API kits are ok for ammonia and nitrate, but they really aren't that good for calcium and alkalinity. I'm doubtful your test kits are accurate, but have you been adding something with calcium in it?

What brand of salt are you using? What supplements are you adding?

In short, Coral Snow makes your skimmer work better, and may or may not help transport nutrients to your corals (depends who you believe).

Are these optimal?

PO4 is a tad high, although I don't know if that's as applicable to softies

Which one is that?

Not adding anything and yes my skimmer is working alot better with the snow

I have a new ro/di system on the water is pretty clean like 1ppm at its worst

Should I just be patient? Buy better lights?

PO4 is phosphate

Phosphate
 

Is there any way way to get rid of the phosphate?

Or just water changes?

Waterchanges are good, I use GFO on a daily basis too.



You're asking alot of good questions. Here's a good article to get you started, gives alot of good starting points for all these parameters. Randy Holmes Farley is a great author. There are many other great articles by him.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/


I'd like to echo the suggestion of getting better test kits. I've used API for ammonia and nitrate in the past, but the Calcium, Alk, Mag are all horribly inaccurate. Elos and Salifert are both good, Hanna is more money up front but by far the most accurate. Watch the youtube videos on how to use them properly. Also, take your water in to the LFS for testing to verify you're doing it properly.

For PH I haven't found a test kit that's accurate enough to be relevant. I use a PH probe to continuos monitoring. Pinpoint is the most common. I'm using Apex now.

No. I don't trust these readings to be correct though. If you're not adding anything with calcium in it, then the readings don't make sense. Unless you have one of those old buckets of Kent salt laying around that had calcium that high! :lol: I digress, which brand of salt are you using?

Leaving the word "optimal" out, softies are quite happy within these ranges:

Calcium 370-450 ppm
Alkalinity 7-10 dKH (125-160 ppm)
Nitrate preferably under 20 ppm, but many tolerate up to 100 ppm
Phosphate under 0.25 ppm, preferably under 0.1 ppm

Neither fish nor your basic softies (leathers, green star polyps, Ricordea, basic mushrooms) care much about nitrate. Of course, both fish and soft corals will grow faster, have better color, and generally be healthier if you keep nitrate much lower.

Phosphate doesn't affect fish much either, but will affect corals (of all types) much more. Softies are tolerant, but as with nitrate, they will do better with low phosphate.

Water changes are not an efficient way to deal with phosphate. First, get an accurate reading. GFO (granular ferric oxide) will lower phosphate, but it can be very aggressive. If you use too much on a tank with high phosphate (0.25 ppm is high) you can lose corals.

Go get an accurate reading for phosphate and nitrate first from you LFS, then come back and post it. You could test calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium while you're at it if you want. We can recommend what to do next once we know accurate readings.

Interesting find
 

So I did a test on my DI water

I am getting 7PPM which it should be 0 right?

Also I am getting 300 or so calcium and .25 phosphate from that water

So I am putting into my tank...argh!!

Any help?

Pretty sure it's the test kits. Wait, did I say that already? ;)