Dane's 125 Water Report Card

As promised, Here is where I have been holding steady. I have a couple questions, but all in all i think i am doing ok (based on what i have read and seen here):

Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrites - 0ppm
Nitrates - 10-15ppm (test looks more like 10, but slightly darker)
Calcium - 360ppm
KH - 10dKH / 179ppm
PH - 8.4
Phosphates - 0ppm
Salinity - 1.022 (yea, I know it needs to come up slightly. Will be correcting this on todays water change)

Summary:

Nitrates - I have done 10% water changes and then i have gone 3 weeks without water changes... The Nitrates Dont budge. They stay right where they always are. I have a BRAND new Nutrafin Test Kit AND an "Aquarium Pharmacuticals, Inc" test kit. Both same results. I am holding steady @ 10ppm, mabe SLIGHTLY higher (im talking the color is SOOO close to 10, but could be a fraction darker, but NOWHERE near 20). Do I even need to fool with water changes at this level? any advice would be welcome.

KH - I have never seen on here where this is supposed to be. What do i need to be looking ffor here. I know what KH is and its effect on PH, but my PH is holding steady and the KH has been too. Anything to be concerned about?

Calcium - Here is where I need help. I have been diligently dosing my tank with both Kent's Purple Up (coraline) and Kent's Calcium up. I have a couple Stony's but nothing insane. I cannot seem to get my Calcium over 360 to save my life. I have been dosing half and half (to create a full dose) of each, daily. Do I need to start doing full doses of each daily?

Iodine - I just started dosing Iodine as my LFS advised me to. I have no test for it, but i assume just follow the instructions and I should be fine.

if you dont test for it than dont dose it idone is usually not needed to be added you get plenty of it in water changes test your mag levels. to get your cal up you will need to add a lot of cal to raise it. what kind of salt do you use.

If you are doing regular water changes, your salt mix will contain iodine in the correct amounts, so you shouldn't be dosing that unless you are testing for it (I think it's probably one of the most commonly overdosed chemicals, since everyone thinks they need it, but hardly anyone tests for it first).

Your calcium is fine. Until you get a lot of SPS corals, 360 is just fine.

Its hard to nitrates to completely 0 on newer tanks.It takes some time for everything to get established enough to complete the process on that one.
Like Biff said,your calciums fine for right now.So dont worry about that unless it falls below 350.
As for the iodine.Some folks think its got to be dosed.But the only difference iodine ever made for me,was more algae.So I dont dose my tank with it.I do use it to dip new corals in before I place them in the tank.

Thanks again Team LR!

1. I use Instant Ocean Sea Salt.

2. Biff, you say I ony need to worry about High Calcium with SPS... What about LPS? I have 3 LPS, but No SPS.

3. Nitrates - Thanks again... I am so used to my water being 100% perfect, that Im going NUTS seeing it hovering around 10... Will my corals and small fish be ok in the 10ppm range until the tanks seasons a bit more?

I mean, Everything seems just DUCKY. Softies & LPS are eating, hangin out at full mast all the time and looking healthy as hell. Am I compulsing too much?

So with a 125 tank, and a 30 Sump, how often should I be doing water changes?

I realize there are a couple schools of thought on this, but:

1. If my Nitrates ae hovering @ 10, do I leave it be?

2. Even though my Nitrates STILL hover @ 10ppm WITH water changes weekly, do I continue to do the changes?

Seems to be a moot point... I can go 2 weeks and they are 10ppm..... I can do a water change twice and they are at 10ppm...

quite simply put... WTF?!?

As Yote would say, "You don't wait for your car to break down before you do an oil change". Nitrates at 10 are fine, but do your water changes BEFORE your nitrates get high. Once they get up there, it's really hard to get them back down again.

Also, calcium at your level is fine for LPS corals. They don't use calcium nearly as quickly as SPS corals so there's no need to have really high levels of calcium.

Thanks Again Biff! Just wanted to be sure I wasnt doing any damage by doing the frequent changes!

Ill keep up with it!

HEHE
Biffs gettin a redneck:D

The thing about water changes,is they also replenish the minor and trace elements that get used up fairly quick.So waterchanges are kinda liking killing 2 birds with one stone.

Makes perfect sense Yote,

I always did water changes when I was doing fresh, so it stands to reason that I would keep doing them with Saltie as well.

Also... Cant wait! I am tearing down my 55 Tall and cleaning it this week. I am slowly gathering the material to plumb the sump and before long, Ill be starting on my FOWLR tank that is going in my bedroom!

Here is a pic of it with my Fresh Setup: