jotafl
New Member
Hello guys. 100% newbie on saltwater tank. When I was a kid, I used to help my dad on keeping his 10 freshwater tanks up to date (400+ gals total). I did enjoy the hobbie a lot.
With a stress job that I have, I decided after many months of consideration to start the saltwater hobbie. Everytime I see a marine aquarium I get amazed on how beautiful and peaceful it looks and I know it is a lot of work so I am starting very small.
I got a starter 5 gal system
(pathetic I know) but don't want to go overboard yet. I did not find this forum after I bought the aquarium.
I follow the aquarium store recommendation and got myself live sand, live rocks and seawater. The tank was setup on Sunday. Monday the water started to clear up and after 24 hours I checked the gravity which was showing 1.027. The aquarium store told me that I should lowered to 1.022 / 1.023 since that is the G they keep all their fishes and ivertebrates at their store. I started the process of lowering the G and finally got it to 1.022/1.023.
Yesterday i went to the store with approximately 10ml of water sample so they could check the PH. When the specialist checked he told me that the PH was off the chart and that I was not to start adding marine life into my tiny tank. I agreed with him and decided to wait for a week to give a chance to the tank to stabilize itself. However, since the store is not close to the house, I decided to get a test kit for saltwater.
I got the saltwater master liquid test kit and as soon I got home, to learn, I decided to do another test. The results were as follows: pH 8.2, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite NO2 .5ppm, and Nitrate NO3, 20ppm. From reading the manual these numbers are pretty much the desire results that you want. How can it be that 2 hours before the pH was off the chart at the store but when I got home, the pH was perfect? Maybe the small amount of water I took?
Thanks for any feedback you may be able to provide. Can I start adding marine life? I am planning on getting 2 gobies and a cleaning shrimp since the tank is very small. What do you think?
Jota
With a stress job that I have, I decided after many months of consideration to start the saltwater hobbie. Everytime I see a marine aquarium I get amazed on how beautiful and peaceful it looks and I know it is a lot of work so I am starting very small.
I got a starter 5 gal system
I follow the aquarium store recommendation and got myself live sand, live rocks and seawater. The tank was setup on Sunday. Monday the water started to clear up and after 24 hours I checked the gravity which was showing 1.027. The aquarium store told me that I should lowered to 1.022 / 1.023 since that is the G they keep all their fishes and ivertebrates at their store. I started the process of lowering the G and finally got it to 1.022/1.023.
Yesterday i went to the store with approximately 10ml of water sample so they could check the PH. When the specialist checked he told me that the PH was off the chart and that I was not to start adding marine life into my tiny tank. I agreed with him and decided to wait for a week to give a chance to the tank to stabilize itself. However, since the store is not close to the house, I decided to get a test kit for saltwater.
I got the saltwater master liquid test kit and as soon I got home, to learn, I decided to do another test. The results were as follows: pH 8.2, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrite NO2 .5ppm, and Nitrate NO3, 20ppm. From reading the manual these numbers are pretty much the desire results that you want. How can it be that 2 hours before the pH was off the chart at the store but when I got home, the pH was perfect? Maybe the small amount of water I took?
Thanks for any feedback you may be able to provide. Can I start adding marine life? I am planning on getting 2 gobies and a cleaning shrimp since the tank is very small. What do you think?
Jota
