Is my tank ready for more coral?

[Chris918]

Hello,

Here are my tank parameters:
350 Liters
430 ppm Calcium
9.3 dKH
1260 ppm Magnesium
0 ppm Phosphate
5 ppm Nitrate
8.2 pH


Barebottom, 2 MP40s for flow. 2 Kessil A360s for light. Tank is 3 months old.

I currently have a pair of clowns, a small zoa garden and some SPS I brought in from another tank. The zoas are getting more polyps over time and seem happy. The Seriatopora I moved from a tank that wasn't getting enough flow or trace elements (at least that's my guess). The birdsnests turned from green to brown and the pink one turned a reddish brown in their original tank. Since introducing them almost a month ago they haven't grown much, but the brown birdsnests have started turning into a pink with a slight tint of green. The other birdsnest tips have started turning pink again and the reddish brown is fading. The flow in this tank is substantial.

I'd like to add some more SPS, primarily some more seriatopora, pocillopora, monticap and some peppermint shrimp to patrol the tank after I found a single aiptasia on a frag plug (I'll aiptasia x that tonight).

What do you guys think? Is the tank ready or should I wait longer?

 

[Bpb]

I think you should incorporate some form of bacteria dosing to mature the rank better. Prodibio biodigest or microbacter 7. Dose that for a couple months and watch your current pieces. I'd get that alkalinity down a couple points with such low nutrients. I'm betting the phosphate is there, but if your rocks were clean, they'll absorb phosphate faster than any media will. They'll just let it go later when they're saturated


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[Daddi0]

I am presuming you have some rock and a sump w/skimmer? I say go for it! You have already waited 3 months.
Cheers! Mark

 

[Chris918]

My goal is to have the alkalinity at 8.2, but it always rises faster than it is consumed because of the water changes. I have a skimmer rated for a system more than double my own. I use chaeto in my fuge. I started the tank with cured reef saver rock.

 

[Daddi0]

My goal is to have the alkalinity at 8.2, but it always rises faster than it is consumed because of the water changes. I have a skimmer rated for a system more than double my own. I use chaeto in my fuge. I started the tank with cured reef saver rock.

I think you are ready!!

 

[ramseynb]

Is my tank ready for more coral?

My goal is to have the alkalinity at 8.2, but it always rises faster than it is consumed because of the water changes. I have a skimmer rated for a system more than double my own. I use chaeto in my fuge. I started the tank with cured reef saver rock.

Your alk is probably fine but if you wanted to lower it, switch to a salt with lower alk. I use ESV. One reason I use it is because it mixes with a low alk so my tank is around 7dKH and I'm not dosing anything since I don't have high uptake yet. ESV also mixes like no other salt. No residue, no precipitation, just super pure. There's very few things I'm a fanboy for but ESV salt is definitely one of them.

 

[mcgyvr]

I'd recommend not making any changes to alk if you don't need to..
With your nitrate level alk of 9.3dkh is just fine..
If its going to drop some as you add more corals and start consuming more thats fine.. But just let it be now.. Corals hate instability in parameters.. Avoid changing anything and if you do go very slow with it..

And yes.. add more corals.. and maybe get a more precise phosphate test kit so you know where you are there..

 

[Chris918]

Okay thanks for the advice. I'm surprised the alkalinity rises so much with each water change anyway since I'm using the Red Sea blue bucket and that is supposed to yield an alkalinity of 8.0-8.4 depending on salinity. I don't need to supplement at the moment. As for the phosphate I am using a salifert kit. I have to look really hard to try and see any reading. Sometimes I see a reading of 0.01 ppm and other times I see 0. It just depends.

 

[mcgyvr]

Okay thanks for the advice. I'm surprised the alkalinity rises so much with each water change anyway since I'm using the Red Sea blue bucket and that is supposed to yield an alkalinity of 8.0-8.4 depending on salinity. .

um.... "supposed"? measure your freshly mixed saltwater.. What is the alk?

Performing a water change using saltmix in the 8-8.4dkh range when the system is at 9.3dkh will NEVER raise the alk..
There is likely a testing error or a bad assumption causing what you "think" is happening.. .

 

[Chris918]

Okay thanks

 

[PatW]

I think you are good. The improving color is a good sign. Still you want to see growth. You might want to get a Hanna ULR phosphate detector. You want phosphate under .03 ppm but you need some. It is like threading a needle. It is hard to do without testing.

I have had good luck with seriotopia, birds nests, and montiporas. Acropora can be really touchy to being not that demanding. I seem to get more growth from the montiporas and some of the acros than I do from the birds nests. Check your local sources and see if you can find the more tolerant stuff.