Sps nano tank need advice

[furrymurray]

Wow great tank! I am so excited after seeing all these beautiful sps nanos!

 

[furrymurray]

Ok everyone. I have a question. I just got my equipment in and was playing with my hanna phosphate checker. I was thinking it would be pretty low since I do not have an algae issues in any of my tanks other than a light film on the glass that I clean once a week. It was 1.2!!!! I havent set up the sps tank yet but when I do how do you lower your phosphates? I do use ro/di with 0 tds.

 

[furrymurray]

Ok it must be operator error because I tested ro di water with 0 tds and it came up as 1.4. I followed the directions and made sure that wasnt finger prints on the glass or anything. Guess I am doing something wrong

 

[furrymurray]

Ok new question. What do you think is the optimal levels for an sps tank. I now have the tank set up and changed water etc. my levels are salinity 1.026, phospates .02, mg 1100, kh 14, calcium 450. I have not set up my calcium doser yet but I would like to know what my target range should be.

 

[Sniperhank]

If I were running an sps tank I'd want to get those phosphates down lower.

 

[furrymurray]

I have some gfo ordered. The phosphate level is with all new live rock, all new water, and the sand was vacuumed out. Could it be from reef crystals salt? My tds shows 0 on my ro di unit.

 

[Sniperhank]

Doubtful, but maybe. Test the freshly mixed batch of water to find that out. I stopped using io salts to kent, it has higher levels for stony corals, and have never looked back. Might be an option to look into I'd that's the case.

 

[furrymurray]

Ok. I will do that. Where do you like keeping your ca, mg, and kh levels at?

 

[Sniperhank]

Don't test often enough tbh. My issue is phosphate control, which I now only check monthly. .03 and just displeased by it.

 

[Vazter]

Ok. I will do that. Where do you like keeping your ca, mg, and kh levels at?

Dkh should be around 8-12 Mg 1350. Ca 420 or a little bit higher

 

[furrymurray]

Ok. Thank you. I appreciate the info

 

[Sqasnatch]

I have lots of sps. And as long as I keep the phosphates below .05 it's all good. But I do notice they start to brown out. Optimal is undetectable on the Hanna. But that is hard to do. I am at .02 myself

 

[Sqasnatch]

Also I have been using agent green with great results so far

 

[Sniperhank]

With the .03 my latana is brown instead of yellow.

 

[furrymurray]

I was giving a green slimmer that was pretty browned out and the colors came back really good within a week. I had it in my other tank (that had higher phospates) but just now moved it to the new sps tank so i am hoping it really takes off! I was planning on asking a LFS to give me a good deal on some browned out sps corals. Do they always bounce back so easily?

 

[Sniperhank]

That depends on the sps. Green slimers are one of the beginner sps, so it was pretty easy to get in line. If it was some of the harder acros, might be a different story. I have a beautiful aqua blue acro in my tank that is a wonderful shade of brown because of my .03 phosphates.

 

[furrymurray]

Ok. I will see what he has before I make an offer. I will have to trust him when he tells me what they are because they all look the same. Like fuzzy brown sticks .