Am I ready for SPS?

clos10

clos10

jrwarrior23
Feb 6, 2006
84
0
0
Rohnert Park, CA
This is one is for all of you who are experienced in keep stony corals. So, I've had my tank established for over 2 years now its doing great But I've never kept stony corals. I was waiting until I upgrated to metal halides and could actually afford it haha. Well , I've gotten the lights and this is what im working. 55gallon, 90lbs of live rock Paramaters are as followed
Nitrites- 0
Ammonia-0
Nitrates -0
pH- 8.4
Calcium ~ 375
Alkalinity 5.0

Lights are 2 250 watt HQIs with I believe 15k bulbs and I also have Power compacts.
So my question is primarily if my calcium level and alkalinity are good enough for SPS. As far as I've read my calcium is too low , and I've been trying to raise it but I am having little success. I've been adding kents kalwassar mix. Where do you guys keep it at? Any suggestinos on how to raise my calcium levels, other than a calicium reacter (Can't afford it) and any suggestions on which corals to get . I am deffinetly not a newbie just a newbie on SPS. All my softies are doing great. I am really excited and anxious to venture into a new stage of this hobby BUT I don't want to make the mistake of jumping into it and not having success.
 
Well to start with your calcium is a little low it should be about 420 your alk looks good but you also need to know what your magnesium is, it should be about 3 times your calaium. You should have about 30 times your total water volume in flow and what skimmer are you running. As far as raising your calcium I use Dow Flake and it works good for me. I will try to find the link for the home made calcium, alk and mag additives for you if you would like them.

Scott
 
What units are you using to measure alkalinity? If that is in dKH, then that is far too low, whereas in mEq/L (milliequivalents per liter), then that value is way too high. Calcium is on the low side. Try to shoot for at least 390 (to make up for any testing error, better yet around 410). What is your salinity and what are you using to measure it? Magnesium doesn't necessarily have to be 3x your calcium concentration (as that is too relative). Rather, make sure it is at least ~1300 ppm. What are you using for flow? I consider 30x per hour sort of a minimum with sps.
 
You are right about the alk I just assume that it is in meg's when I see numbers like that sorry. I used 3x the calcium because that is a basic guide that everyone I know of uses.



Amphiprion said:
What units are you using to measure alkalinity? If that is in dKH, then that is far too low, whereas in mEq/L (milliequivalents per liter), then that value is way too high. Calcium is on the low side. Try to shoot for at least 390 (to make up for any testing error, better yet around 410). What is your salinity and what are you using to measure it? Magnesium doesn't necessarily have to be 3x your calcium concentration (as that is too relative). Rather, make sure it is at least ~1300 ppm. What are you using for flow? I consider 30x per hour sort of a minimum with sps.
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The magnesium trick can work--assuming your calcium is high enough, so it needs to be at least 430 ppm for it to work correctly. For reference, natural seawater is 1290 ppm.
 
If you continue to use kalk, I'd suggest switching to Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime. It is far cheaper than any kalk powder specifically marketed for the marine hobby (only about $2.50 / lb where I live). It's available at most (but not all) grocery stores in their canning supply section. I buy it from Kroger's (don't know if those exist out in CA), but I've also seen it at W-M. It tends to be a seasonal item, since canning isn't a year-round activity in most areas, so you may want to stock up if you try it and like it. The only noticeable difference I've found between the reef marketed kalk and Mrs. Wages is that Mrs. Wages is not quite as fine of a powder, which means you may have to stir it a little more when dissolving it.

Here's where I first read about using it instead of the hobby marketed kalk products:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/index.php
 
If'n I were you, I'd stick a few digita in there. An orange a green, a purple.

If those do well, then move on to something a little less hearty.

And they're right about the calc...not quite high enough. ;)

And, of course, you need a Mg test kit, too. :)
 
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