Brand new to the Hobby!

[Shamous113]

Thank you so much! I was worried! Will it all sort itself out once the tank is full? My pH I tested was 8.8 and I've read corals and fish need 8.4?

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once you have your salt added to the ro water it will be ok. their are a number of factors that effect ph in a reef tank. you are better off to ignore the ph and be more concerned with the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium once your cycle is complete.

 

[lalaallieu]

once you have your salt added to the ro water it will be ok. their are a number of factors that effect ph in a reef tank. you are better off to ignore the ph and be more concerned with the calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium once your cycle is complete.

Thank you so much!!!!!!

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[NS Mike D]

One of the reasons we don't worry so much and pay attention to alkalinity is two reasons. first, alkalinity is a buffer = ph stability. That means it can combine with acids before they can lower ph. In other words, alkalinity measures the buffering capability of the water. If your alkalinity is within acceptable levels, your ph should follow. PH can swing during a 24 hour period due to a number of factors related to the natural day/night cycle.

Secondly, CA and Alkalinity are are the building blocks of coral skeleton. They need to be present in the water and in balance. MG is like the third wheel that keeps CA and Alkalinity from precipitating out of the water.


Red Sea has a series of videos that explains in layman's terms how all these things relate to each other when it comes to keeping corals. I highly recommend it - not to buy their products, but rather to understand the chemistry and why we struggle to fight algae while getting our corals to grow and show off all their colors.

BulkReefSppply (BRS) has a series of videos - where they set up a tank from scratch and each week over the course of the year cover a different topic while observing the progress.

fwiw, for now your API test kit will suffice. When (not if) you start pulling your hair out trying to figure out why you can't get rid of the cyano and your corals are not responding the way you want, keep in mind that API NO3 and PO4 test kits may not be sensitive enough to measure the low levels of these compounds we target and so false zero reading are common. For now, they will certainly indicate sufficient levels to let you know when your tank has cycled.


l

 

[ktownhero]

Lauren the noob,

My friendly but firm advice would be to not choose to learn all of this "as you go". Get your tank set up with how you are familiar, and take a lot of time reading about and researching keeping corals and water chemistry. Maybe throw a few soft corals in there, but by the time you decide to start keeping your first stony coral, you should already be well familiar with levels, dosing options (though you won't need to dose for some time... don't get ahead of yourself). Patience is king in the aquaria hobby all-around, but especially when it comes to reefing.

 

[JTL]

WC= water change

2 part dosing is a method used to maintain calcium and alk levels. They are solutions that you can either make yourself or buy, 1 for alk, 1 for calcium (hence the 2 part name) magnesium will need to be kept in line as well.

I would get a decent test kit for alk,cal and mag. Red Sea, Salifert or Nyos are the brands I would recommend. API I would not recommend for these tests (for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate API is OK.)


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Actually API are pretty good kits for alk and Ca.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2558208