Jean-yus Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Well, I started my tank on 9/10/03 Its a 10g with 20lbs LS and 11lbs LR... The tank was ALWAYS a little cloudy (Pretty clear, but not PERFECT) the ammonia was gone for about half a month so I purchased 1 Astrea, 3 Margarita, 5 Cerith and 3 Cortez Hermits. Then the ammonia came back and stayed, Nothing has died. So about two days ago, I bumped it up to 17lbs LR and 21lbs LS. And added some Macro. I tested Today and this is what I got... Ammonia .2 ppm Nitrite 0 ppm Nitrate 0 ppm dkh/Alk 14.1/5.03 Calc. 440 I have Been dosing with B-Ionic the Two Part Calc/Alk stuff. And I Use Salifert test, Except Ammonia... For some reason I cant find Complete Ammonia Salifert test's (Test vile missing, Parts/Solutions missing etc...) And For some reason I am having trouble with the Dkh/alc and Calc. tests from salifert, I am not shure if I am doing them right Im used to the Color Chart ones (not as accurate) Soooo. Can someone tell me what me reading's should be? dkh/Alc is too high. Calc seems ok, its the "normal" or "natural" amount for the ocean right? My biggest problem is the Ammonia, it has NEVER left, and the tank has never gotten 100% clear, I have also used Kent Pro-Clear to get rid of the cloudy water... Didnt help. 10g 17lbs LR 21lbs LS 96w Coralife Powerquad. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 get a new ammonia test kit. just use aquarium pharm's cheapass kit. you don't need fancy, save that for ca/alk. the cloudiness could be bacteria or your sky-high alk. what kind of source water are you using? (e.g. RO, RO/DI, distilled, tap-filtered, etc.) Link to comment
caja Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 If tinyreef is away...then who is posting as tinyreef? Link to comment
JohnnyMTB Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 That would be tinyreef's alter-ego, mini-reef; nasty little fellow. Link to comment
Jean-yus Posted January 9, 2004 Author Share Posted January 9, 2004 I have different test kits, I have gotten my water tested, Ammonia is the same. Link to comment
bobioden Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 What are the problems you are having with the CA and ALK salifert kits? I found them very confusing at first, but once you get the hang of them they are a breeze. Link to comment
Jean-yus Posted January 11, 2004 Author Share Posted January 11, 2004 That was exactly it, I was kinda confused at first But I tested Calc. about 3 times, THAN the 4 th time it made sense.... 4 times to get it done right Link to comment
Ike Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Well, if you have a test reading that shows you have a quantity of Ammonia but no Nitrite or Nitrate then you haven't cycled yet. In fact it shows that there is no nitrification taking place at all. If there were you would have Nitrite or Nitrate or both. However, since the tank has been set-up since 9/10 I don't see how that's possible. Get new tests or get everything alive out because if your tests are correct then your fish/corals/inverts are all going to die during the cycle that's on it's way. Link to comment
Jean-yus Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 But the Trites and Trates already spiked and fell... Its really wierd, as I said, I had a reef before but none of these problems ever occured, But again it was a larger system... Link to comment
Ike Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Something just doesn't add up. Even if your levels have spiked & fallen you should still show a quantity of Nitrate, since it is the end product of nitrification, unless you have a DSB, plennum or other means of converting the Nitrate into Nitrogen gas. A level of Nitrate is Ok to have & you can reduce it through water changes. Ammonia & Nitrite are both very bad to have at any level. After reading your question again I saw that you added 7lbs or LR & another pound of LS. That could easily bump up your levels temporarily since if anything dies off the bacterial colonies will need an adjustment period in order to cope. But that still doesn't explain why you don't have any readings of Nitrite or Nitrate, especially, if you've already cycled. The only things I can think of off hand are: 1) The tests aren't working properly 2) You still haven't cycled. Have you been doing frequent, large water changes on a regular basis since you set the tank up? If so maybe the tank just hasn't had a chance to adjust to any level of bioload. I'd suggest taking out anything that's alive and just let the tank sit for a week or two. Don't do any water changes. Get new test kits. Just watch the tank, test & see what happens. If you have been getting Ammonia readings then you should have Nitrite and/or Nitrate readings too. Something is wrong but I can't figure out what it is. Give us more info if you can. Also, your Alk is a little high. I didn't know that Salifert even made color chart based tests. Hmmm... If you can try to pick-up the regular ones, which are titration tests. They are simple to use & more accurate since everyone's eye sees color slightly different, but the markings on a graduated syringe don't change. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.