10galtank
Active Member
Hello, all
My tank undergoes a new set of parameters quite frequently. I understand there is change in reef tanks, but a new “stable” set almost each month or so? This leads to coral irritation, algae issues, and headaches for me. My tank is 2 years old, 30 gallons, 3 fish. To my knowledge, long term stability is key in reef keeping, however, with what seems to be a new set of values every month, this goal is hard to reach for me. For example, my ALK two months ago was 8.5dkh all month, NO3 stayed around 5-10ppm all month, and PO4 was around 0.15-0.2ppm all month. Last month, my tank balanced out at 9.6dkh all month, NO3 of about 15-16ppm all month, and PO4 of 0.45ppm all month. So far this month, my tank started out with a ALK of 8.9dkh then jumped to 9.4dkh, NO3 is around 10-16ppm, and PO4 is jumping around 0.34-0.21ppm.
I dose AFR daily as alk, mag, calc, and TE supplements and also dose amino acids. I feed one cube of mysis shrimp through the day. My maintenance, feeding, and all other external factors have maintained the same throughout this tanks life.
As stated, these sets of new parameters almost every month plays a huge factor in the health of my corals. Although they stay stable for the month, my corals hate when they change the very next. I have lost many corals, fought many algae issues, etc. ***in order to be on top of these changes, I do tweak and adjust my dosing to make sure my ALK levels never get through the roof, or way to low. Other than that, no methods I have tried have ever helped me maintain a relatively stable set of parameters throughout time— I always always always seem to get a completely new set every month.
I am in search of an answer on how to hopefully find a *true* balance of stability in my tank, and an answer to maybe why this is happening scientifically. I am not hunting exact numbers, just parameters that don’t like to flip flop on me every month or so.
My tank undergoes a new set of parameters quite frequently. I understand there is change in reef tanks, but a new “stable” set almost each month or so? This leads to coral irritation, algae issues, and headaches for me. My tank is 2 years old, 30 gallons, 3 fish. To my knowledge, long term stability is key in reef keeping, however, with what seems to be a new set of values every month, this goal is hard to reach for me. For example, my ALK two months ago was 8.5dkh all month, NO3 stayed around 5-10ppm all month, and PO4 was around 0.15-0.2ppm all month. Last month, my tank balanced out at 9.6dkh all month, NO3 of about 15-16ppm all month, and PO4 of 0.45ppm all month. So far this month, my tank started out with a ALK of 8.9dkh then jumped to 9.4dkh, NO3 is around 10-16ppm, and PO4 is jumping around 0.34-0.21ppm.
I dose AFR daily as alk, mag, calc, and TE supplements and also dose amino acids. I feed one cube of mysis shrimp through the day. My maintenance, feeding, and all other external factors have maintained the same throughout this tanks life.
As stated, these sets of new parameters almost every month plays a huge factor in the health of my corals. Although they stay stable for the month, my corals hate when they change the very next. I have lost many corals, fought many algae issues, etc. ***in order to be on top of these changes, I do tweak and adjust my dosing to make sure my ALK levels never get through the roof, or way to low. Other than that, no methods I have tried have ever helped me maintain a relatively stable set of parameters throughout time— I always always always seem to get a completely new set every month.
I am in search of an answer on how to hopefully find a *true* balance of stability in my tank, and an answer to maybe why this is happening scientifically. I am not hunting exact numbers, just parameters that don’t like to flip flop on me every month or so.
