Too many waterchanges?

Not sure what lps corals you have,but your REEF salt should supply enough of the basic elements alone(that is unless you have some types of high demanding lps)but most will do just fine.I have a hammer coral,my only lps and have had great growth and health with just staying on top of wc's.The rest of my corals are all softies which are usually some of the easiest to care for due to thier low demands.What salt mix are you using?

 

my WC are based on the "change out 50% of your tank capacity per month". I do about 5g per week on my 55g & I dose bi-weekly as my ALK/CA/MG levels still need a little balancing with the WC's. My NA reading is always around 2ppm.

+1 on the advice everyone has given, your high NA reading seems linked to either overstocking, overfeeding, it's best to nip that issue in the bud before getting on a good routine.

 

i am using Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt mixed to a Salinity of 1.024

 

I don't have any hands on exp with that salt, I use Instant Ocean. Because everyone's system is different, I would get the NA under control & then test out your ALK/CA/MG over a period of a few weeks. Once you get your baseline readings, you can see if you need to start dosing with an additive like B-Ionic, to get your params steady. This is only if you have a reef tank though.

 

You should be just fine there,but i agree with MoJoe on solving the nitrate riddle and getting them under control before dosing or anything else.Your salt will provide the basics needed.

 

one thing to point out here, just to be clear, don't mix the new SW and then measure... it'll need to mix and settle for about a day before the readings will stabilize... Make sure the temp is roughly same as the tank too before measuring.

 

Two Part Calcium and Alkalinity Solution - English


Save money on supplements!

 

To put it another way, if you are supplementing, the only reason you are doing the WC is to band-aid the nitrates... To take that a step further, if your nitrates/phosphates were 0 and you were supplementing, there'd be no reason to WC...

You might need to supplement the WC mix to bring it up to par... but based on your load, I find this unlikely.


I, for example, keep my Mg at 1500 and my Ca at 450-500. Since I have to supplement any salt mix anyway, I just buy cheaper salt (IO). Since my nitrates and phosphates are at 0 (and have been for over a year), and since I use an auto doser for Ca and Alk, I don't do WCs.

Well I do them, but about 1x a year for trace elements (I'm not convinced my trace elements are depleted in a week or anything less than a year)