Strange numbers on the new tanks water

[pascal32]

72 has been up for about a week and a half. Half the rock is from an established tank (Travis), other half is man made from nates tank which has been through the rigors and fully cycled.

One 20 gallon water change done on Sunday.

Some diatoms showing in sand and on the man made rock

Kh 6.7
Ca 370
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Phosphate (really low) 7 ppb

Why is the kh so low? The kh and ca are very balanced, I need about 300 ml of rec 1 for both.

The ammonia level from mid last week is gone...shouldn't I be seeing nitrates since there are no nitrites?

The trates and am were tested with the cheopo API kit. Kh and ca salifert. Phosphate hanna ulr

I'd like to move my yellow tang in which is in a holding tank... I like the zeros, though I would prefer to see some nitrates...

 

[5380]

Sg?

 

[Dave VG]

What are your magnesium and PH levels

 

[teamdulski]

Specific gravity and brand of salt would help tremendously.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

It's hard to totally nail this with the given info, but this is a somewhat common thing with lots of man made live rock that's been well cured but isn't "grown in" yet with coralline - it SUCKS carbonate and calcium out of the water, and even bad nutrients (phosphate and nitrate) as the coralline starts to grow in. Make sure your sq is spot on and prepare to supplement more calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium than you would in a tank built with "real" live rock for the next few months.

Also, just to be sure, did you check the levels in the newly mixed ASW before you did the water change on Saturday? Knowing what you started with can help figure out these problems, too.

 

[Capt_Cully]

I second checking the Mag Pascal.

 

[pascal32]

Sorry, i meant ot list the SG and forgot - it's a tad high at 1.0275

didn't check Mg, I was being lazy and don't like that test

I didn't check the reef crystals batch i mixed, though historically I have never seen numbers this low.

I'm feeling the idea on the man made rock - something is consuming at a spectacular rate!

if this keeps up I might need to start dosing the tank via the dosing pump. this is supposed to be a tank that doesn't need dosing!

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

IME once the rock is encrusted with coralline, the demand drops to more expected levels.

What are you going to keep in the tank? If it won't have anything sensitive in it for a while, you might be able to get away with just manually dripping a gallon or two of kalk (milk jug, piece of airline with a loose knot) a few times a week, if you don't want the hassle of setting up a dosing pump.

 

[pascal32]

IME once the rock is encrusted with coralline, the demand drops to more expected levels.

What are you going to keep in the tank? If it won't have anything sensitive in it for a while, you might be able to get away with just manually dripping a gallon or two of kalk (milk jug, piece of airline with a loose knot) a few times a week, if you don't want the hassle of setting up a dosing pump.

yellow tank, zoas and various LPS. I can run lines do dose of my doser, just wasn't planning on dosing as there is no SPS going into this tank.