After 7 years of never testing my parameters, I broke down and finally bought kits and tested. Here are my results:
Ca- 420ppm
Alk- 6.8 dKH
Mg- 1360ppm
PO4- 0.6-0.8ppm
NO3- 2-3ppm
**Please excuse the units since I'm doing this from the top of my head and hopefully I remembered all the units correctly.
I was very surprised that my tank is sitting pretty close to optimal for Ca, Alk, and Mg without ever dosing. I've been using the Red Sea Pro Salt for a number of years now. If anybody recommends has any suggestions for optimal levels, please feel free to comment as I would appreciate the feedback. I have a mixed reef tank with SPS, LPS, and some softies.
Another thing that surprised me was my nitrate and phosphate levels. My macro algae (halimeda and chaeto) have not been growing for the last 3-4 months so I just assumed lower levels of nitrates and phosphates, but I guess I was wrong.
I am currently in the process of ordering Ecobak pellets (Amazon) and a reactor from BRS to try to do solid carbon dosing to lower my sulfates and nitrates, in hopes that my SPS will color up nicely and will achieve a faster growing rate. I have a great skimmer that will complement this process. Any personal experience with this is much appreciated. Wish me luck. I will document with before and after pictures so that I can share my own personal experience. Thanks!
-Ty