1st salt tank!!!! my name is Garrett, HI!

[legendracer79]

Hi everyone, my name is garrett and i just picked up my 1st salt water tank from someone who was rehoming it.


The tanks is 29 gallons, with a protein skimmer, water heater, 1 other power head, and a LED light (4 10" blue and white leds). The tank was given to me, and they said the water's biology was sound. most of that is true, the tank is filled with live rock and full cleaning crew, and some fish, common clown, 2 fire fish, and a crab. I'm concerned though with the water quality, todays water test showed my PH at 7.8, as low as the scale could indicate, my temp was at 76, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, Nitrate was 160++, and my KH was 1.030!!! so obviously i am concerned about the PH being to low and my KH being way too high!!! what I've done so far is i did a partial water change of 5 gallons of fresh water with a PH of 7.8. when i retested the KH there was no change, i dont want to add any more fresh water today, for fear of stressing the fish even more. Do you guys have any advice on what else i can do to stabilize this environment?

MY future plans for the this tank is to turn it into a mini reef tank, so any suggestions on coral, fish etc is much appreciated!! same as equipment. like a good LED light for coral growth, suggest time schedules, ya know... adding a UV sterilizer? or a canister filter? nano refugium? Im looking for as much help as i can get. I am interested in coming to your meetings, just got to plan ahead and see if i can get the time off.

Cheers!!

Garrett

 

[aaronsreef]

Welcome!!

 

[Irishman]

Freshwater as in RODI or sink water? What type of test kits are you using?

Welcome to a great community! If you have any questions you can ask away or search for it. No question is a dumb question.

 

[legendracer79]

Sink water treated with instant ocean marine conditioner, and i am using the API master test kit, for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

 

[Irishman]

One investment I would look into is an RO/DI unit. You'll love it, so will your fish and coral.

 

[Irishman]

Also an ATO, automatic top off, will help stabilize your parameters.

 

[Balz3352]

What part of town are you in. Maybe someone can walk you through their system and give you an idea.


+1 on ato and ro/di water. Not as crucial for fish but almost essential for coral.

 

[JodiI]

Pretty low ph. +1 to someone walking you through their system. Where are you?

Welcome to the hobby! Just go ahead and earmark half your future pay checks to be direct deposited to your fish tank.

 

[TheRealChrisBrown]

One thing to keep in mind is that your pH will have a swing throughout the day and night. So if you did your test in the AM you might have caught it at the low point of the day. Also remember, any changes you make should be gradual, don't try to take your pH from 7.2 to 8.4 in one day. I know it sounds like a no brainer, but slower is better and sometimes you have to fight that urge to do it all at once.

How long has the tank been setup at your place? Do you have a sump, or external filtration of some sort?

If you live near a local fish store you can usually buy premixed salt water from them, it will be RODI and at the correct levels for your tank. Using tap water, even with conditioners, can lead to algae outbreaks that are a pain to fix later on down the road. It's much easier to start off on the right foot than it is too go back and try to correct everything. Just my .02 worth. Good luck and ASK QUESTIONS!

 

[legendracer79]

Im up in breckenridge, im willing to drive to meet up with someone if they want to run me through there setup. So it sounds like i need to be adding some RO water to bring down the KH, ill check my ph in the afternoon tomorrow, what should i do to bring up the pH just incase i need to raise it?

 

[legendracer79]

The tank i just set up yesterday, but the previous owner has had it setup for a year they claimed.

 

[Balz3352]

Water change. That's how to correct it. If your fish look good slow consistent water change. What salt are you using

 

[Andrew_bram]

Welcome

 

[legendracer79]

The clown fish is active, the 2 fire fish are hiding in the rocks so im concerned for then cause arent they supposed to be out in the open type of species? I changed 5 gallons of treat sink water today, with no change. Tomorrow im going to get some RO water roughly 6 gallons and change it again. Should i do more?

 

[Irishman]

If you add just straight RO water to the system your salinity will drop. You can buy buffers as well to help balance your KH/PH. Can you describe on what your running on your tank like lights, filtration? Are you using a sump? RO water is good for topping off the tank. As the tank is running you will have water evaporate, you will need to add RO water, if you add salt water your salinity will raise and will become too high for fish.

 

[Irishman]

My wife and I are going to Breck in March 9-11 if you would like some eyes on your system and opinions on it. I've only been in the hobby for almost a year but I can help as much as I can.

 

[legendracer79]

Right now the tank has 4 10" blue and white led strips for light, i have a 24" 2 tube T5 from my growing days that i think i am going to add to the system to help with the future plans of adding coral and more fish once the water is stable. The only filtration is a protien skimmer at the moment. I do need to drop the kh hense why i am getting more ro water tomorrow. What brand of kh/ph chemicle do u recommend?

 

[legendracer79]

Irishmen yes that would be great if you wouldnt mind stopping by when ur in town any help i can get is so appreciated!

 

[Irishman]

You may have had a small cycle with moving the rock and everything. For your PH I wouldn't worry about it being that low it might stable out. It could the sink water you are converting that may give you high KH. Is your protein skimmer a hanging one or is it in a sump?

 

[TheRealChrisBrown]

In the pic you posted we can see the heater on the right side of the tank, but what is on the left side of the tank? Is that the pump to the protein skimmer?

Since you just moved things a day or two ago there is a good chance everything got stirred up and will take a few days to settle. I'm still confused if you have an external sump, or some kind of filter canister?