I'm trying to stick to the rule of taking it slow and only making one change at a time, but my tank seemed to change from a FOWLR to a reef seemingly overnight 
I'd appreciate a critique of my general game plan and advice for the order in which I should do things.
Tank is 7 months old; 75g with a 40b sump. Decent skimmer. I started with Florida live-rock, so I've always had lots of life in the tank and a few corals on the rocks, but only started adding more corals in the past 6 weeks (not all at once). Everything I've added is small -- 2-4 heads on the LPS -- frogspawn, 2 acans, sun coral, duncan, blasto -- and an SPS frag that I think is a porites.
Several months ago the nitrates were in the 60-80 range, and I've been working to bring them down (water changes, less feeding, and adding a powerhead to the sump where it was collecting detritus). I plan to start carbon dosing (vinegar), but haven't wanted to change too many things at once. About a month ago my nitrates were in the 30-40 range, but my phosphates were sky high, so I chose to start running GFO and tackle that first.
~3 weeks ago:
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphates: 3.06 (not a typo)
Nitrates: 30
Calcium: 410
Mg: 1320
Kh: 9.9
Started running carbon & GFO (half the recommended amount). I tested phosphates every few days and this was the trajectory: 3.06 (start), 2.04 (after 1 week), .39 (after 2 weeks), .25 (after 3 weeks). That was 2 days ago, so I changed out the GFO, thinking it might be spent. Today the phosphates tested at .04 (yes!!!).
On a whim I tested Ca yesterday because I know I need to start paying attention to it, and it tested at 360. Did a 10% water change yesterday (IO salt), and a full battery of tests today:
Today:
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphates: .04 (yes!)
Nitrates: 15 - 20 (going down!)
Calcium: 370
Magnesium: 1120 (um...)
Kh: 9.9
So... I'm starting to get phosphates under control, nitrates are moving in the right direction, but now Ca and Mg are falling! I bought pickling lime last week because I knew I should start adding it, so I just mixed in 1tsp/gallon to my top off water for the week. I should pick up some Mg to start dosing though, right?
Current Game Plan:
1. Top off with pickling lime (1tsp/gallon) for the next 1-2 weeks, and then bump it to 2tsp/gallon (saturated). Will this be enough to boost Ca or just maintain?
2. Buy Mg, start slowly raising Mg up to 1300. Once Mg is back up to 1300 then I should be able to keep my Ca up with the lime, right?
3. Wait several weeks, or more, and when Ca and Mg are stable then start vinegar dosing. Or should I start that sooner?
4. Keep testing phosphates (about 2x/week). Only change out medium if phosphates start rising, or after 1 month. I don't want to strip my tank, but I can't tell yet how quickly the GFO is getting spent.
As always, thanks in advance for any thoughts or feedback
I'd appreciate a critique of my general game plan and advice for the order in which I should do things.Tank is 7 months old; 75g with a 40b sump. Decent skimmer. I started with Florida live-rock, so I've always had lots of life in the tank and a few corals on the rocks, but only started adding more corals in the past 6 weeks (not all at once). Everything I've added is small -- 2-4 heads on the LPS -- frogspawn, 2 acans, sun coral, duncan, blasto -- and an SPS frag that I think is a porites.
Several months ago the nitrates were in the 60-80 range, and I've been working to bring them down (water changes, less feeding, and adding a powerhead to the sump where it was collecting detritus). I plan to start carbon dosing (vinegar), but haven't wanted to change too many things at once. About a month ago my nitrates were in the 30-40 range, but my phosphates were sky high, so I chose to start running GFO and tackle that first.
~3 weeks ago:
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphates: 3.06 (not a typo)
Nitrates: 30
Calcium: 410
Mg: 1320
Kh: 9.9
Started running carbon & GFO (half the recommended amount). I tested phosphates every few days and this was the trajectory: 3.06 (start), 2.04 (after 1 week), .39 (after 2 weeks), .25 (after 3 weeks). That was 2 days ago, so I changed out the GFO, thinking it might be spent. Today the phosphates tested at .04 (yes!!!).
On a whim I tested Ca yesterday because I know I need to start paying attention to it, and it tested at 360. Did a 10% water change yesterday (IO salt), and a full battery of tests today:
Today:
Salinity: 1.025
Phosphates: .04 (yes!)
Nitrates: 15 - 20 (going down!)
Calcium: 370
Magnesium: 1120 (um...)
Kh: 9.9
So... I'm starting to get phosphates under control, nitrates are moving in the right direction, but now Ca and Mg are falling! I bought pickling lime last week because I knew I should start adding it, so I just mixed in 1tsp/gallon to my top off water for the week. I should pick up some Mg to start dosing though, right?
Current Game Plan:
1. Top off with pickling lime (1tsp/gallon) for the next 1-2 weeks, and then bump it to 2tsp/gallon (saturated). Will this be enough to boost Ca or just maintain?
2. Buy Mg, start slowly raising Mg up to 1300. Once Mg is back up to 1300 then I should be able to keep my Ca up with the lime, right?
3. Wait several weeks, or more, and when Ca and Mg are stable then start vinegar dosing. Or should I start that sooner?
4. Keep testing phosphates (about 2x/week). Only change out medium if phosphates start rising, or after 1 month. I don't want to strip my tank, but I can't tell yet how quickly the GFO is getting spent.
As always, thanks in advance for any thoughts or feedback
