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Testing Your Reef
There is an overabundance of information (many times
overwhelming) concerning what reef parameters should be
tested regularly and what levels we should be
seeing/attaining. After the initial cycle of a tank
where we watch the spike of Ammonia drop to zero then
NitrItes to zero (& should never be seen again!) to
finally acceptable levels of NitrAtes (below 20ppm but zero is cool here too
;) there's much confusion as to what a successful reefer
should be watching for. The 2 biggest parameters
discussed & debated are Alkalinity & Calcium. Let's
define what these are:
Alkalinity
= a surrogate measure for bicarbonate which along with
calcium is how many stony corals form their skeletons.
We like to see the levels about 2.5 - 4 meq/L (7-11 dKH).
Calcium =
Element which stony corals & other hard shelled critters
like Astrea snails use to form their skeletons/shells,
reliant also on the levels of bicarbonate in the water for
calcification. Calcium levels (for predominantly stony
coral tanks) should be about 380
and 450 ppm.
BUT, what's often
not discussed is the fact that the majority of reef
aquariums out there are stocked primarily with soft corals!
(which you'd never think was true if your only source of
information was Internet reef boards!) ... Soft corals do
not rely on calcium for growth but are actually more
affected by low alkalinity! This is due to the fact
that both photosynthesis (primary reason for soft coral
growth) and calcification are competing for bicarbonates in
your water.
If you have mostly
soft corals in your tank the most important parameter to
watch other than the normal salinity & temperature ranges is
Alkalinity. Performing 10% weekly water changes with a
quality salt like Tropic Marin ensures you are replacing
calcium & other trace elements used during the week.
Don't forget! Your deep sand bed is always dissolving
& releasing trace elements too! Test for alkalinity
levels once a week. If low, an easy, yet effective way
to increase it is to dissolve in RO water 1 Tsp of baking
soda (Sodium bicarbonate) per 25 gallons of system water
per day (factor sump gallons too) until the desired
alkalinity level is reached. After a week of testing
you should know when your tank needs dosing.
If after this
article you're still not confident about the effectiveness
of my recommendations I invite you to stop by the AquaCorals
facility & check out the thriving reef systems here which
not only supports soft & stony corals....but where they
thrive & baby corals grow. :0)
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