buffering and phosphates

[sryder]

ok, my tank is now around two and a half months old. the diatoms are starting to ease off all amm, trites and trates are 0. i have been adding lps corals over the past month. 1 wall hammer( neon green) 1 branching frogspawn, 1 rock full of starpolyps, 1 rock full of hairy shrooms, 1 large white plate coral and 1 weslrphlia brain. All of the corals seem to be doing well. they all open up nicely everyday I actually saw my oceleris trying to make his way into the hammer. I do not have test kits for calcium, alk, or phosphates just yet so I brought a water sample to the lfs today and these were the results. calcium= 330, phosphates were a tad high at 6. the buffering capacity also seemed a little low. I just want to make sure I am on the right track with what i did. I have been planning on adding a closed loop to my system for more flow. the way my rocks were in the tank they were more stacked then open caves. 1) I moved the rocks around to a more open flow plan. which now looks better and i will probably leave it alone for now . 2) i siphoned up all the detritus that was in the tank (bb). i figured this is probably most of the phosphate problem. 3) I added some phosgaurd to remove the phosphates. 4) I added kent marine super buffer to the directions on the pack. 5) i added kent marine turbo calcium to raise the calc. also to the directions on the pack. hopefully i am on the right track with this. any comments would be appreciated. steve

 

[WaterDogs]

Are you using a RO/DI to prepare water? You will need to start dripping Kalk, that will add CA and buffer the system. Be sure to keep the SG at 1.025 - 1.026 as this will impact all the other readings and levels.

 

[LakeEd]

Sryder,

Yes, it sounds like you're moving down the correct road. One thing I would highly suggest though... "If you aren't testing for it, don't add it". Invest in the test kits for Calc & Alk... as well as one for Phosphates. This way, you'll know what is happening as you do start dripping Kalk... and what the Kent Marine is doing to your tank.

 

[sryder]

thanks ed, yes I do use ro/di water. I also keep the sg at 1.023. i have some fish in the tank and believe that 1.025 to 1.026 is a little high for them. I could be wrong. I was told using the buffer and turbo calcium that i would not have to drip kalk. is this right or wrong? ed i think your right about the investment of the test kits. it was just an expensive trip to lfs yesterday. 200 gallon bucket of salt*(tropic marin) 72.00 coralife timer 60.00 kent supplies (large size) 60.00 it actually bummed me out because I was only around 40.00 short of the ampmaster 3600. i guess ill start saving again..lol I here salifert are the test kits to get. if thats true is there somewhere on line to get them a little cheaper than the lfs? I believe they wanted around 25.00 a pop for those. steve

 

[LakeEd]

Sryder,

I personally like the Salifert test kits very much. If you don't mind mail-ordering... I usually go with www.marinedepot.com. Salifert KH/Alkalinity Test Kit $12.99, Salifert Phosphate Test Kit $16.99 and Salifert Calcium Test Kit $20.99.

 

[sryder]

that sounds a little better than the lfs. Ill check it out, thanks > steve