Help With Alkalinity....

[laurieo33]

Hi all,
I've been bouncing around the net and decided you guys are all pretty much in agreement with how things work and feel comfortable with any questions I might have. I cannot believe how many different answers you can get for one question!
Anyhow, this hobby was to be my husband's but he decided it was a bit more "involved" then he anticipated so I am taking over, please bear with me as my knowledge is limited.
Testing: I have an Instant Ocean test kit and I'm not quite understanding how I come up with the final figure. I fill the vial - pour into the titration and add reagent one drop at a time and everything does what it is supposed to..ok I had to put 8 drops in and I then divide that by 2 as it tells me to and that would be 4 so what is the 4 for?
This is the standard test and I have a 29 gallon tank. I am tired of bringing my water to the LFS and would like to familarize myself. Thank you for any help you can offer me.

 

[Colin_T]

Hi & welcome

First I must assure you we don't always come to agreement here, sometimes we argue like cats & dogs. But we try to do it in a friendly manner. Everyone has their own opinion and what works for some doesn't always work for others.

Having said that what is the test kit for? It should say on the packet or bottle, perhaps something like PH, Alkalinity, NO3, NH4, etc.

Is it a fresh or saltwater tank?

If it is freshwater then most people check for PH (sometimes referred to as alkalinity), ammonia (NH3 or NH4), nitrite (NO2) & nitrate (NO3).
It also depends on what is being kept in the tank. Most general community fishes in a freshwater tank will live happily in water with a PH of about 7.0.
If it is salt water then the PH should be around 8.3-8.5.

Alkalinity (which is different to PH) is normally only tested in marine tanks containing live corals.

 

[laurieo33]

Thank you for the welcome. Bicker or not, you are all quite knowledgable
I have a saltwater tank and as of yesterday I am starting ALL over again. I had a tiger jawfish, one blue damsel, and a pretty yellow fish that I cannot think of the name at the moment and a bulb anemone but after 6 weeks of my beautiful tank up and running my 4 and 5 year old dumped an entire container of pellets in and they didn't survive.
That being said here is what I have: I completely cleaned out the tank, purchased new substrate, rinsed out the live rock I had with R/O saltwater (LFS advice), my emerald crab survived and is in there along with my 3 hermit crabs. Same skimmer (washed off) same filter (rinsed r/o water) and my water as of right now is bright as can be and since the horrific deaths I want to do things the right way (myself)
My kit is an Ocean Master all in one test kit that tests for Ph.Ammonia.Nitrite.Nitrate.Alkalinity and gives me all the appropriate color chips.
This is going to be an all fish aquarium.

 

[Colin_T]

sorry to hear about the loss. If you washed out the filter and rock with clean saltwater it should be fine and you can probably add some new fish in a few days as long as there isn't any ammonia or nitrite readings.

If the tank is going to be fish and a few crustaceans (hermit crabs, shrimp, etc) then just try to keep the PH around 8.4, the ammonia & nitrite on 0, the nitrate as low as possible (preferable below 30ppm), and the alkalinity doesn't really matter for fish only.

 

[laurieo33]

Thank you so much for your quick replies. In all my years, I never thought I would feel true sadness at losing fish...I did and I guess that is a good sign now that this is my new hobby.
I grew very fond of the jawfish and the bulb anemone. Do they make good tank mates if you know? If so...how many could I safely keep in my current tank setup?
I added another inch of substrate when I redid the tank knowing I was going to get more jawfish.
Thanx again for your help.

 

[Colin_T]

Jawfish tend to live on the bottom under rocks or in burrows, whereas anemones (depending on species) live in among rocks closer to the surface. They don't normally bother each other, however if the jawfish is small and swims into the anemone (accidentally) then it might get eaten. But besides that get along fine with neither of them causing any problems to the other.

You could have a pr of average sized jawfish in a 29gallon tank. Any more and they will probably fight. It also depends on the species being kept. There are a few small species that only get to a couple of inches and you could have 6 fish in the tank. And then you get the really big ones that grow to 8-10inches and you only want one in the tank at that size.

 

[laurieo33]

I apologize if I need to start another thread but all of my information is in this one already. My nitrite levels have spiked to almost 0.8 today. everything else is normal. Any ideas why?

 

[Colin_T]

Probably just a mini cycle after the food was put in the tank and then everything being cleaned & washed out. Give it a day or two and it should go down. Then add a couple of fish and see how they go. Keep the feeding down for a couple of weeks and monitor the water quality.

 

[laurieo33]

It's lower today, if not zero tomorrow I will do a 25% water change. I'll get this thing up and running if it kills me I'd rather a couple of days of headaches then a dead little fish, I will sure appreciate it in the long run. Thank you once again for your reply.

 

[Colin_T]

don't bother doing a water change tomorrow, just leave it to run until the levels reach 0. Then check the nitrates, if they are high, do a water change. If they are low then just add some fish.