DKoKoMan's 150g Reef Tank

[Myka]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

I tested af reefsalt kh of newly made water and it was at 9.6,I thought it would be lower so I've been buffering it up with 1 tbsp of sodium carbonate.... guess that was a mistake.... always test your newly made salt to make sure kh is what you think it is!

Weird! I've never tested AF Reef Salt over 8.3 dKH!

[DKoKoMan]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

I tested af reefsalt kh of newly made water and it was at 9.6,I thought it would be lower so I've been buffering it up with 1 tbsp of sodium carbonate.... guess that was a mistake.... always test your newly made salt to make sure kh is what you think it is!

Oh wow! Just to clarify that is the AF Reef Salt and not the AF Probiotic Reef Salt? Will they both mix the same for KH?

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by DKoKoMan

Oh wow! Just to clarify that is the AF Reef Salt and not the AF Probiotic Reef Salt? Will they both mix the same for KH?

Just my batch maybe it was all sitting at the top...I switched to the reef salt because probiotic was doing some weird bloom in my tank. If you use PB you should also use their bacteria food np pro and pro bio s, I skipped that part and failed, lucky the salt didn't go to waste...

I will do another alk test on the next few batches of new SW mix and see if there is any variation. But as of now my tank is sitting above 9 in alk and sps are spurting....

[tang daddy]

Originally Posted by Myka

Weird! I've never tested AF Reef Salt over 8.3 dKH!

Definately weird, more alk I won't complain just means I don't need to bump the alk anymore...save where I can I guess...

[Myka]

You shouldn't use the probiotic salt unless your tank is ULNS. It has added vitamins and amino acids.

[DKoKoMan]

Ok thanks! My tank is definitely not ULNS

[DKoKoMan]

I got around to testing my nitrates (API) and Phosphates (Hanna checker). I am waiting on a Salifert nitrate test kit as we speak.

• Nitrates - 0.8ppm
• Phosphates- 0.19ppm

Ugh... so both of these are high! Overall everything looks ok within the tank but I want to have these values reduced. I have some biopellets I will be setting up in hopes to reduce these parameters. I have a fuge with a ball or chaeto but I'm. It sure if my Cree 5000k, 100w lightbulb is doing its job with the growth.

Does anyone have any suggestions or can share their experiences on reducing these values? I will follow up with another test tomorrow just to confirm the accuracy.

[Frogger]

Originally Posted by DKoKoMan

I got around to testing my nitrates (API) and Phosphates (Hanna checker). I am waiting on a Salifert nitrate test kit as we speak.

• Nitrates - 0.8ppm
• Phosphates- 0.19ppm

Ugh... so both of these are high! Overall everything looks ok within the tank but I want to have these values reduced. I have some biopellets I will be setting up in hopes to reduce these parameters. I have a fuge with a ball or chaeto but I'm. It sure if my Cree 5000k, 100w lightbulb is doing its job with the growth.

Does anyone have any suggestions or can share their experiences on reducing these values? I will follow up with another test tomorrow just to confirm the accuracy.

I have found the API nitrate test kit useless for values below 5ppm. The only test kit I have used (I have tried API, Salifert and LaMotte) that can measures nitrates below 1ppm accurately is the Red Sea Pro.

I do not believe .8ppm nitrates is even close to high.

[DKoKoMan]

All my SPS and LPS appear fine with these values so I'm not sure. I will have my reactor running Vertex bio pellets shortly. I will test all the parameters to see where I am sitting.

[DKoKoMan]

Couple pictures taken from today.













Not sure what all these little white swirls are on the glass. You can really see them at night. If you look at the second photo they are visible. Any idea what these are?