Levels??

[jgoal55]

This may be a very dumb question but I'm asking anyway. The answer is probably more useful to all the newbies including myself.....sorry for the length....

I am not sure how to word this but here it goes:

Let's say you do a water change....afterwards, you check all your levels (cal, alk, mag, etc) and you dose accordingly....so at this time your levels are perfect.

Now, your regular water change schedule is every two weeks but obviously during that time your levels will change. Now of course that you should test your levels in between your changes, but when....2 days after, 4 days, 1 week?

Then, once you know your post water change levels you dose again for what's low.....but how do you know that during those days you didnt check your levels didnt go crazy?

I guess, that to a point, if the tank is thriving I should assume all is good but I'd like to have a better idea of when to test my water in between changes?

My tank has a couple of SPS frags but is mostly LPS....and some softies...

I remember in my FW Cichlid tank everytime I would do a water change I would just dose the buffers for the amount of water I changed....I guess you can't really do that in salt. Or can you?

Also, is it a good idea to add chemicals to your top off water once you figure out how your levels change?

 

[jessezm]

With salt, it's somewhere between art and science. You rely on observations you make day to day (hour to hour), for which there is always a scientific explanation, but one that is sometimes hard to determine with the tools we generally have.

When I set up a tank I usually test and test and test almost every day for the first month. I'm very careful adding things at first and aware of how the tank responds to each new addition. After a while, granted you have good source water and good filtration, things start to balance out, and you can start getting an idea of what is going on.

Your goal is to attain temp, pH, Ca, Alk, and NO3 levels withing a good range, and keep them as stable as possible. From one day to the next, your dKh should not jump from 12 to 17 or from 10 to 8 even. Your pH and Alk should be as constant as possible, and if they're jumping around, you're doing something wrong.

It's normal for these to be depleted and that can be corrected with the measured addition of 2-part solutions, or better yet with a calcium reactor and the help of kalkwasser. You can also employ a macroalgae refugium on a reverse light cycle to help correct pH fluctuations.

one thing to keep in mind is that when you do a water change, you should use RO/DI water and mix the salt (only adding salt to water, not the other way around) a few days in advance. If you put a pump or airstone in the water to aerate it and mix it in the meantime the new water will stabilize before it goes into your tank.

If you just mix up saltwater and dump it in right away, it will not have stabilized and you're going to get some swings that you may end up overcompensating for and making worse through the immediate addition of buffers in your attempt to correct it.

In the long run, though, you will really get a sense for what your tank needs in term of buffers, etc., but be aware that this will change as you add more corals and the tank matures. I still do water tests once a week or so to keep an eye on things and make sure I don't need to make any adjustments. As I've added lots of SPS and clams lately, I've had to crank up my calcium reactor, start using kalkwasser, and add pool calcium to maintain desireable levels. But the results are worth it!

 

[blind1993]

ok
i check my parameters right before a water change.
if u are keeping delicate corals i would recomend calcium reactors and things like that. it would make ur life easier. and i prefer not to add chemicals since they will have a side affect like purple up and ph. and u probably wont have to dose much because ur resources will be rejuvinated. but for a while u will have to test either 24 or 48 hours after ur water change and see if all ur paramets are good. tell me if it is a bit confuzeing and i will reword it.