Testing water

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Sharkbait-huhaha

Ok, not going to lie. I had that "What if" pondering all yesterday and this morning. So after 202 days of not checking my Alk, I borrowed a friends to check it out.

This is what I got:
reading in ml 0.52, KH value in dKH 7.3
I did a 10% WC yesterday morning, and about 2 weeks off from a 30% WC.

And you guys are all right, it all took but 2 minutes to achieve this test.

Awesome!

Honestly though, with your tank full of LPS you're walking a fine line at 7.3 dKH. That's approaching the danger zone IME.

As mentioned, softie and LPS tanks can often be maintained through waterchanges provided you're using a salt mix with elevated parameters such as Reef Crystals. If you're using IO you will usually end up being quite low in Ca since alk is elevated, but Ca is not. This is why choosing a salt mix can be quite important!

For your tank Shark bait, you can probably maintain your tank simply by adding a small dose of alk between waterchanges and then (possibly) adding some calcium to the freshly mixed saltwater to help boost Ca (if it is indeed low).

As mentioned, coralline algae can suck up a significant amount of Ca and alk to the point where it needs to be replenished to keep the corals happy. The corals aren't using up much themselves, but they will suffer when the coralline sucks it all out and they're left with peanuts!

[mike31154]

I don't test much. Mostly LPS in my tank, only SPS are monti caps in green & tan. They grow like the dickens (the montis) so I know there's calcium. I don't dose anything either, use standard IO salt. Fish are healthy, my Maroon clownfish pair have been spawning forever, I have some hair algae, not that concerned, it filters the water... I get the refractometer out to check salinity when I do water changes, that's about it these days. When I did test alk regularly, it was chronically low, according to the test kit. My theory is, if there's even a trace of calcium in the water, the coral will find it & use it. It's a hobby to me, not a fanatic, I'm not doing the fish, coral, rock, clean up crew, inverts any favours by keeping them if a 4 foot enclosure.

[Animal-Chin]

Originally Posted by Myka

Awesome!

Honestly though, with your tank full of LPS you're walking a fine line at 7.3 dKH. That's approaching the danger zone IME.

!

What kind of danger zone? I run mine in the low 7's all the time as I'm carbon dosing and my sps tips burn at about 8.