Hi everyone,

I have been lurking on this site for a few days and looking at the beautiful pictures of nano reefs. I am so excited abut getting into this hobby as I have a 15 gallon tropical tank which I love and this is the next step . I would be really grateful for a bit of help!! I have just set up my first nano tank (20 gallon, interpet). I wanted to get some help on my water chemistry. I have 7 kgs of live rock in the tank and left it running with just this for 4 days. I then went back to the shop (which has a really good reputation) and they assured me that I could add my two common clownfish and a couple of easy corals if I used Seachem Stability for the 7 day cycle. So I added them yesterday. So far so good - the fish are not showing any signs of distress and the corals look better than in the shop - they have really come out and the mushroom has started to wander. I have been testing my water regularly and for past 4 days I have had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, low nitrate, 0.5 phosphate, PH 8, Kh 8. These were my readings when I bought the livestock and they said that as long as I used seachem reef buffer (and we calculated the amount) it should take the KH up. I have been doing calcium tests regularly as well but results fluctuate hugely. I did a test today and the level seems to be ridiculously high (it took 20 drops to turn from pink to purple) I did it three times and the same result came back. Will this have an impact on my fish and corals? What can I do to take it down? I'm using tropic marin pro reef salt.

Sorry this is a bit long winded, any advice appreciated

Katy

Hi Katy,

How long has your tank been up? One week?

You don't need to be dosing anything at all. You don't need to be adding fish and corals yet. Is your live rock pre-cured? Where did you get it?

What kind of corals did you add?

Your PH is fine. You don't need to be adding anything. You don't need to be worrying about your calcium levels right now anyway.

Can you give us more information about your tank? Temp, Salinity, etc. What test kits are you using?

What is the 7 day cycle?

Don't listen to a commercial product to give some hard-and-fast rule on how long the cycle will take. That's what test kits are for (there shouldn't ever be ammonia or nitrites in a tank with livestock). You were lucky none of the livestock were stressed out because the LFSs claim that the rock was cured turned out to be true. However, adding fish and corals at once is a large increase in tank bioload.

You really should not be using a pH buffer, especially since a pH of 8 is in the normal range and pH is a very fickle water parameter that depends on many other variables (lighting, tank age, time of day, alkalinity, etc.). Calcium and alkalinity are not important parameters to alter or even measure in a new tank.

Besides the corals and clowns, what other livestock are in the tank? Ideally you should stock slowly with the clean up crew first.
http://www.chucksaddiction.com/cleanupcrew.html

Please read this guide to water chemistry:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php

The LFS is making too many decisions for you. It's always important to only buy things that you have prior knowledge on or go home and do research on what was recommended to you. It's like someone who is only learning to drive went to a car dealership and bought whatever car the dealer recommended.