Water Parameters

[SalahiAndSon]

I have a new setup, 75 gallon tank with overflow to 20+ gallon sump. I also
have a protien skimmer but i am thinking it does not need to be on right now
since nothing is in the tank. Is this true? do i need it when i add the
cleanup crew or can it wait till i get more life in the tank?

I got most of the water from a friends old tank and about 80lbs of live rock
from his tank also.Added 50lbs of sand uncured but this was about 2weeks
ago. The rock seems nice and cured and has lots of algea growing. I want to
add my cleanup crew but I am not sure what my water parameters should be for
this. I think i am ready and here is what i do know:

Salinity 1.23
nitrite 0
temp 72

I am haveing green and yellow/tan algea blooms and already have alot of red
coraline algea on the live rock. Water is very clear. What else do i need to
test for before droping in the cleanup crew and takeing the next step? Any
info or a website that outlines good water parameters at this stage would be
very helpful.
thanks
G.

[Charles Spitzer]

"SalahiAndSon" > wrote in message
...
>I have a new setup, 75 gallon tank with overflow to 20+ gallon sump. I also
> have a protien skimmer but i am thinking it does not need to be on right
> now
> since nothing is in the tank. Is this true? do i need it when i add the
> cleanup crew or can it wait till i get more life in the tank?
>
> I got most of the water from a friends old tank and about 80lbs of live
> rock
> from his tank also.Added 50lbs of sand uncured but this was about 2weeks
> ago. The rock seems nice and cured and has lots of algea growing. I want
> to
> add my cleanup crew but I am not sure what my water parameters should be
> for
> this. I think i am ready and here is what i do know:

you have plenty of life already, it just isn't in corals or fish. you need
the skimmer there.

> Salinity 1.23
> nitrite 0
> temp 72
>
> I am haveing green and yellow/tan algea blooms and already have alot of
> red
> coraline algea on the live rock. Water is very clear. What else do i need
> to
> test for before droping in the cleanup crew and takeing the next step? Any
> info or a website that outlines good water parameters at this stage would
> be
> very helpful.

nitrate. low or none is best.

> thanks
> G.
>
>

[SalahiAndSon]

"Charles Spitzer" > wrote in message
...
>

> nitrate. low or none is best.

Nitrate is somewhere between 10-25 probably around 20. Is this to high?
I also forgot to mention my ph is 8.7 which is a little high from what i
have read.
Whats the best method to reduce these 2 things?

G.

[Pszemol]

"SalahiAndSon" > wrote in message ...
> I want to add my cleanup crew but I am not sure what my water parameters
> should be for this. I think i am ready and here is what i do know:
>
> Salinity 1.23
> nitrite 0
> temp 72

Is this supposed to be a tropical reef tank ? If so, your temperature seems
much too low for a tropical reef tank. Temperatures on the surface reef
waters are about 78-80F all year around and I would recommend increasing the
temp *slowly* over a period of 3 days or better a whole week to *at least* 76-78F.
I would consider the temperature of 75 to be absolute minimum for a reef tank.

> Water is very clear.

Testing water for clarity is not enough in reef hobby!
You can have very clear water with very high ammonia => poisonous.
Get the complete water test kit and test for ammonia, pH, calcium and
also, when te tank mature little bit, for nitrates and phosphates...

> What else do i need to test for before droping in the cleanup
> crew and takeing the next step?

If you think you do not have ammonia problem and your nitrites are
really zero than you could be ready for your animals, except the temp.

> Any info or a website that outlines good water parameters at this
> stage would be very helpful.

You have listed the content of your setup but I see there no books listed.
Do you have any ? Keeping a successful reef tank without reading
a book about it is a really hard challenge and can be very frustrating...
Any book dedicated to this hobby will give you basics you cannot live without.

[Soji John]

SalahiAndSon wrote:

>"Charles Spitzer" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
>
>
>>nitrate. low or none is best.
>>
>>
>
>Nitrate is somewhere between 10-25 probably around 20. Is this to high?
>I also forgot to mention my ph is 8.7 which is a little high from what i
>have read.
>Whats the best method to reduce these 2 things?
>
>G.
>
>
>
>
Nitrates can be reduced by water changes (maybe 10% of the water 3 times
over a week timeframe, or since you don't have any animals, you might go
to a larger percentage water change), or by adding some macroalgea
(calupera, cheatomorpha, in a refugium), or a deep sand bed. I would
think that if you haven't already plumbed a sump/refugium, and aren't
using a deep sand bed, I would rely on the water change to reduce the
nitrate.
pH seems a little high to be real. What is the kH (alkalinity)? I am
thinking that possibly, the pH test is a little whacky. Water change
should help this as well.

HTH,

-soji

[LARRY KIMBLEY II]

The Alkalinity Part
Dissolve 297 grams of baking soda (about 1 1/8 cups) in enough water to make
1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing.
Warming it speeds the dissolution process. This solution will contain about
950 meq/L of alkalinity (2660 dKH). Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice of
baking soda brand.

"Soji John" > wrote in message
...
> SalahiAndSon wrote:
>
>>"Charles Spitzer" > wrote in message
...
>>
>>
>>
>>>nitrate. low or none is best.
>>>
>>
>>Nitrate is somewhere between 10-25 probably around 20. Is this to high?
>>I also forgot to mention my ph is 8.7 which is a little high from what i
>>have read.
>>Whats the best method to reduce these 2 things?
>>
>>G.
>>
>>
>>
> Nitrates can be reduced by water changes (maybe 10% of the water 3 times
> over a week timeframe, or since you don't have any animals, you might go
> to a larger percentage water change), or by adding some macroalgea
> (calupera, cheatomorpha, in a refugium), or a deep sand bed. I would
> think that if you haven't already plumbed a sump/refugium, and aren't
> using a deep sand bed, I would rely on the water change to reduce the
> nitrate. pH seems a little high to be real. What is the kH (alkalinity)?
> I am thinking that possibly, the pH test is a little whacky. Water change
> should help this as well.
> HTH,
>
> -soji

[Toni]

"LARRY KIMBLEY II" > wrote in message
news:HDMkd.710$nc.521@trnddc03...
> The Alkalinity Part
> Dissolve 297 grams of baking soda (about 1 1/8 cups) in enough water to
make
> 1 gallon total. This dissolution may require a fair amount of mixing.
> Warming it speeds the dissolution process. This solution will contain
about
> 950 meq/L of alkalinity (2660 dKH). Arm & Hammer brand is a fine choice of
> baking soda brand.



He hasn't told us what his alkalinity is.

--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/reef.htm

[SalahiAndSon]

You were right the ph reading was off. I re calibrated my meter and now i am
getting a ph f around 8.0-8.1
shoulda done that first. my bad.

when useing the salifert kh/alkalinity test. i never got a strong change
from blue/green to pink/orange red but with the last few drops i did get a
slight pink hue to the test water. I am assumeing the alkalinity is around
5.71 from this result. Is this logical?


"Soji John" > wrote in message
...
> SalahiAndSon wrote:
>
> >"Charles Spitzer" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >>nitrate. low or none is best.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Nitrate is somewhere between 10-25 probably around 20. Is this to high?
> >I also forgot to mention my ph is 8.7 which is a little high from what i
> >have read.
> >Whats the best method to reduce these 2 things?
> >
> >G.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Nitrates can be reduced by water changes (maybe 10% of the water 3 times
> over a week timeframe, or since you don't have any animals, you might go
> to a larger percentage water change), or by adding some macroalgea
> (calupera, cheatomorpha, in a refugium), or a deep sand bed. I would
> think that if you haven't already plumbed a sump/refugium, and aren't
> using a deep sand bed, I would rely on the water change to reduce the
> nitrate.
> pH seems a little high to be real. What is the kH (alkalinity)? I am
> thinking that possibly, the pH test is a little whacky. Water change
> should help this as well.
>
> HTH,
>
> -soji

[Boomer]

Your salinity is to low, get it up before you add anything. Same for temp to around 82 F,
where salinity should be around 1.025. How and what are you using to measure your salinity
? Your alk is also to low, needs to between some were around 7 -10 KH. This will help you
on water parameters goals to achieve

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

--
Boomer

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[Captain Feedback]

Related question ... I've been having a problem with green hair algae.
NO3 is 2ppm. I got a Salifert test kit to test PO4, and it shows
0.5ppm. l then tested my RO/DI water; its level of PO4 was
undetectable. I don't use carbon and I feed low phosphate foods, don't
overfeed (I believe!).

I did a Google search and found an old post stating that the PO4 added
to municipal water supplies is undetectable with test kits until mixed
with aquarium salt - is this true? If so, I'm wondering whether my
RO/DI unit is passing PO4 ... I haven't had a chance yet to test it
when mixed with salt (my current batch was made with distilled water -
tested zero PO4), but will do this soon. Thanks in advance.

[John Maag]

Hair algae I have seen others in this group is typically a result of water
quality. go to http://www.melevsreef.com. He has some advice on it.

"Captain Feedback" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Related question ... I've been having a problem with green hair algae.
> NO3 is 2ppm. I got a Salifert test kit to test PO4, and it shows
> 0.5ppm. l then tested my RO/DI water; its level of PO4 was
> undetectable. I don't use carbon and I feed low phosphate foods, don't
> overfeed (I believe!).
>
> I did a Google search and found an old post stating that the PO4 added
> to municipal water supplies is undetectable with test kits until mixed
> with aquarium salt - is this true? If so, I'm wondering whether my
> RO/DI unit is passing PO4 ... I haven't had a chance yet to test it
> when mixed with salt (my current batch was made with distilled water -
> tested zero PO4), but will do this soon. Thanks in advance.
>
>

[CapFusion]

"Captain Feedback" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Related question ... I've been having a problem with green hair algae.
> NO3 is 2ppm. I got a Salifert test kit to test PO4, and it shows
> 0.5ppm. l then tested my RO/DI water; its level of PO4 was
> undetectable. I don't use carbon and I feed low phosphate foods, don't
> overfeed (I believe!).
>
> I did a Google search and found an old post stating that the PO4 added
> to municipal water supplies is undetectable with test kits until mixed
> with aquarium salt - is this true? If so, I'm wondering whether my
> RO/DI unit is passing PO4 ... I haven't had a chance yet to test it
> when mixed with salt (my current batch was made with distilled water -
> tested zero PO4), but will do this soon. Thanks in advance.
>

Check this link regarding - How it get introduce and how to remove it.-
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/phosphatescare/a/aa060398.htm

CapFusion,...