For a fish-only: test the nitrate, test the alkalinity, once a week: Good readings are---nitrate 20, alkalinity between 7.9 and 9.0. [If you test regularly, particularly on the Salifert tests, there's a quick way to run it: prep the solution, and because you're keeping a logbook, you know what your numbers were last week. So instead of drop-by-dropping it, you can just shoot a bit of the syringe into the solution to bring you into the expected range. THEN go drop-by-drop, now that you're within target range. I say, if you test regularly, because if you don't know what that target range is, you can't use this shortcut and get good readings.]
If your nitrate is wandering into the really-strong-color range, your system isn't taking care of it, and it deserves some looking-at, maybe a sump-skimmer, maybe more live rock, maybe your fish load is exceeding the ability of the system to keep them well. Start thinking about the problem and try to figure where its problem is. The fish aren't in imminent danger---but it's a signal that things are getting out of hand.
Alkalinity... It's better to use a kit that returns you NUMBERS for alkalinity. Salifert is my brand of choice on all the kits. If your alkalinity keeps drifting downward, (I like it at 8.3) that's not comfy for the fish and may lead to irritations, crankiness, and vulnerability to infections and parasites. That alkalinity is HUGELY important, more than the nitrate, even. Those of you used to freshwater, where ph matters, ph generally wanders all over the map daily in a marine tank. Go for the alkalinity reading as the true test of water comfort.
For reefs:
for softies, much like the fish-only EXCEPT---you definitely want that nitrate down in the 20's or a bit below. And alkalinity matters, too, also an 8.3.
for stony, you need the nitrate and alkalinity, plus calcium, and magnesium. The ranges are: alk 7.9-9; calcium 420-450. Magnesium (abbreviation is mg) 1200-1400---1350 is what to shoot for. Your nitrate should be, oh, 5 for lps stony; and traces of color for sps. And here is where you NEED numerical tests; your alk-cal-mg set needs precise numbers. The good news is, if you dose kalk, or 2-part [I suppose: I've never used 2-part] you can LOCK your numbers for minimal maintenance by first getting them in this ratio: alk 8.3; cal 420; and mg 1350, then stirring kalk powder into your ATO reservoir so that the topoff feeds it in by tiny, tiny doses. The dosage per gallon is 2 teaspoons per gallon of ro/di water. If some falls to the bottom of the ATO reservoir unused, let it be: you just overdosed a bit, but it'll dissolve when you add more ro/di. As long as the ro/di has that level of kalk and as long as the mg reading is above 1200, those 3 readings (alk, cal, mg) will stay LOCKED and steady. And if you have a big reservoir or the inclination to keep it filled and proper---you can parlay that one setup into a month of no-fuss reefing. The numbers will not budge until the mg is below 1200, and the system uses mg very, very slowly compared to a stony reef's appetite for calcium. It's cheap---I use Ms. Wages Pickling Lime for my kalk, at about 5.00 for a 2 lb bag---while a 1 lb jar of Turbo Calcium (for dosing) runs you about 18.00 a jar. It's the way-cheaper way, besides that you can also get by with testing JUST the magnesium so long as the corals are all happy. If it's down, everything will fall, but if it's still in the good range, all the others are going to be, too. Can you add more mg before it runs all the way down and crashes the alk and cal? Sure! This can let you keep this nice game going pretty well non-stop. I hose out the reservoir about every 6 months; I test the mg weekly, and the system stays stable. I don't have a controller, incidentally---it's an old-fashioned way of doing things, but it works. And lets you leave your tanks safely in the hands of a sitter without having the sitter do anything more than feed the fish and pour more ro/di into the reservoir. Can you dump a HUGE dose of kalk in and count on it dissolving as more water is added (as, by the sitter, while you're on vacation?) ---yes. It's real forgiving. The only way to overdose your tank is via a topoff accident, so get those out of your system before you set up kalk, but even if it should ever happen, most everything will emerge unscathed, once the milkiness clears. Only one caution: many pumps can't stand up to kalk---they wear out. Eheim makes a little pump that CAN. Save your money and buy a pump that will survive the abrasion. Also don't let your pump sit on the bottom of the reservoir in the white slurry: that WILL wear it out. Set it on a little riser of some sort.
If your nitrate is wandering into the really-strong-color range, your system isn't taking care of it, and it deserves some looking-at, maybe a sump-skimmer, maybe more live rock, maybe your fish load is exceeding the ability of the system to keep them well. Start thinking about the problem and try to figure where its problem is. The fish aren't in imminent danger---but it's a signal that things are getting out of hand.
Alkalinity... It's better to use a kit that returns you NUMBERS for alkalinity. Salifert is my brand of choice on all the kits. If your alkalinity keeps drifting downward, (I like it at 8.3) that's not comfy for the fish and may lead to irritations, crankiness, and vulnerability to infections and parasites. That alkalinity is HUGELY important, more than the nitrate, even. Those of you used to freshwater, where ph matters, ph generally wanders all over the map daily in a marine tank. Go for the alkalinity reading as the true test of water comfort.
For reefs:
for softies, much like the fish-only EXCEPT---you definitely want that nitrate down in the 20's or a bit below. And alkalinity matters, too, also an 8.3.
for stony, you need the nitrate and alkalinity, plus calcium, and magnesium. The ranges are: alk 7.9-9; calcium 420-450. Magnesium (abbreviation is mg) 1200-1400---1350 is what to shoot for. Your nitrate should be, oh, 5 for lps stony; and traces of color for sps. And here is where you NEED numerical tests; your alk-cal-mg set needs precise numbers. The good news is, if you dose kalk, or 2-part [I suppose: I've never used 2-part] you can LOCK your numbers for minimal maintenance by first getting them in this ratio: alk 8.3; cal 420; and mg 1350, then stirring kalk powder into your ATO reservoir so that the topoff feeds it in by tiny, tiny doses. The dosage per gallon is 2 teaspoons per gallon of ro/di water. If some falls to the bottom of the ATO reservoir unused, let it be: you just overdosed a bit, but it'll dissolve when you add more ro/di. As long as the ro/di has that level of kalk and as long as the mg reading is above 1200, those 3 readings (alk, cal, mg) will stay LOCKED and steady. And if you have a big reservoir or the inclination to keep it filled and proper---you can parlay that one setup into a month of no-fuss reefing. The numbers will not budge until the mg is below 1200, and the system uses mg very, very slowly compared to a stony reef's appetite for calcium. It's cheap---I use Ms. Wages Pickling Lime for my kalk, at about 5.00 for a 2 lb bag---while a 1 lb jar of Turbo Calcium (for dosing) runs you about 18.00 a jar. It's the way-cheaper way, besides that you can also get by with testing JUST the magnesium so long as the corals are all happy. If it's down, everything will fall, but if it's still in the good range, all the others are going to be, too. Can you add more mg before it runs all the way down and crashes the alk and cal? Sure! This can let you keep this nice game going pretty well non-stop. I hose out the reservoir about every 6 months; I test the mg weekly, and the system stays stable. I don't have a controller, incidentally---it's an old-fashioned way of doing things, but it works. And lets you leave your tanks safely in the hands of a sitter without having the sitter do anything more than feed the fish and pour more ro/di into the reservoir. Can you dump a HUGE dose of kalk in and count on it dissolving as more water is added (as, by the sitter, while you're on vacation?) ---yes. It's real forgiving. The only way to overdose your tank is via a topoff accident, so get those out of your system before you set up kalk, but even if it should ever happen, most everything will emerge unscathed, once the milkiness clears. Only one caution: many pumps can't stand up to kalk---they wear out. Eheim makes a little pump that CAN. Save your money and buy a pump that will survive the abrasion. Also don't let your pump sit on the bottom of the reservoir in the white slurry: that WILL wear it out. Set it on a little riser of some sort.
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