If you could pick your target levels?

[smpolyp]

If you could pick your cal,alk,ph levels that you like the best what would they be?

[TheAquaman]

Where their at now!

alk 3.2
PH 8.0 - 8.4
Cal 400 +/-

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www.magicnet.net/~jwhite/aquamans.html

You may be capable of great things,
But life consists of small things.

Aquaman, sounds good to me, everyone else, its a given that ammonia and nitrite will be ZERO and nitrate less than 10, phosphate less than .5 and <.2 or undetectable is even better. Those who have mature tank with adeqwuate amounts of live rock and sand, with a variety of benificial infauna or good pods, bristle worms and mini brittle stars etc,etc,etc and esp if using an algae refugium or lots of macro algae find it much easier to maintain undetectable levels of the unwanted stuff. You will always have nitrates and phosphates in your system as they are important fuels for the food chain, but undetectable levels is a good indication your tank has reach a fair balance. This is very simpified but hopefully you all get the idea

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[smpolyp]

geedoug I was thinking just trace elements.Cal,alk,ph,mag. I get the idea of the need for no3 and po4. I think we will try to dial these numbers in after we get our elements dialed in. This could be in the future,but since we are at it what would be your exact #'s of them all?

Man you florida guys ask hard questions
I think the ball park figures Aquaman gave are good target levels, magnesium between 1200-1300 seems to be part of the calcification equasion also. Its all inter-related and it gets as coplicated as you want to make it. My knowledge of chemistry was burned out in high school during the sixties . I just theew in the nitrate phosphate thing because a common question on reef BB's id why the algae, my nitatres etc are non readable.

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[horge]

Don't know about where I'd want them to be, hehe...

But right now they're

Alk 3
pH 8.0-8.3
Ca (your guess is as good as mine
Temp 84-90 of your degrees Fahrenheit

horge

[smpolyp]

Geedoug I say from your post I think you have alot of knowledge. For Orlando guys we are just a dry sponge waiting to get filled.I would like to talk about no3 and po4 with you more since you seem to understand that they are needed and don't seem to want to say you should have them(at certian levels) ,because of the reaction of BB's.This is thereeftank lets talk about it.
I think it will need a new thread. I'm kinda wanting to know what trace element levels people like as their target #'s.(shhhhh KINDA SPYING LIKE OTHER MANUFACTURES DO ON BB'S) Don't tell anyone.

Russel, I will be the first to admit I dont know jack. However I have learned the relationship going on in the tank, to an extent. As far as Nitrate and Phosphate goes, most people who have studyed at least the basics know these are major nutrients and will fuel algae. I think the recent love affair with macroalgae refugiums goes hand in hand with the trend towards heavier feeding of tanks, which is needed to process all the waste materiel created in a well stocked closed system. As nutrients are consumed by the many layers in the food chain, various compounds are removed and used as fuel for other organisms, which in turn utilize and excrete the unused or converted portions, which are in turn feed on by the next layer. The process repeats its self on down thriugh a succesion of smaller more specialized organisms till at some point only simple chemical compounds remain. Free Nitrogen is release to the air by out gassing. Nitrates and phosphates are consumed by algaes and cyanobacteria. The nitrates and phosphates are used as fuel by algae, without discrimination, ie hair algae as easily as caulerpa or halimeda, so we add snails and herbivore crabs to control the micro algae and encourage the macro alga, which will hopefully out compete the less desirable types making maintenance easier. The trick is finding the right numbers of the right detrivores, herbivores, and algaes to accomplish the desired goal to the extent possible. We can get close but not to the point that the tank is self cycling, or feeds it self and consumes its own waste through recycling. At some point you have to feed and do water changes to help keep parameters in the area you want, just like adding buffering and additional calcium. Even the large home aquariums are just a drop in the proverbial bucket compared to the smae volume taken from any point in a live reef. Aquariums don't have the seemingly unending influx and out go of ntrients and trace elements that occur in the ocean. Again this is fairly simplistic and generalized, anyone with formal marine biology knows the processes are much more complex and require volumes to explore but the average reefer just wants to know how to maintain stability and deal with situations at hand . Enough rambling for tonight, I gotta get to bed so I can face monday part 5

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I thought I was me, but we were wrong
email: geeflipr@internetcds.com

[tdwyatt]

heh heh heh!!!
Good overview post Doug! I had been thinking of addressing this last night, but when I came back, you'd done it well! Just to follow the thread, though, I like :

pH 8.0 - 8.4
alk 3.25 to 3.75 mEq/l
Ca +400 ppm
NH4+ 0
NO2-- 0
NO3- <10ppm
Temp: 82.0 F steady!!!
PO4-- at < 0.5
Salinity 36ppt

I don't measure or test for anything else, all the other variables I control through partial water changes (10%) every 2 weeks and I don't use any trace element additives, although about once every 2 or 3 months I will add a capful of Kent's Iodine (much to say about that, though, and do as I say, not what I do...;-)

Heh, hope this doesn't stir the water too much!



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Tom <"{{{{>(
(TDWyatt)
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something. -Plato