water results-

[ntswift]

well i got the results of my water test. what do you guys think? i know my phosphates are high but they have gone down. Any suggestions on how to get the phosphates down? how often do you guys feed your fish. i feed twice a day. is that too much?


After i put the supp. in- Before i put the supplement in-
salinity- 1.023 Salinity- 1.028
Phosphate- 2 Phosphate- 3
Nitrite- a trace Nitrite- trace
Nitrate- 2 Nitrate- 50
PH- 8.2 PH- 7.9
Ammonia- 0.25 Ammonia- trace
Calcium- 500 ppm Calcium- 325
Alk they didnt do it this time- Alk- 2.45

 

[Brenden]

Your tank is not stable at all. Salinity is off, phosphates should be 0. WC's with RO/DI water is the best way to lower it. NO2 should be 0, 50ppm NO3 is high, PH should be more stable ( could depend on time that sample was taken) NH3 should definitely be 0. CA does not matter unless you have corals. Alk is low. Most people including myself feed every other day. Over feeding can cause the po4 problems you are having. You need to get your tank stable or you will have problems.

 

[MT79]

After i put the supp. in- Before i put the supplement in-
salinity- 1.023 Salinity- 1.028

What type of supplement lowers SG, especially that much?? I also noticed, according to your chart, it increased ammonia.
Beware of supplements. It's like the old saying goes "putting a band-aid on a bullet wound".

 

[h8z2luze]

Thats what I was thinking. The suppliment is probably just covering it up but once it cant anymore BAM you are probably going to have a spike. Thats just my oppinion. I may be wrong I am also new at this.

 

[ntswift]

yeah the suppliment didnt do anything for the salinity. they use a refractometer and obviously it was high so i brought it down when i did my water changes over two weeks. well i'm cutting my fish back on feeding then to see if that helps. i agree that it did bring my ammonia up, but on the supplement bottle it said that it may alter the ammonia readings. she said she couldnt really read it because there was a tint to it that kinda threw her off so she just guesstimated. i had some bad algea going on for about all of last week and now its kind of dieing down a little bit. do you think that by adding more rock it started cycling my tank again? i added about 15lbs of new live rock.... TIA

 

[h8z2luze]

If it wasnt fully cured then yes it would probably start a new cycle. You should always make sure your LR is FULLY cured before you put it in your already cycled tank. If it smells sulfuric dont add it. Cure it until that smell goes away.

 

[ntswift]

it was allegedly cured for a while. the place where i got it said it was cured and i saw his two big barrels where he cures them. i dont remember the smell but thank you for that advice i will remember that when i get more rock!

 

[h8z2luze]

Another way to tell I hear is if you put it in a tub of saltwater at about 78 degrees or whatever put a powerhead in there like you are cureing it and test the ammonia if its not 0 then its not cured. This is just what I hear.

 

[ntswift]

cool, thanks! i'll give that a shot next time too.