Originally Posted by
mcbdz
http:///forum/post/2491316
Ok, first, your lights will not sustain your corals, you will need to upgrade.
Work on you water levels.
SG- better at 1.025-1.026, slowly increase with saltwater top off until you reach desired SG
Cal.-needs to be around 420. This will improve with water changes with good salt and maturity hopefully. If not you may have to use a 2 part buffer
ph-8.2-8.3 best but more important that it stays stable, same with temp.
I dont agree with this... you can hold any soft coral you want with the biocube stock lights and even some LPS. If you are questioning the credibility of my statments you can check out my thread in the nano section and a lot of other cube owners with stock lights.
There is no one specific gravity/salinity that is perfect for marine systems. SG has a workable range, within this range is considered acceptable. As a general rule, marine systems are best maintained between a specific gravity of 1.020 and 1.028, but can be seen as high as 1.030 avoiding changes of more than a thousandth a day. A higher than normal SG on your system, is not as stressful to your fish as you think. However the time it takes for your SG to change most certainly is. A few days is tolerable a few hours is devistating.
Your pH maybe ok depending on when you tested it. Just after your lights came on? Or when the lights were off? As far as calcium is concerned I would strive for what was mentioned 420 to 450 however lowering your salinity may just be all that is necessary to bring your calcium back down.
And lastly what instrument did you use to test your salinity? And what type of test kit did you use for your calcium. If you used a hydrometer then your issue may lie there. They are not very reliable, and often give false readings. Investing in a refractometer will help you out a lot.