My Confession

[Logiq]

Okay so here it is I finally tested my water parameters and these are the results
cal. 380
Kh. 268
Phos. 1.0
No 160
so I have been a lazy reefer there I said it!!!!
I guess I just hate to learn certain stuff because it seems like it will be hard to learn it such as chemistry so if any one can break some of it down for a dummy like myself I would appreciate it.
I'm wanting to know how to get the kh down
and I know I need to cut back on feeding.:debi:
my tank size is 225 with a sump that is 3x16x18
and the water in that is prob only 8 to 10in high not really sure how much in gal that would be.
I just did a 20 gal. water change and I also changed my bulbs I have 2 400mh 14k the ones I was running before were used and not really sure what kind they were so what I am wanting to accomplish is to get my water parameters where they need to be so I can get maximum growth out of my corals. I have a lord acan coral that was doing awesome and then took a dramatic turn for the worse I really don't know what happened to it because i have another one right next to it that is just fine. I also have a frag of dendro that has been doing really good and is now not opening as well. I'm wondering if it is because of the nitrates being so high. I am sort of compulsive when it comes to feeding my tank and I guess its cause the fish are always following my when I go by so I just give in and feed the poor things as if they were starving. I really thing they are just gluten's lol.
Maybe I'm the gluten who knows but I seriously know I need to change some habits so any help would be appreciated :debi:

 

[Rendos]

When measuring KH, make sure you are measuring alkalinity and not water hardness. The measurement you posted doesn't sound like a dKH or meq/L which is what most kits will be in. Think of calcium and alkalinity as two sides to a seasaw. If one side goes up, the other side must go down. Keeping these two sides balanced is the key. Phosphates are usually targeted at 0.03 ppm or less. Too high phosphates will inhibit stony coral growth and cause colors to not be their best. Lastly is nitrates. You want these as close to zero as possible. At 160 ppm you are lucky to have anything alive at all. Remember when doing water changes to reduce nitrates, they are only going to be reduced the percentage of the water change. If you start at 160 ppm and do a 50% water change, you will end up with 80 ppm after the water change. So if you started at 160 ppm and did a 20 gallon water change, you have only done about an 8% water change. That would still leave you with about 147 ppm of nitrate. That's not enough of a change to make much difference. You may want to look at other methods of reducing nitrates along with more frequent water changes and a drastic change in your feeding habits.

 

[ajcanale]

With those levels I would think chaeto would grow at an insane rate provided proper lighting, moderate flow, and some iodide supplementation. Of course it wouldn't be instant , but paired with say... carbon dosing... you could lower the nutrient levels significantly in a matter of weeks. Would cost much much less than doing multiple large water changes, and could provide an effective solution in preventing said levels again.

 

[Logiq]

Richard you guys have some chaeto up there

 

[Rendos]

I cannot comment on what we have in stock at the store on this forum.

 

[nck1992]

I have

 

[Logiq]

My bad Richard didn't know

 

[Logiq]

Nck1992 what do I have to do to get some give me a call 9014974609 tristan

 

[nck1992]

PMed

 

[Logiq]

ok so I did a 50 gal. water change last night and my nitrates are still reading hi could it possibly be the test that is bad because just over the past week I have done about 85 gal water change in total just don't understand what is going on I added katalyst bio pellets in my sump and dosed bio active 8 to help lower them by adding beneficial bacteria. I was told it would help as well, so i just might got to lfs to get my water tested tested if i get a chance anybody have any opinions the test that im using is api so let me know what you think a

 

[ajcanale]

Assuming it's an API test, it absolutely could be bad. I keep two on hand at all times. It's not foolproof but way I see it somewhat cuts the margin of error in half.

Also, I think bio pellets take a while to build up bacteria and start showing results. Not sure of the time frame though.

 

[OneReef]

Assuming it's an API test, it absolutely could be bad. I keep two on hand at all times. It's not foolproof but way I see it somewhat cuts the margin of error in half.

Also, I think bio pellets take a while to build up bacteria and start showing results. Not sure of the time frame though.

Usually 4-6 weeks

 

[Logiq]

Yea I know the bio pellets will take a while but I just figured that the water change would have made a difference

 

[nck1992]

Test your test kit. Dilute your aquarium water serially with fresh saltwater and then measure. For example, mix 5ml aquarium water with 5ml fresh saltwater then take 5ml of mixed saltwater and mix with 5 ml fresh saltwater etc. If you can see difference among serially diluted samples, it means at least your kit can detect something different.

 

[Logiq]

Okay so after finding out that my test were not any good I decided to do a big water change. I did a 125gal. water change and since i was doing such a big one I decided to rearrange my aqua scape as well here are some pics of before and after also a few of in between give me your opinion of which one you like better. These are the before pics

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during the change

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[Logiq]

The big piece in the middle on the back wall is a fake rock held up by a magnet but I decided to take it out because its really big and took up a lot of space

 

[Logiq]

I'll be posting the after pics in a little while once my lights come on

 

[Logiq]

here are the after pics they are taken with an Iphone. I don't have one of them fancy cameras

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[Logiq]

Okay so the pics suck and do no justice but anywho. After doing this large water change and moving things around a bit I noticed that my acan that seemed to be dieing is coming back around hasn't opened up just yet but the flesh is starting to cover the skeleton again and I'm expecting it to open up like it used to really soon. I was also getting that cyano algae growing on the bottom of my substrate so I scooped it up and out of the tank and I noticed tonight that there was some air bubbles coming from the sand and even more so when I slid my cleaning magnet at the bottom of the tank against the sand. Does anybody know whats up with these bubbles? I don't have that cyano growing anywhere else and the little bit that was on my sand wasn't a bunch so any ideas feedback would help a bunch

 

[BassandReef]

The air bubbles are likely the result of having a DSB. Deep Sand Bed. That is nitrogen being released from nitrate break down. Try Googling DSBs for more info.