Can someone critique my water tests?

[tcso1504]

I read everywhere about different water qualities and they all are so different, so I thought I would come here and see what you guys/gals say. Please let me know how these tests are and what I can do to lower or raise them and what with ... I really do appreciate your help.....


PH 7.9
Ammonia 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 60 mg/L
Phosphate 2.0 mg/L
Alkalinity 175 ppm
Nitrite .4 ppm
Salinity 1.025

I have in my tank blonde naso, pajama cardinal, 3 damsels, foxface, banned pipefish, 2 clowns, lawnmower blenny,

anemones= 2 florida condi, 3 curly Q's, 3 featherdusters and about 40 green eye zoos

5 peppermint shrimp, 75 blue hermit crabs, about 50 snails and 2 cleaner clams.

125 gallon tank with 175 lbs liveock, aquaticlife 72" T5 lights

Nothing is missing and everything seems to be ok.....


thanks again for your help

tcso

 

[BL1]

How long has your tank been setup for?
It looks like you are in the middle of a cycle, your ammonia and nitrites should both be at 0

 

[Cathic]

Raise the pH and drop those nitrites.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 BL1

Are you confusing your nitrites with your nitrates? you should have 0 nitrites. Since you have anemones, you should also have 0 nitrates. How long has your tank been up? I hope you didn't put all those in one shot.

 

[tcso1504]

How long has your tank been setup for?
It looks like you are in the middle of a cycle, your ammonia and nitrites should both be at 0

Tank has been going since mid January , the live rock came from another tank and was already cured. Kinda doubtful it's a cycle issue is it?

The problem with the nitrite test is it was a dip test , I tried to match the colors up the best I could but it's really hard to tell the color difference so it could be 0....

All other test was done with the instant ocean reef test so I know their accurate..

 

[Cathic]

Liquid test kit advisable and needed, tank can still cycle no matter what LR you use, anemones need a tank that has been up for at least 1 year. just MHO, but I know most people here have the same advice.

 

[daugherty]

All other test was done with the instant ocean reef test so I know their accurate..

that does not mean crap. they are just like any other test they can go bad and the io tests are not that hreat anyway

 

[yote]

I hate to be the one to say it.But those instant ocean test kits are not accurate.I've seen one that was accurate or even close to it.
API kits will be better for testing ammonia,nitrite,and nitrates.

 

[ccCapt]

Calcium 60 mg/L
Is that a typo? I think it's impossible to have calcium that low. It should be around 400 ppm. (1 milligram/liter = 1 part per million)

Phosphate 2.0 mg/
Wow That is extremely high. You want it to be pretty much undectable, or about 0.03.

 

[tcso1504]

Calcium 60 mg/L
Is that a typo? I think it's impossible to have calcium that low. It should be around 400 ppm. (1 milligram/liter = 1 part per million)

Phosphate 2.0 mg/
Wow That is extremely high. You want it to be pretty much undectable, or about 0.03.

yeah I meant 600 mg/l

and thats what the test showed 2.0 on phosphate.... how can I lower it?

 

[Bifferwine]

You can get high phosphates from using tap water, overfeeding your fish, using flakes and pellet foods, or using bad live rock that was taken from another tank that had algae problems.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 biff.....I suggest the same thing as others here said -- get a better drip test kit, like API. You can get an API kit w/ ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, & PH. Then get another test for your calc and phosphates. Stay away from test strips. They've shown time and time again that they are not accurate...at least, by most people here. Definitely do not use tap water, even if your house is filtered.

My house is filtered water. But when I hooked up my rodi with tds meter, my "filtered" water wasn't as filtered as I thought. It still did not get everything out.

 

[Brian_G]

thats alot of stuff to have in a tank thats only been going since jan. Corals can be added pretty fast. Fish on the other hand should be added at least 3 weeks apart. Each fish you add had the potential to raise your ammonia slightly til your system gets used to the added bioload.

I have seen the discussion of many people on here taking things wayyy to fast and the tank crashing. I wouldnt like to see a fish die because of it.

 

[ccCapt]

yeah I meant 600 mg/l

and thats what the test showed 2.0 on phosphate.... how can I lower it?

What salt are you using? 600 is really high.
To lower phosphate, you need to run some GFO (granular ferric oxide). For best results, it should be run in a reactor similar to this.

 

[tankedchemist]

cc, if there's no measurable phosphates, but there is algae, would running GFO help?

 

[coolhandgoose]

No measurable phosphates could just mean that it's all being used by the algae. I'm sure a phosban reactor would still help.

 

[ccCapt]

cc, if there's no measurable phosphates, but there is algae, would running GFO help?

Yes. Like coolhand said, if you have algae, something is fueling it. You may not get a reading because all the available phosphate is being consumed by the algae.
I run both carbon and GFO in an ViaAqua Poly reactor.

 

[sen5241b]

Do a water change to get nitrites down. Nitrites are deadly.

Here's some testing good tips :

1) Holding the plastic dropper bottles at an angle when adding drops to the test tubes can lead to inaccurate test results. Hold the bottle completely upside down.
2) If the bottle does not say to shake it -then do not shake it.

 

[tcso1504]

OK got my API test kits in today so tested for everything again..

here are the results

Phosphate .5 ppm
Nitrate 0
Calcium 500
KH 196.9
PH 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Salinity 1.0235

Looks alot better....

 

[coolhandgoose]

Looks pretty good to me.