Last week, we looked at the waste/nutrient parameters. This post will cover the minerals. The target parameters for this tank are similar to Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt. This way, the minerals will not shift in either direction when doing water changes. We dose Tropic Marin All-For-Reef from the beginning, so we do not use water changes on this aquarium to supplement major minerals.
The target parameters as presented by the salt are: 7,5 dKH, 440 Calcium and 1350 Magnesium. With these levels, parameter swings in either directions are not lethal. Of course we still need to stay on top of our testing, and make sure they stay like this. These high mineral levels will also ensure good coral growth when combined with the nutrients levels from the last post.
Alongside the Tropic Marin All-For-Reef there are bottles of Tropic Marin Original Balling ABC and Tropic Marin Bio-Magnesium ready to increase singular elements, that shoud for some reason drop lower than the baseline. This can happen because of excess coralline algae growth or bacterial activity. Such corrections, should they be needed, will be done monthly.
Happy New Year, and we hope you all got to this point safely! Next post, we will talk about testing these parameters. To a great 2023, salty salutations. -Samuel Christensen