i have had issues with nitrates ranging in the 15-25 range. the filtration on the biocube is stock and will be replaced with reticulated foam with a poly filter and chemi-pure elite. I read somewhere the chemipure will help stabilize ph..mine will go up to 8 and stay around 7.9. just seems like towards the end of the day or light cycle if you will the corals seem a bit sad or droopy if you will. I just changed my lights because the other lights had 13 months on them. They are compact florescent a white and a blue atinic .

 

[pegasus]

A PH of 8 is good, and it's normal for it to go up as the day goes on. Broad swings in PH aren't, but if it happens slowly over the course of the day, it shouldn't affect anything. As far as coral looking sad or droopy towards the end of the light cycle, this isn't uncommon either. They have a way of adapting to your photoperiod, and know it's going to be dark soon. My corals (especially duncans) always start retracting before the lights go out. As long as they look healthy in the middle of the day, it shouldn't be a cause for alarm.

Yeah, about a year is all you're going to get out of PC lamps before they start losing the proper spectrum. Too much of that and you'll get plenty of nuisance algae...

 

[Tony Jacot]

Thanks for the piece of mind pegasus!!..One thing i need to learn to do in this hobby is not stress out so much!! One thing looks off im like Oh no what did i do, what am i doing wrong lol!!

 

[pegasus]

Thanks for the piece of mind pegasus!!..One thing i need to learn to do in this hobby is not stress out so much!! One thing looks off im like Oh no what did i do, what am i doing wrong lol!!

You're welcome. Hey, it's easy to stress out, especially in the beginning. Good thing this is a relaxing hobby, right? LOL!!! Once you get the hang of things, it won't be as bad. It still happens to me sometimes, but not nearly as often as it did in the early stages. A few weeks ago I misread a new measuring cup and accidently dosed 3 1/2 times the recommended dosage of Magnesium in my tanks. Yeah... I freaked. Everything turned out okay, but it could have gone the other way just as easily. One thing that helps in my situation... I have over 100 gallons of total water volume, so things happen a lot slower than they would in a 29 gallon tank, so I have time to catch any problems before they become serious.