Is this okay?

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EricL

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
43
I purchased a test kit for magnesium, calcium, Ph and Nitrate. I also was told bu my local shop to purchase the 2 ocean blend bottles. In the test kit come some supplements. What do they do and do I use them? I also dont know how to read my nitrate level. There are 2 numbers on the color card. Please help.
 

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If you did the test right it looks off the scale. How old is this tank? And what are the others readings?
 
I have had the tank going for 3 years and I am now getting ready to make it a reef. I added the proper amount of the calcium and Ph ocean blend bottles about 2 hours ago. My other readings are: No3 0.05, Ammonia 0.0, PH .02 Magnesium 1000 calcium is 450. What am I supposed to do with the little bottles of supplements that I got with thew test kit?
 
With no coral then regular water changes would keep calcium level up.
PH states .02? The PH is a scale where 7.0 is nuetral and below would be acidic and above is alkalinity which is another reading. And PH will raise during the day and level at night so testing PH in the morning is best.
 
I am sorry ph was 8.0. Any idea on how to use the ocean blend and sea lab supplements?
 
You dont need them and could make it worse for so many reasons. If you have no coral then regular water changes would be fine. You need to test the water regularly and see if levels drop to low between changes. Its your water readings that help decide and your amount and type of coral.

Your going coral , well what tank size do you have?
Tanks age?
Any fish or LR and LS?
 
Right now I have a 50 gallon corner tank with a 20 gallon wet/dry sump. An in sump protein skimmer Just installed on 07/15. For fish I have 2 blue damsels 2 dominoes, 1 perk and a dog face puffer that I am ready to extract if i need to. About 25 pounds of live rock and the tank has been up for 3 years. My last purchase is the light. I plan on getting a 24 inch 150 HQI Metal Halide, 24 Watt T5 HO, 15k Metal Halide bulb, 24 watt Super Actinic T5 HO bulbs. Unit cooled by Ice cool fans. Unit comes with 2 switches so you can independently control the metal halide and T5 bulb separately for the dawn and dusk effect. These are my true correct readings. Magnesium 1000, Calcium 450, Phosphate .02, PH 8.0, Ammonia 0.00, Nitrite 0.05. How exactly should I use the Ocean blend Calcium and PH/Alkalinity? The directions are kind of confusing. I think it said to get my levels up to normal( Which they are according to the readings ) I think. Then add 1.0 ml of each for each gallon in a 24 hour period. Then what?
 

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THis tanks 3 yrs old? Well your calcium level is spot on so why add any. Then your PH if fine also why why do you want to adjust this.
Your LR is your best bio filter and will remove nitrate and ammonia but you need atleast 1lb per gallon. The lack of LR also means a reduction in beneficial bacteria .

I didnt see any powerheads listed. With so many fish i would get some good flow in there.
You have great lighting but fish dont care about light , they would do fine under low PC lighting.

Is there a perticular problem you want to solve or do you just want to add stuff to your water?
 
I have a Maxjet 400 power head. I am trying to get my water in good shape for live corals in around 2 weeks when I get the light. I am getting more live rock soon. I just want to make sure that what I am doing is fine. I am new to reef tanks.
 
For fish and coral a turnover rate from powerheads should be around 20 times tanks volume. In a 55 times 20 would be 1100 gph. Better to get it from 2 powerheads on opposite sides of the tank. Get 2 more of what you have or whatever to achive this rate.

Saltwater recieves its oxygen from a gas exchange at the surface and the better flow the better exchange. Then to keep proper PH levels good flow is needed. Then good flow prevents uneatin food and fish waste and other debris from collecting on the bottom and then 6 months or longer will turn into nitrate.

I would get this ( Amazon.com: The New Marine Aquarium: Step-By-Step Setup & Stocking Guide: Michael S. Paletta, Edward Kadunc, Scott W. Michael, John Goodman: Books ) and research more to avoid to much wasted money. Preplan your whole setup on paper and then proceed.
 
I purchased a test kit for magnesium, calcium, Ph and Nitrate. I also was told bu my local shop to purchase the 2 ocean blend bottles. In the test kit come some supplements. What do they do and do I use them? I also dont know how to read my nitrate level. There are 2 numbers on the color card. Please help.
1st thing is don't dose anything you don't test for...so I wouldn't worry about those small bottle of supplements. I'm not fmailiar with the store bought ca and alk supplements, but they should say how much of the product is needed to raise the level. It might say something like "use 1 cap full to raise ca 10 ppm in 50g of water". The nitrate kits has 2 ranges. Follow the instructions and use either the high or low range and read the chart according to the range you picked.
My other readings are: No3 0.05, Ammonia 0.0, PH .02 Magnesium 1000 calcium is 450.
Your mag is a little low. It should be around 1350. What is your alk? Your ca is good, but you need to balance the ca, alk and mag for best results. The link Mike posted has lots of good info.
 
Depending if you used the low range or high range test, your nitrates are slightly high, or off the charts. It's probably the number of drops you use that determines if you should read the high or low side. Check the instructions that came with the test kit.

Magnesium should be about 3x the Calcium level. What is your Alk reading?
Another good article by Randy Holems-Farley is Solving Calcium and Alkalinity Problems
 
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