3 month old tank - several questions

[CJJon]

I just did a 2 gallon change with rscp and my corals are doing great, but my fish seemed really stressed for the first 5-10 min. Salinity and temp were the same, but ph went up from 7.8-8.0. Any reason it would have bothered them so much? Also I was able to test my phosphates and they are 0.00 according to the Hanna Checker.

 

As was mentioned, stop testing for pH. Chasing pH will only get you in trouble. Very hard to keep pH stable in a 10g tank!

 

What kind of fish and how many? A 2g change with new salt in a 10g was too much IMO. Go slow with changing to a new salt mix, especially true with one like RSCP which has super high levels of Alk. So instead of changing 2-3 gallons every 7-10 days, change a few cups a day. In fact, I would do smaller daily water changes or at least every other day as regular maintenance and not wait 10 days to do a water change. Way more stable over time for such a small tank.

 

I do one gallon water changes every other day on my 34g. It is lightly stocked with corals and no fish and my parameters stay locked in. I can suck out one gallon of water before my return pump starts to suck air so I don't even have to shut anything off to do a wc. I use a plastic hand pump used for kerosene to pump out a gallon of water, then I just dump in the fresh saltywater into the pump chamber as fast as I can pour. Never had any issues with corals or inverts--they don't flinch. I use the replacement water at room temp too.

[PDR]

 

As was mentioned, stop testing for pH. Chasing pH will only get you in trouble. Very hard to keep pH stable in a 10g tank!

 

What kind of fish and how many? A 2g change with new salt in a 10g was too much IMO. Go slow with changing to a new salt mix, especially true with one like RSCP which has super high levels of Alk. So instead of changing 2-3 gallons every 7-10 days, change a few cups a day. In fact, I would do smaller daily water changes or at least every other day as regular maintenance and not wait 10 days to do a water change. Way more stable over time for such a small tank.

 

I do one gallon water changes every other day on my 34g. It is lightly stocked with corals and no fish and my parameters stay locked in. I can suck out one gallon of water before my return pump starts to suck air so I don't even have to shut anything off to do a wc. I use a plastic hand pump used for kerosene to pump out a gallon of water, then I just dump in the fresh saltywater into the pump chamber as fast as I can pour. Never had any issues with corals or inverts--they don't flinch. I use the replacement water at room temp too.

 

I only changed 1 gallon not 2. I mistyped on the previous post. Also just to clarify I only tested ph to see if it had drastically changed since I couldn't find any other reason for their behavior (I have changed 4.5 gallons at one time with IO will no ill effects to fish or corals). I don't monitor it on a regular basis.

 

I would love to do smaller biweekly water changes, but from what Ive read you shouldn't mix rscp for more than 4 hours, and due to my schedule I don't think I would consistently have time to mix new salt and do a change 2x a week.

[CJJon]

 

I only changed 1 gallon not 2. I mistyped on the previous post. Also just to clarify I only tested ph to see if it had drastically changed since I couldn't find any other reason for their behavior (I have changed 4.5 gallons at one time with IO will no ill effects to fish or corals). I don't monitor it on a regular basis.

 

I would love to do smaller biweekly water changes, but from what Ive read you shouldn't mix rscp for more than 4 hours, and due to my schedule I don't think I would consistently have time to mix new salt and do a change 2x a week.

 

Gotcha.

 

I would change salt mixes then--totally would not work for me. More importantly, it would not work for the health of my tank! That just seems silly to me to have to use it within 4 hours. You will be better off doing water changes more frequently for sure. I would seriously consider changing salt mixes to something more shelf stable.