Chemistry watch help?

S

Slimkasey

Reefing newb
So if your not familiar, I have just crashed a tank and starting a new.

Because I've had issues before in both fresh and salt tanks I want to get right.

So I'm asking all using the API tests, I know I want to get the basic 3 (Ammo, Nitrite and Nitrate) to 0's, beyond that I don't know what tests to get or levels on those to reach, can someone help me?

Here's what I'm going to be running, a 10 gallon Nano reef, my Filter is Fluval C4, and is going to be running low flow setting. I want my clean up clean Nossarius snails, Blue legged crabs, probably 2 small clowns, and I would want to add in corral later ( alot later, until I get the basic right)

So what levels would I want and what tests would I need to move up to corral?

Thinking ahead, but moving really slow!

Thanks all for any input.
 
Get the reef master test kit it will have pretty much everything you need.

Corals are not scary no need to wait a lot later to get them. There are many beginner corals that do well in many settings. Frogspawn, kenya and anthelia trees, mushrooms etc.

Just always research something before buying it to make sure your lighting is adequate as some take more light than others.

Going slow and asking for advice is the best thing you can do!
 
Need to check for
Calcium 400-450
Magnesium (natural seawater levels) 1200-1300
Phosphates 0
Alkalinity (dKH) 7-12
PH 7
 
I personally suggest dumping the filter. Unless you are cleaning it every 3 or 4 days its just going to be a nitrate factory. Just do your regular water changes, for a 10 gallon tank that should be more than enough to keep the correct chemistry levels and you shouldnt have to dose anything.
 
Reef, He doesnt need to check that much YET.

At the moment, its all about your

Phosphates: as close to 0 as possible
Nitrates: under 10
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
PH: 8-8.2 (not 7 for an eventual reef tank)

You also want little algae in the DT because this means that you dont have any negative levels.

If your just keeping softies and LPS and are doing a water change once a week you dont really need to check magnesium and calcium or alkalinity. However it is a good habit to learn if you ever want to keep SPS corals.
 
Jmck said:
Reef, He doesnt need to check that much YET.

At the moment, its all about your

Phosphates: as close to 0 as possible
Nitrates: under 10
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
PH: 8-8.2 (not 7 for an eventual reef tank)

You also want little algae in the DT because this means that you dont have any negative levels.

If your just keeping softies and LPS and are doing a water change once a week you dont really need to check magnesium and calcium or alkalinity. However it is a good habit to learn if you ever want to keep SPS corals.
Click to expand...

According to my father the nitrates are fine unless the test water doesn't turn red... :nono:
 
The density of surface seawater ranges from about 1,020 to 1,029 kg•m−3, depending on the temperature and salinity. Deep in the ocean, under high pressure, seawater can reach a density of 1,050 kg•m−3 or higher. Seawater pH is limited to the range 7.5 to 8.4. The speed of sound in seawater is about 1,500 metres/second, and varies with water temperature, salinity, and pressure.
 
When I say algae, it means there shouldnt be dyatoms, hair algae and others all over the tank. its normal to get some brown algae in a new tank, its part of it setting itself up!

But Alex, Nitrates at the worst in a REEF tank, should never be above 20 and 20 is pushing it for many corals and will cause major algae problems. For FO, it can go all the way up to 40 and the fish will be fine.
 
Jmck said:
But Alex, Nitrates at the worst in a REEF tank, should never be above 20 and 20 is pushing it for many corals and will cause major algae problems. For FO, it can go all the way up to 40 and the fish will be fine.
Click to expand...

Right now all I have is the eel, a few cleaners, a cc sea star, and a brittle star. So I'll try to keep them below 20.
 
invertibrates are even more sensitive to high nitrates, nitrites, ammonia and phosphates, so especially for them it should stay below 20. :)
 
Sir Alex said:
According to my father the nitrates are fine unless the test water doesn't turn red... :nono:
Click to expand...
Your father is correct. My Nitrates have been above 200 for 5 months. they are now just under 20, since my carbon dosing started 3 months ago. The fish will be fine with trates, don'te let the others scrare you on this one. The are only going off what they have read, I am telling you what I know and have seen. No worries.:mrgreen:
 
Reef, once again I dont like you saying this, Nitrates in the 200's are very deadly, even for fish. They may SURVIVE, but will be very stressed. I would not recommend this. Keep it under 20 for FO or it will become too hard to manage, and keep it below 10 for inverts and corals.

I do have a tank as well and have experienced this, and so have many people here. You are not the best with tanks and your experience doesnt mean it will work for everyone.
 
Jmck said:
Reef, once again I dont like you saying this, Nitrates in the 200's are very deadly, even for fish. They may SURVIVE, but will be very stressed. I would not recommend this. Keep it under 20 for FO or it will become too hard to manage, and keep it below 10 for inverts and corals.

I do have a tank as well and have experienced this, and so have many people here. You are not the best with tanks and your experience doesnt mean it will work for everyone.
Click to expand...
Look, not for nothing dude, but you have your say and I have mine. Like it or not, thats the way it is bro. You would not know this for a fact, you only know of what you have read. I know of this for a fact. sorry man, it is what it is.:fechten2:
 
I didnt say you dont have a say, I said, 'I dont like you saying this'.

In this hobby, nothing is a fact. But, I have had high nitrates and have had my tank go downhill from there. You dont know this for a fact because like I said, if it worked for you, doesnt mean it will work for other people.
 
Reef Nutz,
Im 100% positive if you just put a fish in your tank while it had nitrates that high, it would have died pretty quickly. But if your nitrates rise so gradually that all your fish have time to adjust, then its not an instant death - more of a slow poisoning that could take several years.
 
Reef Nutz said:
Your father is correct. My Nitrates have been above 200 for 5 months. they are now just under 20, since my carbon dosing started 3 months ago. The fish will be fine with trates, don'te let the others scrare you on this one. The are only going off what they have read, I am telling you what I know and have seen. No worries.:mrgreen:
Click to expand...

When my father was taking care of the tank he took his final nitrate reading before he did a %95 water change :nono: and turned it over to me (kinda).

So anyway, by diluting the test with tap water (no nitrates) he calculated that the nitrates were at 3000 ppm (he hadn't done a water change in a few years and he didn't have protein skimmer or anything). :shock::shock::shock:

Everything died except the eel and a snail (snails, hermits, cc sea star, brittle star*)

My father also did a pretty good job at killing some other things. He got a medium sized porcupine puffer at the LFS and just plopped it in the tank without acclimating it or doing any research. So between the fact that it wasn't acclimated, the nitrates were probably pretty high at that point, there were hardly any hiding places, and the eel was probably stressing it out, it died in less than 24 hours. He also went along and bought an anemone. :shock::shock::shock: The tank has some low power florescent lights, high nitrates, and no water flow. And he didn't acclimate that either.

* The brittle star died in the tank when it was a 55 gallon because my father hadn't added any water to it for a while so he topped it off with a huge amount of fresh water. The next day the brittle star's body was like melting. He slowly fell apart for about a month.
 

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