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Being a reef Keeper involves quite a bit of responsibility and discipline.

Monitoring levels and controlling them on a regular basis saves many problems.

Every reefer has there problems one issue i had was a massive outbreak of green algae, a massive problem and very difficult to get rid of. After finding it was down to negligence, it was my fault.

This made me realize i had to be more involved

It was down to high nitrates and lack of regular water changes that was to blame.
Now i am a changed reefer. Now i do a 10% water change weekly and now i have minimal nitrates and best of all no algae!

Having gone on ultimate reef forum i found that this is a big issue and many go through similar problem.

With this in mind i decided to post a thread on how to become a successful reefer, with very positive comments around the forum community.

To help me overcome the problems I've been having i decided to write a diary, to help me keep track of things that need doing and the things that I've done. So i decided on this blog so i can keep a log of stocking, corals, and probably most importantly checking the appropriate levels and share them with the reef community.

Here are my latest results

Salinity 1.026
nitrates 10ppm
phosphates 0ppm
alkalinity 7.0
Calcium 350ppm
Magnesium 1050


From these results my aim is to increase Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium slightly using suitable buffers.



Please feel free to add any comments, all are welcome.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
Yup, your Ca is a bit on the low side and you need to get it up to 420-450, but you also need to keep the Mg and alk in balance. Look to some of the forums (e.g. MFUK) for advice on how to do this more cheaply than using expensive buffers.

The low readings are due to the lack of water changes early on, the levels became depleted and weren't being topped up.

Is that a typo on the salinity?

Off to a good start, the tank looks good.
28 August 2008 at 14:26
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