|
|
|
02/11/2008, 12:33 AM
|
#1 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tampa
Posts: 688
|
PH levels help
i just tested my water and came up with:
Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 10 - 20 (ouch??) Ammonia - 0 pH - 8.0 how can i correct these? what did i do now? ugh. |
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 01:01 AM
|
#2 |
|
Premium Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Chicago
Posts: 1,096
|
Params.... Ph 8.0 to 8.3 is good. Nitrates / not too bad, Ammonia 0.0 thats good.... What can you do???........ Sit down & have a beer. Watch your fish & have a good time. Unless you see your fish swimming belly up....chill out
__________________
On a scuba dive in the Cayman Islands, I kept thinking.........Why is that Fish getting bigger.........Then it hit me Current Tank Info: 7 years saltwater.. Setting up a 120 gal reef. Office BioCube 14...1 perc clown, 1 royal gramma, 1 six line wrasse, fire shrimp, cleaner shrimp, green stripe, brown shrooms, coco worm, purple leather, Misc CUC |
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 01:47 AM
|
#3 |
|
Moved On
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: germantown,wi
Posts: 2,339
|
Everyone whats 0 Nitrates no way, I over feed my tank, do 20% water changes every 2 weeks and they run 5 test trips and liquid test, some things LPS like dirty watter!
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 03:24 AM
|
#4 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: sacramento
Posts: 584
|
well, what do you keep? if you have/want sps then keeping nitrates as low as possible is best. FOWLR nitrates is okay as long as its out of hand. and if you want to keep nitrates 0, add a refugium. IME #1 thing that beats nitrate levels and a high pH level of around 8.2-8.3
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 09:29 AM
|
#5 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tampa
Posts: 688
|
thanks all for your input. right now i only have a couple snails, a couple shrimp, a green clown goby & a little clown fish. in a couple of weeks i will be looking at getting some torch, frogspawn and/or Hammer corals. will these get hurt by my levels or am i ok??
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 09:37 AM
|
#6 |
|
Moved On
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 6,847
|
those levels are fine. you can lower nitrates by doing water changes, cleaning up any detritus. but before you get any corals get a calcium, alkalinity and magnesium test kits.
you want these levels to be Ca- between 400ppm and 450ppm Alk- between 8dkh and 12dkh Mg- between 1250ppm and 1350ppm |
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 09:42 AM
|
#7 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tampa
Posts: 688
|
thank you mbbuna, i will have to go get those tests, they are all readily available aren't they. or do i have to order them on-line?
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 09:53 AM
|
#8 |
|
Moved On
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 6,847
|
your LFS should have them but they will be cheaper on-line. dont get Red Sea kits and dont get the dip strip type. get either API, Salifert, Elos
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 11:54 AM
|
#9 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Tampa
Posts: 688
|
where is a good place to get test kits on-line? i looked at Fosters & Smith as well as That Fish Place, and neither had all of them by API.
|
|
|
|
|
02/11/2008, 12:52 PM
|
#11 |
|
Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Bloomington, IN
Posts: 186
|
this is just a little bit of a warning but you said that you were going to be getting some frogspawn etc in the next couple weeks. IMO I would tend to wait a little bit before you dive right into the corals. Stock your tank with the livestock you want before you throw your corals in there...get the water params under control. I've had my "reef" as a FOWLR for the last 6months...making sure everything is in line before I start spending the time/money/energy to keep corals. Just food for thought...good luck with it though if you decide to go with the corals!
__________________
~Adam Loving a hobby where there are few absolute right answers, many ways of doing things, a lot of good advice and, after all's said and done, a few ppm can cost you a whole lotta dough!! Current Tank Info: 55 gallon w/ 20 gallon refug...MAG 9.5 return, 3 Rio 120 powerheads in DT, 300W heater. 2x96w T5 lights (12K and actinic), 70lbs sand, 65lbs live rock...29 FO right now that will remain up and running and act as my quarantine tank. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
