Are these levels stable for a maturing nano?

I test every 5 days, just wondering if it is too much fluctuation? I am still getting better at the stability thing now that i am adding more sps coral. Growth is good so far, nothing seems stressed. THX for any input.

 

IMO I wouldn't call them very stable.. I am wondering why your mag is jumping around like that... How often do you dose/do wc's? Do you thoroughly mix your salt before each wc?

 

It always mixes overnight (Reef Crystals), i dose with seachem mag. I do my wc on Wednesday and usually dose once a week on saturday night. I test with red sea foundation pro kit. I find my mag always drops the fastest.. and its tough sometimes to know how much to re dose. It might be a good idea to test every other day for mag?

 

Could be precision issues with the the test kit. All of the numbers are staying within "desired" levels, so that's good.

 

That seems a bit excessive, imo. What you are doing seems fine. Your numbers are staying within the right range.

 

okay awesome, good to know. thx for checkin out my parameters!

 

The range is good. I would work on keeping your mag above 1280 which is around the NSW average. I would add the mag with the water change to keep it steadier. I would test your new water to see where your mix is at with Mg and then dose to your preferred level. I would also keep a log of Mg tests just before WC so you can get an idea of how much to add with the WC.

 

if your testing every 5 days, and changing water once per week
that would explain some fluctuations

how much water are you changing?
and how much total water volume do you have in your set up?

for more consistent readings, I would do your tests a couple of hours after the water change each week
or a couple of hours before water changes each week

that way, you will be measuring either your maximum or minimum levels over that 7 day period

 

Yes the numbers are within a good range. However, it is equally important that the levels stay consistant. The fluctuation of magnesium between 1200 and 1400 seems pretty unstable to me, as my SPS dominant tank couldn't use more than 30 ppm of magnesium each month!

+1. Dosing/checking the water change water is a very good idea. One other thing to keep in mind as I previously mentioned is to mix the salt thoroughly before the water changes. I think you misunderstood that as mixing the "salt water" well before the change. I actually meant mix the dry salt itself before adding it to water at all. Sometimes, smaller substances can sink to the bottom of the salt bag, leading to an uneven distribution of the components of the salt mix. Mixing the bag will help even things out, and may show to further stabilize your levels.

A related issue arises with those liquid supplements. A friend of mine doses mag using Kent Tech M. As directed, he would shake the bottle before use. However, one day when he was approaching the end of the bottle, he noticed a huge clump of stuff at the bottom. It is likely that the mag precipitated out of solution and hardened at the bottle. I am not sure if your seachem supplement is much different in composition (I can't imagine it would be), but just be aware of this issue.

+1 Good call. If it were me, I would test a few hours before (rather than after). The advantage here is that, in addition to checking for stability, you can get a better idea of how much is actually being consumed.