Help reading tank perameters
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Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Reef Chemistry
Forum Description: A place to discuss reef chemistry.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=79376
Printed Date: April 16 2024 at 1:56pm
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Topic: Help reading tank perameters
Posted By: Skyward Imaging
Subject: Help reading tank perameters
Date Posted: March 07 2016 at 5:55pm
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OK, I have had this tank for almost 2 months. It is a 65g RSM 250 with 50lbs sand, 60-70lbs rock. 7w UV, Mini media reactor with carbon, Tunez9001 Skimmer, Apex jr, 2 AI Sol lights, Media basket and 2 MP10w powerheads. Some of that may not be relevant but I wanted to make sure. After a month the tank looked great. I bought livestock( Hippo Tang, Orange fin Tang, 4 green chromis and 2 clowns) 1 carpet anemone LG, and corals (Mostly Zoas). about a week later the anemone was dead. I got most of him out and did a 5g water change. for the last 3 weeks I did a 5g water change each week. It seems to be clearing up but it also seems to have a lot of brown algae still. The following is what I get when I did a test after 2 months running. I would like to know what you all think. PH 7.8 Ammonia .25ppm Nitrates 20ppm Nitrites 0ppm Phosphate .25ppm KH (8 drops) 143.2ppm Calcium 560ppm
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Replies:
Posted By: 1stupidpunk
Date Posted: March 07 2016 at 6:26pm
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All looks good to me, ammonia is a tiny bit high... not 100% sure on dKH reading in a ppm format. Thats a lot of fish added in a 2 month time period. I would let the tank adjust and "settle" into stable parameters before adding more. Heres something i copy and pasted from ReefKeeping magazine...
Anemones dont do very well in young tanks and are very susceptible to changes in the tanks stability.... its usually recommended that you wait at least a year before attempting one. |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: March 07 2016 at 7:26pm
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If you want you can multiply your alk ppm X .056 and that will give you your measurement in dkh. ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Skyward Imaging
Date Posted: March 07 2016 at 7:46pm
| dKH is 8.02 |
Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: March 07 2016 at 9:23pm
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You will want your ammonia at 0 and the phosphate way less as well. You added a lot of fish in a short time so that's why I'm guessing you have both. Also with a carpet nem they are very hard to keep especially with a new tank. ------------- Jackie Stuver "wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart |
Posted By: Skyward Imaging
Date Posted: March 08 2016 at 6:20am
Yeah I learned the hard way.  I don't plan on adding anything new for awhile. Well, maybe a frag or two  but nothing special.
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Posted By: Marcoss
Date Posted: March 08 2016 at 8:37am
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If this was my tank, I would increase the volume I do in weekly water changes, to say 10 gallons, and decrease the amount I feed (I would even go a huge one to drive down the ammonia). I suspect you may be feeding a little higher, due to the increased phosphates (very high) and nitrates (not terribly high). Since your tank is so new it doesn't have the ability to help remove its own excess nutrients so you have to manually export them. The biggest concern is your ammonia. Did you use a shrimp to cycle your tank? If so, did you remove it? There is something in there, or a ton of food, causing that big spike. I would be very cautious of it and do what you can to resolve it. That would personally be the biggest thing I would try and target. The phosphates are bad too, but not as bad as the ammonia. If this was my tank I would work on ammonia first, then phosphates. The phosphates are a little easier, with items like GFO. Marcos ------------- RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin |
Posted By: sabeypets
Date Posted: March 08 2016 at 10:42pm
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PH is low, should be 8.1-8.4. Anything lower than 7.8 will cause stress to fish/coral
Ammonia is high, needs to be 0. Caused from new tank and adding way to much way to soon. Ammonia is toxic and will cause stress/death to fish/corals. Phosphate is high, anything over .03 and corals will struggle. DKH is good. Calcium is a little high, 400-450 is optimal. I would not add more fish or coral until biological filtration catches up with bio load (about a month), feed lightly for the next two or three weeks. Get some Seachem Prime to neutralize the ammonia. Continue with 5 gallon water changes weekly. You will get the brown algae as the tank is still cycling. I would add a few snails to help ONLY when the ammonia reads 0. ------------- Shaun American Fork "Would you leave a dead cat in your kitchen till tommorow?" Builderofdreams |
Posted By: Skyward Imaging
Date Posted: March 09 2016 at 6:33am
Just started using prime. I also have several snails and hermits already in there and am not adding anything for a couple months  Thanks for the input sabey
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sabeypets wrote: