What are the Ideal numbers for Calcium, Mag, and Kh??

sweatervest13

Active Member
I have been keeping some SPS for a few months. I have had a little success and some failures. The ORA pearl berry I got is just about all white. and the pink Birds nest did was not a good one from the start. The green slimmer I have is doing well, good color and good growth. I have recently pick up a purple Monti (huge) and a green Milli (I think). Also I have a Dersa Clam.
The first thing I found when researching SPS is that unless your tank is at least 9 months old when you start keeping SPS corals you will have a hard time. Is this right??
I am NOW right at the 9 month mark of this tank (125g with 67g sump). I have a good skimmer, MH lights (250w with T-5's in the center and 150w with T-5 on each side, from the trader site) a BRS dual reactor with carbon and GFO. I run an algae scrubber (I think I am going to ditch this and just run some Macro's in the fuge) and a Tunze Osmolator auto-top off unit. As far as equipment goes I think that I am pretty set up. I would like upgrade the lights to LED but not for a while, and I would like to get some sort of controller.
I have been testing for Calcium and Kh, but I did not have a Manganese test kit. I just bought that this weekend at my LFS. Holy Cow it was not cheap. I picked up the new Red Sea test kit and tested all my number last night. Here is what I got.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
PH 8.2
Calcium 400ppm
Kh 9
Manganese 1200
I keep my tank at 1.025 sg and temp is around 78 deg.
So I would like to know what you guys think about my numbers and what are the ideal numbers to shoot for?
I have been using AquaVitro Salinity salt and I just started to add some Calcium supplement (also AquaVitro brand). What is this "two part" dosing that I keep hearing about?
I would like to start adding some more SPS corals but I want to make sure I have everything in the tank where it needs to be.
Thank you,
Ryan.
 

slice

Active Member
This is the guide I try to comply with:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php
 

nuke001

New Member
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snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Its magnesium, not manganese. Just fyi. :)
Calcium should actually be between 420 and 500ppm. Ive read and found that at less than 420ppm Ca, sps dont grow as quickly as well asnother calcerous organisms. A dKH between 9-11 would be ideal at those Ca ranges. Make sure your pH, and alkalinity is pretty constant and stable. If your pH is stable and your alkalinity as well and your SPS corals keep bleaching, you might not have enough food in the water column. In that case, i would feed more and turn the skimmer off 12 hours a day and keep the scrubber going strong. Sps do have to eat some. Only around 85% of their nutritional needs are met through their xooxanthellae. You have to feed the remaining 15%.
If you feed well and your parameters are stable then it could be a heavy metal issue or perhaps the way you are dosing your ca and alk supplements. Also, i have heard of tanks that do better when they are allowed to have more bacterial diversity. Most successful SPS keepers are well aware of this and occasionally add true live sand from someone elses tank to their own on occasion.
Is your sand clumping up?
What method of dosing are you using?
Two part solutions are actually three part. Its ca, alk and magnesium. Basically road salt, baking soda and epsom salt. Lol. Anyways, these solutions are dosed to maintain proper levels of the three main elements needed in reef tanks. Most people either do manual dosing or use automatic dosers. With both methods, you have to frequently test your water. But, many people say that dosing a three part solution will give more stable water parameters than dripping kalkwasser or even using a calcium reactor.
I am personally in favor of using a calcium reactor. Over time they are low cost and almost set and forget method of adding not only ca, alk and mg but also many trace elements in natural sea water. Ca reactors cost a pretty penny to get started and sometimes without using an effluent chamber some people have reported consistsntly low pH levels. Most people who report issues with ca reactors simply cant get it dialed in correctly or have a faulty unit without an effluent chamber or a poor quality solanoid and regulator.
 
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