PhishFriends
Community Member
Tank is a forty some gallon display and 10ish gallon sump.
Just tested my parameters and have a few questions before I make some decisions.
My tank is 2 years old, and I think just found stability. I'm finally able to keep simple SPS.
LPS have always done well, but growth has been pretty slow overall.
Coraline algae has started to grow in the past 4 months which really felt like a turning point in the tank as a whole.
My pH is newly low as is my Alk.
pH is at 7.6 this morning as lights turned on. Alk is at 7.3.
I do run a refugium for 10 hours during the night. I have never needed to dose anything and my parameters were much higher. I do weekly water changes of 10%. I also have a whole house air exchanger.
My first question; should I start using Kalkwaser in my ATO to keep numbers up? How do you find stability using Kalkwaser and evaporation as your rate of dosing?
My next question has to do with Nitrate and Phosphate. I zero'd out this week. I have been stable at NO3- 4.0 and PO4- 0.03 but my test just showed zero for both.
I dose phyto every 3rd or 4th day. It makes my skimmer explode for a day so I just shut it off (is this normal?). Wondering if that and my fuge brought it to zero? Should I dose more AB+ to keep nutrients up?
I feed frozen once or twice a day and pellets occasionally.
Salinity at 35
Cal at 430
No nuisance algae growth.
Looking for some advice before I change any pattern I've been in.
Thanks in advance for reading such a lengthy post.
Just tested my parameters and have a few questions before I make some decisions.
My tank is 2 years old, and I think just found stability. I'm finally able to keep simple SPS.
LPS have always done well, but growth has been pretty slow overall.
Coraline algae has started to grow in the past 4 months which really felt like a turning point in the tank as a whole.
My pH is newly low as is my Alk.
pH is at 7.6 this morning as lights turned on. Alk is at 7.3.
I do run a refugium for 10 hours during the night. I have never needed to dose anything and my parameters were much higher. I do weekly water changes of 10%. I also have a whole house air exchanger.
My first question; should I start using Kalkwaser in my ATO to keep numbers up? How do you find stability using Kalkwaser and evaporation as your rate of dosing?
My next question has to do with Nitrate and Phosphate. I zero'd out this week. I have been stable at NO3- 4.0 and PO4- 0.03 but my test just showed zero for both.
I dose phyto every 3rd or 4th day. It makes my skimmer explode for a day so I just shut it off (is this normal?). Wondering if that and my fuge brought it to zero? Should I dose more AB+ to keep nutrients up?
I feed frozen once or twice a day and pellets occasionally.
Salinity at 35
Cal at 430
No nuisance algae growth.
Looking for some advice before I change any pattern I've been in.
Thanks in advance for reading such a lengthy post.
