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About the “Live Rock” for your tank
Basic information on the care of Aquacultured “Live Rock”
This area is intended to inform you of the basic needs for your new rock. What follows is a description of the minimum, basic and simple approach to care for our rock and is not intended to describe the only or even the best way to maintain your reef tank.
This is based on our practical experience in running tanks.
Perform a 5%-10% water change weekly
Use only RO/DI for startup and make-up water. Do not use any tap or well water in your tank.
Use of a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) Meter is highly recommended regardless of the source of your RO/DI water. TDS reading should not exceed 18 parts per million (ppm). A reading of 0-3 ppm is best.
Reef tank water temperature should between 78 and 84 degrees
Check and Maintain salinity level daily, 1.024-1.025 specific gravity or 34-35 parts per thousand (ppt). Use a salinity Refractometer with automatic temperature compensation.
Maintain the following consistently and avoid large swings in any of these areas by doing a little to your tank each day as opposed to a big husbandry program every other week
Maximize water flow…It is a must! Power heads, wave makers or dedicated pumps are fine; just remember “Live Rock” needs water flow.
Use of a protein skimmer is highly recommended for “Live Rock”
Provide lighting of 2.5 Watts per gallon, minimum for 12 hours a day- rock only. Most reef aquarium 40 watt daylight bulbs will work. I recommend one actinic and two 6500K-10,000K daylight bulbs. Metal Halide lighting users should be 20,000 K for 4-5 hours and blue florescent for 12 hours
Use rock ratios of 1.5 pounds to 2 pounds of “Live Rock” per gallon of tank sea water capacity as a minimum for full reef tanks
Maintain calcium level of 450 - 500 PPM
Maintain phosphate level of <.0 - .10 PPM
Maintain pH of 8.2 - 8.4
Maintain Alkalinity of 8.-8.3dkH
Stabilize your tank. Stabilization equals algae control. You will always need clean up crews for your reef but most algae are opportunistic organisms. Swings in salinity or temperature or both WILL encourage the spread of this problem.
Additionally, there are many informative sites and publications to help you optimize your tank. We learn something new everyday
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