My tank after a month

kane4fire

kane4fire

New Member
So am I going too fast? I've had my tank for about a bit over a month and all the parameters are good. I have to add a bit of calcium every other day and I also add a tiny bit of trace to keep them at good levels.
* Ammonia - 0ppm
* Nitrite - 0ppm
* Nitrate - 0ppm
* pH - 8.2
* Hardness - 8.5dKH
* Calcium - 400ppm
* Phosphate - 0ppm



If you want to see more pictures and a better write-up of everything I have:
http://rashedtalukder.com/index.php?...bies&Itemid=56
I seem to have to dose my tank now with calcium or else my corals are not happy and it dips below 350ppm. I do water changes every week but I would like to start doing it every other week since everything else seems to be fine. I just hope my tank doesn't crash or something at this point. Any suggestions would be helpful.
BTW, it is so hard to get good pictures of a tank. I am using a older point and shoot and it never seems to come out that great. My pictures are heavily compressed also btw, so I can save some loading time for everyone.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
hi. i would discontinue the trace elements. you might accumilate an abundance of some mineral that will eventually get to toxic levels. generally, all the trace elements you need are in your salt mix.
also, about the calcium, i believe it was 350ppm right out of the bucket. you don't have anything in the tank that uses calcium to a noticable extent. i also believe that if you continue adding calcium every other day you are going to get your levels all out of whack.
 
kane4fire

kane4fire

New Member
I will go ahead and discontinue the trace elements then. My corals seem to be doing significantly better after adding the calcium. The mushrooms expand to about 2x what they used to before I did that. The calcium also seems to have stabilized. I've been checking my parameters every other day.
I use instant ocean also btw.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
instant ocean is not for reef tanks in my opinion. use atleast reef crystals, or better yet, oceanic. oceanic has consistantly given me excellent calcium and alk levels. i keep a 400+ gallon, sps dominated system, without any additives or 2 part solutions.
 
str8salt

str8salt

Member
I would venture to say yes you are going to fast. Then again everything may go great for you. At 30 days on a new tank set up you may cycle your main tests to appropraite levels but that doesn't ensure that they will be stable. It also doesnt take into account the other cycles of a new tank. Algae etc. I hope it holds in there for ya, but I would caution you to have patience.
 
cedarreef

cedarreef

Member
I agree with Mr X on the salt. He turned me on to Oceanic, and it's the best salt I've used so far. Perfect for a stable reef since the supplements are already in the mix. I would slow down if I were you. As srt8salt stated, just because you have stable levels now doesn't mean that they will stay that way especially if you go too quickly with a new tank. Hopefully things keep doing well!
 
kane4fire

kane4fire

New Member
Well, I tested my water again today and my calcium is at 300ish. I suppose I can just do more than 10% water changes a week to try and get things a bit more stable or something.
The metal halides came with my used package off craigslist. The guy didn't really spare much expenses so it's probably pretty good. The box for it is HUGE. I actually need to rearrange it and make a shelf for it in the near future and leave room for a chiller.
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
Originally Posted by kane4fire
http:///forum/post/2889625
Well, I tested my water again today and my calcium is at 300ish. I suppose I can just do more than 10% water changes a week to try and get things a bit more stable or something.
that depends on your salt mix. if you continue with instant ocean, no matter how many water changes you do, you are still going to have low Ca.
 
kane4fire

kane4fire

New Member
I will be switching over to Oceanic once I run out (which will be through my next batch of water). It seems like IO is really for FO tanks and not exactly for reefs. For now, what should I use to dose my tank with some extra calcium? Should I just setup a kalk drip system? I have been using Kent's Liquid Concentrated Calcium but I've also seen a 2 part calcium booster.
 
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