Can someone help me with my chemical values?

[PuckPuck]

I have had a marine aquarium for a little while now. Lost all my fish about 6 months ago due to an unnoticed dead fish (i went away for business for a week and came back to a dead aquarium - even though I gave very specific instructions to the care takers <grrrrr>)

After my fish went away, I redid the entire aquarium, going to a fine coral substrate, and a new overhang filter, with a built in (albeit cheap) protein skimmer.

Anyhow I usually only tested PH, NH3, and CA. I'm not a very avid aquarists, and hence didn't really want to be bothered with having to spend $$$$ on tests equipment and all other things. Well I finally went out and bought a Hagen / Nutrafin master test kit. And decided to actually test everything just to see where my water stands, and in the end obviously help promote a much healthier environment for the fish, and possibly get into a reef aquarium later on.

All my readings were within range, except for KH and chelated irons.

My KH is very high. In the area of 200 mg/L
Chelated Irons are 0, zilch, none.

At first I though they were anomolies, so I tested again the next day, with identical results. Here are all my numbers.

PH = 8.4
CA = 430 ppm
NH3 = 0.2 mg/L
PO4 = 0.7 ppm
NO3 = 10 mg/L
NO2 = 0.2 mg/L
KH = 200 mg/L
FE (non-chelated) = 0
FE (chelated) = 0

I use Brita filtered water (i'm not spending the money on an RO/DI system), with tap conditioner just to make sure. The only additive I use is SeaChem Marine Buffer.

Should I be concerned with the high alkalinity and no presence of chelated irons?

 

[Monkeyfish]

I wouldn't worry about the iron.

The alkalinity looks off though. I'm not sure how the alkalinity could be so high with the calcium reading you have. The two work together inversely (the higher the alkalinity the lower the calcium). Are you sure you're reading the alkalinity tests results correctly? What is the dkh reading for the alkalinity? Is the test a color chart type or is it a titration test?

 

[PuckPuck]

It's a titrimetric test, in that i count the # of drops until the color goes from blue to yellow.... multipy drops by 10 and i get my mg/L. It takes me 20 drops to make it happen. My calcium test is very similar.

I'm certain my calcium is fine, as I'm on my 2nd testing kit for calcium and the levels have been consistent ever since I've had this aquarium setup.

KH is something that i never really tested before.

Does having such a high alkalinity cause problems?

 

[Monkeyfish]

Looking (again) at your test results it seems that your tank is still cycling or in need of a water change. Ammonia and nitrite should be 0 or undetectable.

High alkalinity isn't bad per se - it's one of the things that helps stabilize your pH at the desired level. However, if it gets too high it can cause calcium to precipitate out of the water and make it difficult to keep appropriate calcium levels.

Check out these articles for more chemistry info.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=102605

 

[reverendmaynard]

PO4 being as high as it is could be a reason for the calcium being stable despite the high alkalinity. PO4 inhibits calcification, which would normally cause the alkalinity, and consequently the calcium, to lower normally.

I would hold off on the buffer until the K drops to about 150ppm (still higher than normal SW, but gives you some leeway if it falls without your knowledge.) The balanced Ca for that should be about 420ppm.

I know Mg is not included in that test kit, but that is another thing that could inhibit calcification if abnormally high.

None of these issues are likely to effect a FO tank too much, although the PO4 is approaching dangerous levels. If you have any intentions of keeping corals, or even snails, you probably need to lower the PO4, test and adjust MG to normal levels (about 1250ppm), and start using a balanced additive (with both Ca and K) instead of the buffer your using now.

Also, FWIW, I have that same test kit and found it impossible to get an accurate PH reading. I thought my PH was 8.3-8.4, when I got a PH monitor, I found it to be 8.1. Makes a big difference when deciding which kind of alk buffer to use.

 

[Billybeau1]

I dont know why you think your Alk is very high. 200 mg/l is a tad over 11 dkh which is a fine place to be IMO. 125-200 mg/l is the most recommended range.