Water Testing Advice

[NewFish3]

HELP. I have a Bio Cube #14. It only holds about 7-8 gal of water with the live rock in it.. Every shop told me that I have to keep all of the water parameters ( ph , nitrates, etc etc ) at the correct levels. However, the guy at the shop where I bought the tank & fish said dont worry about all of that, just keep the salt level correct. What is correct. I dont want to kill my fishies or anenemoies.

[davew0670]

dont ever go back in that shop that you bought the tank

[stingythingy45]

How old is this tank,and is it cycled?
And I wouldn't go back to that shop again.

[brians4671]

most hydrometers are calibrated at 60 degrees. for every 10 degrees you must make a hundreth of a correction. so if your water is say 80 degrees for sake of argument and you want specific gravity at 1.025 you will want a reading on your hydrometer to read 1.023

[Deb91]

You want to keep you water parameters at the correct levels as well as the salt levels in check at all times. Please tell me you don't have an anemone in there already.

[brians4671]

do a little research on the fish you are keeping where they come from what their preferances are salt, temp.

[brians4671]

if you google the type of fish it will get you started.

[brians4671]

hope the correction post made sense with most hydrometers and fish beetween 1.022 and 1.023 readings are a good average.

[NewFish3]

The tank is about 5 weeks old, 4 weeks with the fish. I just put the anemone in on tuesday. My LFS where I bought everything from said it was fine. Iam thinking that I should not listen to him any more.

[camlov2]

Don't feel bad, many have made the same mistake (anemone) including myself. It does make it even more critical that your water parameters are correct.
Good luck.

[Deb91]

You put the fish after one week, wow you lucked out! How is your anemone doing? If it doesn't make it don't get another one for a while. Keep reading and asking questions on here,the members are very helpful! Don't ask that guy anything else!!!!! I would tell you not to go there but it might be the only one near your house.

[Larah]

When is it safe for one to get an anemone?
I have a tomatoe clow and someday I'dlie for him to have an
anemone...
Also, I wrote ya back in my skimmer thread Deb!

[Larah]

clown... that i'd Like to have an anemone... geesh, can't type tonight!

[pgaschulz]

What shop was that in Illinois?

[NewFish3]

Deb91

The fish seem to be ok. I have 1 - percula clown / 1 - royal gramma / 1 - 6 line wrasse / 1 - fire shrimp. Then I have 5 snails & about 10 small hermit crabs. When I put the enemone in on tuesday, overnight he went to the back corner behind a rock. He since has come out a little bit. I fed him tonight, he kinda curled up after about an hour. I hope everything will be ok, I dont want to kill my little fishies. I was also told be that guy that the bubble tip enemone that I put in was the correct one for the clown fish. Please, any help would be great. Should I also invest in a refractometer ?? If so, what one is a good one...... Thanks again

[jdieck]

Do not worry too much, although adding the anemone might have been a bit premature, if the anemone is feeding then you are OK.
In a tank that small I would not worry much on trying to dose to adjust or maintain the parameters either, keep your salinity between 1.025 and 1.026, temperature at around 79*F and make 3 to 4 gal water change per week with water mix aged at least 24 hours and adjusted for Calcium and Alkalinity and all your parameters will stay in check without the need for additional supplements other than the water change.
Do not add any more critters or fish. You are at what the tank may take in the way of bioload.

[NewFish3]

I would rather not say what shop it is. However it is up in the far north west suburb area of Chicago.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by NewFish3
I would rather not say what shop it is. However it is up in the far north west suburb area of Chicago.

I would not judge an store based on what you just told us. Sometimes we reefers tend to be a bit overcautious.
Sometimes I feel that overadvice calls for avercorrection ending up in lack of control of parameters.
Parameters do not change radically in a week unless you do something wrong and IME there is higher chances to mess it up trying to adjust a parameter by manually supplementing than not supplementing at all. Small systems react very fast so it is very very easy to overdo something, the easier way to maintain stability ios regular water changes with a good salt mix and that's it.
Keep Ammonia and alkalinity tests at hand.
If you detect ammonia or low alkalinity make a water change ahead of time.

[Deb91]

Newfish3, clownfish don't always host in anemones. I thought they automatically together myself when I got my first saltwater tank. Hopefully yours will for you seeing you have lucked out so far. It is a good idea to get a refractometer, something like these
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_Aquari...actometer.html
Just keep reading and asking questions and in no time you'll be the one answering questions! Best of luck!!

[Bygkid]

IMO, don't worry about feeding the anenome so much at first. It might stress him out. let him settle on a spot and work on getting your water right...slowly. One thing I have learned about SW... anything done fast, goes bad fast. I spent four years reading and studying and learned the day after I got my tank, I still didn't know enough.
I started my tank much as you did. Ask and read. This place has been great for me this past year. This was me 16 months ago

and this is me now..

[stingythingy45]

Originally posted by jdieck
Do not worry too much, although adding the anemone might have been a bit premature, if the anemone is feeding then you are OK.
In a tank that small I would not worry much on trying to dose to adjust or maintain the parameters either, keep your salinity between 1.025 and 1.026, temperature at around 79*F and make 3 to 4 gal water change per week with water mix aged at least 24 hours and adjusted for Calcium and Alkalinity and all your parameters will stay in check without the need for additional supplements other than the water change.
Do not add any more critters or fish. You are at what the tank may take in the way of bioload.

This is funny
You're telling a newbie with a 14 gallon tank with a heavy bioload already.Just added an anenome after 4 weeks.To watch his salinity,temp. and make sure to do 3-4 gallon water changes every week with the Ca and Alk adjusted right.
You're very funny

[jdieck]

Originally posted by stingythingy45
This is funny
You're telling a newbie with a 14 gallon tank with a heavy bioload already.Just added an anenome after 4 weeks.To watch his salinity,temp. and make sure to do 3-4 gallon water changes every week with the Ca and Alk adjusted right.
You're very funny

Wana see my big red nose?

[stingythingy45]

Didn't mean to sound too sarcastic.
These little tanks are quite a challenge,even for people with experience.Without an auto topoff or a sump,water parameters can change quite drastically.And these LFS just peddle them off like"set it and forget it".I'm sure you know,nut hey,that's a different story.

[jdieck]

Originally posted by stingythingy45


Didn't mean to sound too sarcastic.
These little tanks are quite a challenge,even for people with experience.Without an auto topoff or a sump,water parameters can change quite drastically.And these LFS just peddle them off like"set it and forget it".I'm sure you know,nut hey,that's a different story.

Yes these little tanks are very sensitive that is why I feel the less tinckering the better.
I see a lot of postings from people that have had a small tank working for years without much of testing or supplementing other than salinity until they start reading and finding out that they "should" have measured this, or done that, so they start and tinckering with their system resulting in what I call "over-intervention syndrome" which in most cases is more dangerous than no intervention at all.
Keeping hands off from the tank for a week make for little changes. Making adjustments to the new water change is safer (say you get precipitation), even if a mistake is not noticed before making the water change and because the change is less than 100% the effect of the mistake gets diluted in comparison to making those adjustments directly to the main system.
If a tank that size can not be properly maintained only with some live rock, a good filter system and well balanced regular water changes then the bio-load is too high and any amount of daily alkalinity or calcium testing and adjustment, any use of specialty filtering chemical media or any amount of other tinkering will make it function properly in the long run other than reducing the bio-load.