Calcium, Phosphate, KH levels too high? Help!

pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
So I have been running a 100gallon reef tank on tap water for about two months now. I got 2 perculas, coral banded shrimp (see pic) 2 anemones, xenias, small polyps, mushrooms, tons of snails and hermits, a brittle star, sand sifting star, emerald crab, engineer goby, and a yellow tang granted I just learned (thanks to this site) that tap water is a no-no and I found a glacier water machine by the house today so that will become my new water source and I just got a new API test kit that includes calcium and KH(Carbonate hardness) test and phosphate alll my levels were too high. My test results were as follows:
Calcium 520ppm
KH-17drops (the conversion chart doesn't go past 12 drops)
Phosphate- 1.0ppm
Temp 82F
Nitrate- 0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
pH-8.2
Salinity 1.024
What kind of effect will these levels have on my fish and inverts and what can i do to lower them to the proper levels?
 
travis99

travis99

Member
I don't know if I would use that water. I think it is distilled through copper pipes. Try to get some r/o water from lfs. As far as the phosphates, you can get a filter that will help get your levels down.
Travis
 
mie

mie

Active Member
I would spend the money on a ro system. You can get them for about 150 dollars. Money well spent.
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
Originally Posted by mie
I would spend the money on a ro system. You can get them for about 150 dollars. Money well spent.
Yeah i will eventually but in the interim while i do my research on the different units cause i know nothing about them and try to figure out to hide it from my wife or figure out how to explain to my wife why theres a garbage can full of water in the laundry room imma just use the machine hahah...Like i havbe 100 gallon take and i found one that makes 75GPD which should do me good enough
 
travis99

travis99

Member
The may say 75 gallons a day. But your gonna be hard pressed to find one that puts out that much. Really most of them are the same. make sure you get a ro/di unit. I have mine next to my water heater. When I turn it on I stick the hose the bad water flows from into the toilet and the good water hose goes into a rubbermaid trash can on wheels. It works perfect for me and takes um hardly any room at all.
Travis
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
Originally Posted by travis99
The may say 75 gallons a day. But your gonna be hard pressed to find one that puts out that much. Really most of them are the same. make sure you get a ro/di unit. I have mine next to my water heater. When I turn it on I stick the hose the bad water flows from into the toilet and the good water hose goes into a rubbermaid trash can on wheels. It works perfect for me and takes um hardly any room at all.
Travis
Your water heater is next to your toilet? haha ok just kidding but seriously when do you make your water? like I have a 100 gallon tank and i like to change 25 gallons each water change so i figure if it rated 75GPD I could turn it on at night and wake up on a saturday morning to at least 25 Gallons right is it that simple or am i not understanding something? I'm thinking bout putting it into the laundry room so that begs the question what type of connections does it come with or am i going to have to make 3 and 4 trips to the home depot getting splitters and pvc pipes?
 
mie

mie

Active Member
Not to cause you pain, I found mine for 10 dollars at a garage sale. It retails for about 250.
I could not believe it when i saw it.
Look online, maybe craigslist.
 
travis99

travis99

Member
I have a room bathroom downstairs, and behind the bi-fold doors hides the water heater and all that mess. Anyways, you don't want to use water that soon after it has been mixed. Fill your trash can with water, (may take a couple days) just keep an eye on it and don't let it over flow. Mix your salt, then let it sit for a few days. Thats important, don't add newly mixed saltwater to your tank. Give it ample time to dissolve. If not, the salt could get in the fishes gills and kill them.
Also get a powerhead to put in the trashcan to keep the water flowing.
travis
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
Originally Posted by mie
Not to cause you pain, I found mine for 10 dollars at a garage sale. It retails for about 250.
I could not believe it when i saw it.
Look online, maybe craigslist.
ERRRGGH It was the toilet joke wasn't it. $10 dollars at a garage sale wow what a steal maybe I'll just buy a new one and tell the wife i got it for ten dollars at a yard sale. thanks for the idea...but this is my calcium, phosphate, KH levels thread how did we get off topic I need help with that too
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
calc and alk will come down naturally over time. just make sure you don't have an inaccurate test kit, fresh water test kits, and that you're doing them right.
the phosphate will only come down by: 1) stop putting them in (food/water, etc) 2) water changes 3)fuge with some macro algae.
btw, phosphate of 1 isn't all that bad, but most kits won't test lower than that. corals need SOME phosphates to grow.
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
So i came home on my lunch break to find my yellow tang dead stuck to the side of one of my koralia fans :( i have no idea what could have killed him are they difficult fish to keep?
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
how long did you have the tang, and how did you acclimate it?
nitrates at zero in 2 months is quite the feat..
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
how long did you have the tang, and how did you acclimate it?
nitrates at zero in 2 months is quite the feat..
well I bought an established tank from this guy basically took 20 5 gallon buckets and took everything out of his tank and put it into mine so it was my perception that it was pretty well cycled. I had the tang for only 6 days.
I acclimated him for about an hour but it wasn't drip (i didn't know that method until i joined this site) i put him in the tank floated him for 15 minutes added a cup of tank water to his bag then repeated that about 2 more times then dropped him into the tank
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
i acclimate the same way, but you should have done it for a few hours, not just 45 mins.
hard to say...couple days later tough to blame on acclimation. was it eating in the lfs, and in your tank? (sry if you already answered, i havent refreshed memory)
 
pimpin chirp

pimpin chirp

Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
i acclimate the same way, but you should have done it for a few hours, not just 45 mins.
hard to say...couple days later tough to blame on acclimation. was it eating in the lfs, and in your tank? (sry if you already answered, i havent refreshed memory)
Like i didn't see it eat anything in the LFS. Is this something I should do ask to see a fish eat? In my tank I can't really say I saw him eating either he did pick at algea that was on the glass so I figured he was eating that...I do feed the tank mysis & brine shrimp along with marine flakes but since I was probably guilty of overfeeding I'm trying to cut back on how much i feed them I use to do two cubes a day 1 of each type of shrimp but now i'm cutting back to 1 a day...but thats another thread imma start how to properly feed
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
yes, you should MAKE the lfs show you that it eats, and you should try to watch the fish a couple days in advance to make sure it is healthy. if it eats, then you know it has a chance of being healthy.
if you are going to have tangs, you should get to know dried seaweed well. LFS's sell it in bags of red, purple, and green dried seaweed, or you can buy Nori sheets from your supermarket in the oriental section (they use it for sushi).
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
My kole tang won't touch the algae sheets, but loves the flaked stuff i put in. here's two you should be able to find at your LFS.

 
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