Questions about Nitrates, water evaporation and Angels

[hyosafi]

Hi all,

I have a few questions:

My 100 gallon has been running for about 6 weeks now and things are going pretty well so far. Currently I've got 2 percs in there, 1 yellow tang, 1 blue tang, 1 flame angel a diamondback goby and a scooter blenny. I test parameters weekly and get PH of 8.2-8.3, 0 Ammonia, 0 nitrites and nitrates are 10-15 ppm. (I'm having a heck of a time with the Nitrate test color chart, i.e, "is it more orange or is it more yellow!?!?!").

I know nitrates of this level are okay for fish, but am I going to be okay in the long term for corals? Is 0 just really hard to get to? I know this might be a subjective question but, is it worth doing multiple water changes a week to get nitrates that low?

Next issue: so I get about 2.5 gallons of evaporation a day. There is quite a bit of salt that has accumlated along the walls of the sump (above the water line) and on some of the tubing. What do I do with this? Should I shove these salt crystals back into the water? Or should I wipe away this salt? My salinity is pretty much consistently at 1.024. If the salt that I am seeing is coming out of the tank, and I'm topping off daily with RO water, how come my salinity isn't getting lower? Sorry if this is a weird question :?

ALSO, sometimes I top off with bottled water from the grocery store if I can't get to the LFS. Is this okay???

Thanks for the help guys!!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I know nitrates of this level are okay for fish, but am I going to be okay in the long term for corals? Is 0 just really hard to get to? I know this might be a subjective question but, is it worth doing multiple water changes a week to get nitrates that low?

It's possible if you are using RO/DI, doing frequent water changes, skim well, etc. But 10-15 really is good, and there would be no long term effect on corals, in my opinion. Higher than that, maybe.

Next issue: so I get about 2.5 gallons of evaporation a day. There is quite a bit of salt that has accumlated along the walls of the sump (above the water line) and on some of the tubing. What do I do with this? Should I shove these salt crystals back into the water? Or should I wipe away this salt? My salinity is pretty much consistently at 1.024. If the salt that I am seeing is coming out of the tank, and I'm topping off daily with RO water, how come my salinity isn't getting lower?

That is quite a lot. I usually tip the salt back into the tank, no issues there. The salt creeps, and when you consider how much salt it takes to mix water in the first place, this really isn't that much salt that is "creeping" out. I wouldn't worry about it. Tip it back in if it's easier, wipe it away if that's easier.

ALSO, sometimes I top off with bottled water from the grocery store if I can't get to the LFS. Is this okay???

Just fine! Distilled water is best or spring water. Try and stay away from the drinking water if possible.

HTH

 

[melosu58]

I used to use distilled water for many years. It will be fine