Are These Test Results Ok!

[woody88]

Ok, I've just tested the water using my Salifert test kits [These results are AFTER my 20% water change from yesterday.

AMM..........0
NITRITE........0
NITRATE........10
PH...........8.1
KH...........8.5
PHOS.........0.03
CAL..........500
ALK..........3.03
SG...........1.023
TEMP.........25 DEGREES

According to the instructions on the salifert kits these results are ok [apart from calcium which apparently is meant to be 425.

I would like other peoples opinions on the above please!

I can't seem to stablilise my salinity level [the reading was 1.025 this morning [the same as when it was in the container but now it has dropped]
Is my temp ok as different people have different temp preferences. Cheers!

 

[Donya]

All units are ppm (except for pH/KH)? Nitrates are probably ok, but it's better to push them lower of course - but it may just be a matter of the tank maturing a bit more. I try to keep all of my tanks <5ppm although I'm a bit picky there for invert reasons. If you're not adding any Ca, it should go down on its own at a reasonable rate if you have growing snails, as they can suck it out of the water in small-ish tanks pretty fast.

I can't seem to stablilise my salinity level [the reading was 1.025 this morning [the same as when it was in the container but now it has dropped]

Err...wait, so was this the result of adding RO? If not, was the temperature the same for both readings?

 

[seffieuk]

As Donya said, all are fine, including the calcium, Simon will be very jealous of a reading like that!

I too am a bit curious about the sg though, what are you taking hte reading with?

Seffie x

 

[woody88]

All units are ppm (except for pH/KH)? Nitrates are probably ok, but it's better to push them lower of course - but it may just be a matter of the tank maturing a bit more. I try to keep all of my tanks <5ppm although I'm a bit picky there for invert reasons. If you're not adding any Ca, it should go down on its own at a reasonable rate if you have growing snails, as they can suck it out of the water in small-ish tanks pretty fast.

I can't seem to stablilise my salinity level [the reading was 1.025 this morning [the same as when it was in the container but now it has dropped]

Err...wait, so was this the result of adding RO? If not, was the temperature the same for both readings?

Hi Donya, It was plain RO to begin with and then I added pro reef salt mix to bring the salinity up to 1.025.
It was at this level when I added it to the tank. The temp was also the same as the tank.

I have not dosed the tank with calcium or with anything else.

Most the units were measured in Mg/L ppm. Cheers!

 

[woody88]

As Donya said, all are fine, including the calcium, Simon will be very jealous of a reading like that!

I too am a bit curious about the sg though, what are you taking hte reading with?

Seffie x

A Hydrometer! LOL.............Its's a RHS 10 ATC Refractometer.

 

[seffieuk]

It was plain RO to begin with and then I added pro reef salt mix to bring the salinity up to 1.025.
It was at this level when I added it to the tank. The temp was also the same as the tank.

How long did you mix the the salt for and was it already up to temp - if not this will be the problem

Seffie x

 

[woody88]

It was plain RO to begin with and then I added pro reef salt mix to bring the salinity up to 1.025.
It was at this level when I added it to the tank. The temp was also the same as the tank.

How long did you mix the the salt for and was it already up to temp - if not this will be the problem

Seffie x

Hi seff. The 25 l container was running for just over 30 hours in total and was reading 1.025 for a good 8 hours before it was added to the tank and the temp was at 26 degrees [0.5 degrees more than my tank]. I checked the salinity level just before it was added to the tank (1.025)

As for the calcium, on the test it tells you add x amount of ml until the water turns a clear blue. then you compare how much ml is left with the table with 0.00 ml being 500. My test water was clear blue before I added the other mixture to change it from redish/pink to clear blue so I presume it is 500 as the table says. [I added the last mixture anyway to see if it changed colour but it remained clear blue.

Cheers.

Forgot to say I used a powerhead with approx 20x turnover for my size container and this was running before the salt was added.

Would a 20% change increase the salinity of the water within 24 hours if the tank water was at 1.022 and the new water was 1.025. Or would it take a couple of days? Cheers!

 

[spadge]

so in theory if the mixture is clear at 500, then anything above that is clear also? that could mean it could actually higher than that 500, but thats the top end reading? mine runs at that almost constantly with purely water changes i do not add or buffer, i believe the salintity can be changed within 24 hours although if you were running at 1.022 and it went upto 1.025 i would question why, mainly for the reason that even if you added water 20% at 1.025 this would be diluted by your tank water so would still be less than in the container. unless there was un mixed salt remaining, although i would doubt it given the lenght of time and flow you used. do you topup your tank levels? if so with what salted or plain? i use salted to top up if salinity drops below 1.023 until its back to 1.025 which can happen quite quickly.

I would have your LFS check salinity prior to water change and aswell as this i get them to check the ro salinity before i duy it too, i do measure at home but my cheapo hydrometer is -/+ 1 out (so the box says) and my neighbours is -/+3 out, so as youd imagine its hard to tell unless you have a refractometer.

 

[woody88]

so in theory if the mixture is clear at 500, then anything above that is clear also? that could mean it could actually higher than that 500, but thats the top end reading? mine runs at that almost constantly with purely water changes i do not add or buffer, i believe the salintity can be changed within 24 hours although if you were running at 1.022 and it went upto 1.025 i would question why, mainly for the reason that even if you added water 20% at 1.025 this would be diluted by your tank water so would still be less than in the container. unless there was un mixed salt remaining, although i would doubt it given the lenght of time and flow you used. do you topup your tank levels? if so with what salted or plain? i use salted to top up if salinity drops below 1.023 until its back to 1.025 which can happen quite quickly.

I would have your LFS check salinity prior to water change and aswell as this i get them to check the ro salinity before i duy it too, i do measure at home but my cheapo hydrometer is -/+ 1 out (so the box says) and my neighbours is -/+3 out, so as youd imagine its hard to tell unless you have a refractometer.

Hi Spadge.

I use a refractometer that i re-calibrate with plain ro everytime i use it.
My Salinity is now 1.024 so it has climbed.

Will do another 20% change this wk end with plain ro and pro reef salt mixed to 1.025.
I have'nt done a top off in ages as my water dosen't seem to have evaporated but if i did need to then i would test the salinity again and top up with either plain or salted ro depending on the reading.

As for the calcium, yes it could be higher but on the salifert test kit the max is 500 so i just put that down.

Could a too high calcium level contribute to green hairy algae growth? Cheers!

 

[Donya]

Would a 20% change increase the salinity of the water within 24 hours if the tank water was at 1.022 and the new water was 1.025. Or would it take a couple of days? Cheers!

It would increase but only a little. If temperature is held constant (which shouldn't be an issue here if the samples are allowed to sit for 30-60sec before reading, since you said it's an ATC refractometer) you should only see a small increase up to ~1.023sg with the situation described unless there is an awful lot of evaporation driving up the sg between readings.

 

[woody88]

Cheers Donya!........SG is currently at 1.024 and has remained at that level for the past 24 hrs roughly.

Silly question but should my water evaporate as mine does'nt seem to.

 

[Donya]

Saltwater tanks will always be throwing off water vapor into the air unless the room's humidity is massive. So, that process will increase the salt concentration over time, but if you have a tight-fitting lid on it will do that very, very slowly and you may not see it on a refractometer's scale until it's gone on for a while. It's a bit more obvious on a big swing-arm hydrometer, since the numbers are just more spaced out. Open-topped picos can end up with a visibly lowered waterline if left more than a day without an RO top-up, but it will get less and less obvious on larger tanks.

 

[woody88]

Saltwater tanks will always be throwing off water vapor into the air unless the room's humidity is massive. So, that process will increase the salt concentration over time, but if you have a tight-fitting lid on it will do that very, very slowly and you may not see it on a refractometer's scale until it's gone on for a while. It's a bit more obvious on a big swing-arm hydrometer, since the numbers are just more spaced out. Open-topped picos can end up with a visibly lowered waterline if left more than a day without an RO top-up, but it will get less and less obvious on larger tanks.

Thanks donya. Just like to say thanks for helping me so far on my marine setup. It's appreciated. Cheers!