Question about alk/ca/mag levels

[reefbat]

Hello all,

I've had my 75gal running for about 8 months now and am finally going to start getting some corals in. Ammonia/nitrite/nitrate all 0, ph 8.2, salinity 1.024 which i'm going to slowly bring up to 1.025. Alk is 8-10, test is hard to read so not sure exactly, ca is 480 which seems a bit high, and mag is 1280 which I was concerned might be a bit too low. I've had a torch coral in the tank that looks like it's doing very well, about 2" frag in the LFS display and expanded to around 4" once I got it in my tank, had it in there for a little over a week now. Coralline algae has covered most of the back of the tank and the areas of the rock that aren't covered in what looks like sponge have coralline on them as well. Before I start moving forward with adding more corals I want to make sure I'm ok with those levels of alk/ca/mag.

 

[stingythingy45]

"Alk is 8-10, test is hard to read so not sure exactly"

Why?
Your magnesium is fine at 1280 ppm.
Coralline is a good sign as well.

 

[reefbat]

It's an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test which has you put 5ml of water in the vial then add the test solution one drop at a time until the water turns to a "bright yellow". Mine turns a dull yellow at 8 drops, and i've gone several drops over without it getting any brighter. The conversion chart is 1:1, so 1 drop = 1 dKH.

 

[peteyp923]

everything looks good. think u should be fine adding more coral in your dt. you can raise your mag a little at a time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I agree those are all perfect and I would not do anything to change them (except continue the salinity rise. I target 1.0264 = 35 ppt).

As you boost salinity, calcium and magnesium will go up a bit and that is fine.

These may be helpful:

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php

 

[reefbat]

Great thanks for the replies everyone and thanks for the links Randy, I'll read through those.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:thumbsup:

Happy Reefing.