First saltwater tank test

[camaroerik21]

It's been 4 weeks since I started my first saltwater fowlr tank..

Here are my test results



Salinity 1.024

Ph 8.3

Ammonia 0

Nitrite .25

Nitrate 7



What do you think? Any ideas or suggestions..



My setup

46 gallon bow front marineland

80 lbs natures ocean live sand

20 lbs live rock

30 lbs dry rock

2 hob marineland 350 filters

800 gph power head

Digital thermometer

150w heater

Marineland led lights

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

What did you use for an ammonia source? 7ppm nitrate is really low for the end of a cycle.

 

[54seaweed]

I have to agree with red on this one

 

[camaroerik21]

Is that good or bad? put some flake and pellet food...

 

[54seaweed]

when you started your cycle did you get a ammonia spike of at least 4ppm or higher
flakes wouldn't actually bring up the spike high enough thats why we always recommend a deli shrimp or straight pure ammonia

 

[camaroerik21]

Not sure put food for about a week.. Then at week 4 bought the api test kit did a 20% WC tested the following day.. Guess I'm try to figure out if I'm ready for a fish yet or did I do it all wrong

 

[54seaweed]

my guess would be your cycle never started

 

[jeffaquarius]

To find out if you have cycled add ammonia to it and see if it will clear within 24 hrs and your nitrite does not go up. You can not add any livestock until nitrite is minimal or close to 0.

 

[camaroerik21]

Ok thanks I will try that

 

[camaroerik21]

What would be the best alternative for water changed since I don't have a ro/di unit..
Tap water or water from the refill station ( where you fill up 5 gallon bottles)

 

[54seaweed]

I would use distilled

 

[jeffaquarius]

What would be the best alternative for water changed since I don't have a ro/di unit..
Tap water or water from the refill station ( where you fill up 5 gallon bottles)

I used RO water from grocery store vending machine at 25 cents per gal when I started. Fish can tolerate nitrate and I had about 40 ppm but they were not bothered by it. Once you have corals then RO/DI is a must.

 

[camaroerik21]

Yea I have been using ro water, my nearest lfs that sells ro/di is over 1hr away.. My I can put a water unit on my Christmas wish list lol

 

[Sniperhank]

The goal is to reach as close to 0 TDS as possible. If you can't get water through a DI stage, then RO is the next best thing. I've been running my reef tank on distilled water for a long long time now since my ro/di has been down. It works...I have algae and simply accept it. It turns into simply exporting as many of the nutrients as humanly possible at that point, be it through protein skimming, refugium, algae turf scrubber...whatever. Tie that in with minimizing nutrients going into the system you will be successful...it just won't be as pristine as things would be with ro/di water.

 

[camaroerik21]

I guess it will have to do for now.. I currently have 1 power head I bought off amazon it claims 800 gph flow is that sufficient or should I add one more on the other side of the tank

 

[mrvincent]

Sometime LFS rocks are cycled and cured. I personally added my two clowns 4 days after the initial setup without any NH3/NO2/NO3 spikes.

I will say add a 200-400GPH powerhead to the other side of the tank for a much better water flow... Or ajust with what you have.

Reduce nitrates to minimum (60-70% WC before you add any livestock to the tank?).

Also protein skimmer will help you with maintenance but is optionnal. Use RODI water for waterchanges and topoffs. You can use distilled water if you don't have RODI. On the long run you'll prefer to buy a RODI unit. (Less water transport and costs).

 

[camaroerik21]

Ok that's what I was thinking to create some more flow on the other side of the tank..

 

[mrvincent]

Ok that's what I was thinking to create some more flow on the other side of the tank..

Ah, I see some fishs, DON'T 70% WC for nitrates. Do you have protein skimmer?

For the powerheads, if you add one, make one flow to the front glass, and the one on the other side flow to the back glass.

Powerheads ajustement is fine tuning, you need to try lot of possibles position, then choose the one that seems the best for you. Think about corals placement if you wish to have some corals. Each corals have a prefered position (top or bottom) in aquarium and requires differents types of water flow (low, moderate, strong, direct flow, indirect flow)...

 

[camaroerik21]

I did about a 20% WC.. I am going to re test today.. No skimmer
Pointing one towards the front and one to the back, creating like a whirlpool? Also I have 2 hob filters does that affect anything having 2 power heads ?

 

[mrvincent]

I did about a 20% WC.. I am going to re test today.. No skimmer
Pointing one towards the front and one to the back, creating like a whirlpool? Also I have 2 hob filters does that affect anything having 2 power heads ?

Filters add extre surface agitation wich is good. Don't do like a whirlpool that create a rotary flow, try to do something like this:

Be creative with the flow, you'll find what's the best for you.