Should we use Ocean Water in our Sal****er Aquarium?

"Pszemol" wrote in message ...
I have checked the website you linked (http://www.guayni.com/mytank.htm)
and I noticed that the measurements history does not start at January '06.
Do you have any data from before September ? Could you share them online ?
Also - please note EXTREMELY high readings for nutrients in your tank:
you show 100mg/l of nitrates and 1mg/l phosphates. Maybe this can be
tolerated by fish only tank, but it is not very healthy for fish...

One more thing - what kind of tests were used for testing nitrates
and phosphates in your tank ? What brand/manufacturer ?

For most of the aquarium grade tests, 100mg/l mark would be at the
far end of the color scale, so it is completely possible you have
there much more than a 100mg/l of nitrates. This happened to me
once in a freshwater tank full of guppies and mollies where I did
neglect water changes for about half a year. I tested the water
and got 100mg/l of nitrates, so to be sure I diluted aquarium water
sample ten-fold to get expected reading 10mg/l - I got about 20-40mg/l
instead which mean that the tank water had concentration close to 200mg/l

Maybe the same is in your tank ? Better do some water changes, soon!

Oh! but I will do water changes eventually, not yet!

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
I have checked the website you linked (http://www.guayni.com/mytank.htm)
and I noticed that the measurements history does not start at January
'06.
Do you have any data from before September ? Could you share them online
?
Also - please note EXTREMELY high readings for nutrients in your tank:
you show 100mg/l of nitrates and 1mg/l phosphates. Maybe this can be
tolerated by fish only tank, but it is not very healthy for fish...

One more thing - what kind of tests were used for testing nitrates
and phosphates in your tank ? What brand/manufacturer ?

For most of the aquarium grade tests, 100mg/l mark would be at the
far end of the color scale, so it is completely possible you have
there much more than a 100mg/l of nitrates. This happened to me
once in a freshwater tank full of guppies and mollies where I did
neglect water changes for about half a year. I tested the water and got
100mg/l of nitrates, so to be sure I diluted aquarium water
sample ten-fold to get expected reading 10mg/l - I got about 20-40mg/l
instead which mean that the tank water had concentration close to 200mg/l

Maybe the same is in your tank ? Better do some water changes, soon!

"Guayni; SAHS" wrote in message ...
Oh! but I will do water changes eventually, not yet!

You are probably wait for first sings of stress in fish, right ?

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
"Guayni; SAHS" wrote in message
...
Oh! but I will do water changes eventually, not yet!

You are probably wait for first sings of stress in fish, right ?

For a week you had me considering changing water. My NO3, PO4 and O2 levels
were off. Maybe you were right I thought.

Last week I did a complete maintenance on my system to see if I could lower
the numbers down some or else I was going to GRADUALLY start changing water.

Well, after changing two of the filtering media on my system and adding
another air pump to the system I am glad to share my new numbers on my
website.

After these changes the NO3 came down to 50 (looks between 50 and 75 but is
closer to 50) my NO2 is at 0.1 and my PO4 is lower than 1 (between 0.5 and
1.0 but closer to 1.0)

The point is that I am able to make adjustment to the system in seven
different ways and with my charts its easier to pinpoint what changes should
be made to achieve this.

Well, my fish is doing fine, no signs of stress, the inverts are thriving
and algae is blooming in my sump not in the tank.

I am sure the system works. Not only that, there is a huge accumulation of
Phosphates (PO4) and Nitrogen (NO3) rich debris under the minitank just
before the skimmer. If I am able to remove NO3 and PO4 before the water
goes back to the tank then there is no need to change water.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep you informed!

"Guayni; SAHS" wrote in message ...
You are probably wait for first sings of stress in fish, right ?

For a week you had me considering changing water. My NO3, PO4 and O2 levels
were off. Maybe you were right I thought.

Last week I did a complete maintenance on my system to see if I could lower
the numbers down some or else I was going to GRADUALLY start changing water.

Well, after changing two of the filtering media on my system and adding
another air pump to the system I am glad to share my new numbers on my
website.

After these changes the NO3 came down to 50 (looks between 50 and 75 but is
closer to 50) my NO2 is at 0.1 and my PO4 is lower than 1 (between 0.5 and
1.0 but closer to 1.0)

The point is that I am able to make adjustment to the system in seven
different ways and with my charts its easier to pinpoint what changes should
be made to achieve this.

Well, my fish is doing fine, no signs of stress, the inverts are thriving
and algae is blooming in my sump not in the tank.

I am sure the system works. Not only that, there is a huge accumulation of
Phosphates (PO4) and Nitrogen (NO3) rich debris under the minitank just
before the skimmer. If I am able to remove NO3 and PO4 before the water
goes back to the tank then there is no need to change water.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep you informed!

Ya... keep me informed. Show me how your tank will manage to
drop nitrates below 1mg/l (one!) and phosphates below 0.05mg/l (5/100)
and then we will be interested here with learning about your method.
But then we will also like to know the measurements in between 100mg/
and 1mg/l and what has caused them to drop and how quickly... :-)

Is a promise!

"Pszemol" wrote in message
...
"Guayni; SAHS" wrote in message
...
You are probably wait for first sings of stress in fish, right ?

For a week you had me considering changing water. My NO3, PO4 and O2
levels were off. Maybe you were right I thought.

Last week I did a complete maintenance on my system to see if I could
lower the numbers down some or else I was going to GRADUALLY start
changing water.

Well, after changing two of the filtering media on my system and adding
another air pump to the system I am glad to share my new numbers on my
website.

After these changes the NO3 came down to 50 (looks between 50 and 75 but
is closer to 50) my NO2 is at 0.1 and my PO4 is lower than 1 (between 0.5
and 1.0 but closer to 1.0)

The point is that I am able to make adjustment to the system in seven
different ways and with my charts its easier to pinpoint what changes
should be made to achieve this.

Well, my fish is doing fine, no signs of stress, the inverts are thriving
and algae is blooming in my sump not in the tank.

I am sure the system works. Not only that, there is a huge accumulation
of Phosphates (PO4) and Nitrogen (NO3) rich debris under the minitank
just before the skimmer. If I am able to remove NO3 and PO4 before the
water goes back to the tank then there is no need to change water.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll keep you informed!

Ya... keep me informed. Show me how your tank will manage to
drop nitrates below 1mg/l (one!) and phosphates below 0.05mg/l (5/100)
and then we will be interested here with learning about your method.
But then we will also like to know the measurements in between 100mg/
and 1mg/l and what has caused them to drop and how quickly... :-)

Guayni; SAHS wrote:

Oh! but I will do water changes eventually, not yet!

Keep in mind that, if you wait until there are significant problems, you will
have to take really drastic action. With nitrates at 100mg/L, a 25% change will
only bring them down to 75mg/L. An additional 25% change will only get them to
56ml/L.

If your fish begin to show signs of distress due to nitrates, you will have to
rapidly reduce the level to below 40mg/L, which will be a *very* large water change.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

My aquarium is an experimental system. I am sure there will be setbacks.
So far my fish is doing fine and the 100 reading in NO3 could be
questionable because I see no signs of stress or excessive algae growth.
I use Salifert NO3 kit and Hagen, although I trust Salifert more, the Hagen
is giving me 50.
See, the whole purpose of the system is to test a new filtering system that
reduces the need to change water considerably.
I'll keep this forum informed!

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:zW4eh.3189$QD3.2713@trndny01...
Guayni; SAHS wrote:

Oh! but I will do water changes eventually, not yet!

Keep in mind that, if you wait until there are significant problems, you
will have to take really drastic action. With nitrates at 100mg/L, a 25%
change will only bring them down to 75mg/L. An additional 25% change will
only get them to 56ml/L.

If your fish begin to show signs of distress due to nitrates, you will
have to rapidly reduce the level to below 40mg/L, which will be a *very*
large water change.

George Patterson
Forgive your enemies. But always remember who they are.

"Guayni; SAHS" wrote in message ...
My aquarium is an experimental system. I am sure there will be setbacks.
So far my fish is doing fine and the 100 reading in NO3 could be
questionable because I see no signs of stress or excessive algae growth.
I use Salifert NO3 kit and Hagen, although I trust Salifert more,
the Hagen is giving me 50.

For algae growth you need to have strong lights...

See, the whole purpose of the system is to test a new filtering
system that reduces the need to change water considerably.
I'll keep this forum informed!

How long will you debate over this 100mg/l nitrates
to finally conclude your test failed spectacularly ?