Stability?

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

I was just curios how every one here keeps their tank stable. When u do water changes How do you keep every thing from jumping in terms of perimeters (like cal mag and so on)? How do you calculate how much you should dose every day? What is a truly stable tank mean to you?
I just wanted to know what you guys were doing to keep your tank as stable as possible. I do allot of reading trying to get great with sps and lps. A fellow hobbits once told me that you could read as much as possible and talk to people but your going to fail allot be4 you get good.

 

[fishman1069]

Thats alot to answer! lol All tanks are different but the key to good husbandry is doing 20 percent water changes with quality salt and ro water. You also want to research all livestock before you buy and make sure you can meet the reguirements for keeping them healthy. As far as dosing goes, I've used kalkwasser in my ato which kept my params stable. I didnt keep any sps tho. There are reef calculators you can use to help figure out the amount you have to dose but you have to test alot and see how much everything drops to figure out what you need. HTH

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

Yea it's allot of questions but their important ones.
I use reef crystals for water changes and I dose to get my perimeters in check but feel like I'm not keeping it stable enough.
Would love to here about the stability of everyones tank.

 

[ecchybridLE]

Slow and steady wins the race in this hobby. Water changes weekly on time will is to me the most important. Salts can be anoying to choose, but it is important. Changing carbon media once every two weeks unless needed sooner. Not straying from those two. Depending on what u keep in your system will have a great determenation of how u should care for your system. I would recomend a calcium reactor to anyone. It will prove it's weight in gold if properly thought out and set up correctly IMO. Good thread.


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[Mattl22]

Great question I just set up a cal reactor and for the first time my parameters r truely stable and my corals look better then ever


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[Donewiththisplace]

Alot of testing at first, with a quality test kit. You need to see how much of a certain thing, whether it be MG, KH or Ca drops over several days or weeks. Every tank is different...so once you know how much things change from day to day, then you need to analyze the back of the bottle your supplements come in. It tells you how much product to use to raise a specific amount of water to a certain level...of what ever the product is for. (Hope that makes sense). Then just do the math to relate to your specific setup.


For example, Product A may say it raises 10 gallons of water .5 mg/L.

What ever it is I would recommend adding supplements slowly to raise or lower your parameters over the course of days not hours. Sudden changes never seem to turn out favorably.

As for water changes, I've been using Reef Crystals all along and never really noticed a drastic change in parameters after a water change. And if there is a difference, testing reveals it shortly after the water change and I'm able to start dosing to correct it.

Hope that helps.

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

I Don't use carbon I only use filter floss cemi pure and live rock. Do water changes every week.
What is the optimum perimeters for a tank that has all types of coral life?
At what point do you consider your tank to be stable?

 

[Mattl22]

I'm new to reefing started July 09 and finally learned enough and got the right equipment to get my parameters stable it is not easy a lot of trial and error learn as u go what size tank do u have and r u keeping sps ??

 

[Cadiz.Jonathan]

Got one sps and rest lps

 

[fishman1069]

What size tank? How long has it been up and running? Do you have a sump? How about a reactor with GFO? All these answers will help us, help you. It usually takes a good year to get everything stable. and as mentioned before, its alot of trial and error.

 

[Paul B]

What is a truly stable tank mean to you?

To me it means a tank that will not crash no matter what happens, No electricity or something large dying. The bacteria should be in such a state that your tank is protected from accidents.
We don't think much about bacteria but it is bacteria that is keping your animals alive and keeping them that way.
Stability also means not having to change water "Mainly" to eliminate nitrates. Your bacteria should do that for you for free.
I personally don't test anything or add anything except calcium but I did test for a number of years. I realized that the parameters remain constant with out any help from me. When I used to add all sorts of things like kalkwasser and futz around with the pH I didn't have much luck.
Stability also means that fish should never die from anything except old age. They should hardly, if ever get sick. If I lived in a town of 100 people and most of them die as teenagers, I am going to move.
Just my opinion.
Paul