As was recommended, I did a 20% water change yesterday. Finally have all new testing supplies (Hanna nitrate, phosphate, calcium and Salifert ph magnesium and alkalinity). My levels are still off. I can try testing again later, but I feel so defeated. My BTA looks awful and I'm terrified I'm going to lose it.
Any thoughts or suggestions?
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@billy
1y
Also weird to me that your nitrate would be higher after a water change. That also doesn’t make sense. Can you take the calc,Alk,mag,nitrate of just mixed saltwater to see if your tests are working properly. Nitrate should be 0 on newest mixed saltwater. Also are you letting the saltwater mix for 24h before adding. If you add too soon large salt particles will damage coral and fish
@Cameron61901
1y
I’d be checking salinity as well.
@Qwarex
1y
Calibrate your refractometer. If that is not the problem, change salts
@Qwarex
1y
I really think that your salinity is more than 1.028. Ain't no way that calcium and alk would go up so much after a water change, especially since they were already elevated above the salt's standard parameters
@BrittsReef
1y
I'm going to calibrate today and retest
@Qwarex
1y
Do you have calibration solution? I personally recalibrate before every test
@BrittsReef
1y
Isn't it just distilled water?
@Qwarex
1y
No 😭
@Qwarex
1y
You need to calibrate it with a 1.025 solution, not a 1.000 solution
@Qwarex
1y
Look at the salt bucket instructions, probably 35 or 36 grams per liter. Im sure you put more and that is the problem. Just make a liter of RO water and mix with 35/36 grams of salt and see how much your refractometer shows. This is not a good way to calibrate it but try it. When you can, go and buy calibration liquid from your lfs
@BrittsReef
1y
I'll call them when they open to see if they have it. Otherwise I'll order it from Amazon.
@BrittsReef
1y
I bought a new refractometer. It's calibrated properly and just tested my salinity. It's 1.019. How do i safely increase it?
@billy
1y
I’m still worried your refractometer is off because id expect it to be high due to high calc and Alk. Though it may be from your dosing? So maybe 1.019 is true cuz mag is slow. Idkkk hard to say.. Mix a 1.025 salwatwater batch and take Alk, calc,Mag reading. We need to know what you are starting with. You don’t want to raise your salinity by more than .0001 in a day. Just go slow and don’t make changes too fast.
@BrittsReef
1y
I tested my nitrates, phosphates and ph this morning. They were 7.7,.14 and 8. I'm going to bring a sample of the water I'm mixing (RODI with reef crystals) and another from my tank to my LFS. Hopefully they'll be able to help.
@billy
1y
Great once you can get your testing salinity calibrated with them. Your tank will slowly come back to health.
@BrittsReef
1y
My salinity is worse than I thought... She tested it at 1.017, nitrates 7.5, phosphates .19, calcium 110, and magnesium is 1000.
@billy
1y
Wow extremely low! Bring it up slow. These are just the growing pains of the hobby. Now that you know you’ll be on the right track!!
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So your Calc and Alk went up from a water change… they should have all come down closer to your salts natural level around 420ish calc What that is telling me is your salt mix is way too strong. I’ll take a guess that you are using a digital reader to test salinity? Those can be very inaccurate. You should use a hydrometer with calibration fluid to accurately measure salinity.
I'm using a manual hydrometer that I calibrated with distilled water. Mixing with a powerhead and heater for several hours, but not 24 hours. I'll test my levels on new water tomorrow.
A hydrometer as in the floating one ? I think I’ve read those can be off if the water isn’t 77F or something like that ? Could that be it ?
I apologize, I'm using a refractometer.