help with levels please.

[emtguy]

Tanks is a 30g HQI, its been running three weeks.
amm 0
trites 0
trates 20
Ph 7.8-8.0 color hard to decide on chart
temp 80-84 through out the daytime it climbs with lights on
SG 1.025
Kh is 10 drops and chart says it 179 BUT i dont know what that means is it good or bad
GH...who knows color never changes in test tube no matter how many drops i put in the vile.
Calcium 420
I do have purigen and phosguard in media box.
I cant seem to get Ph up, i was wondering if i can still put a CUC in tank with these levels. Are they ok?

 

[lexluethar]

I think your PH is okay, i would be more worried about your temperature. Corals start dying (not right away) above 83 or so - so you are right on the edge of having problems. You should also try to only have temp swings of around 2 or 3, when you get to 5 again you are going to start running into issues.

 

[stephish]

There's a product called pH+ that will bump your pH without messing up your alkalinity....if your wanting to bump it for your inverts I would reccomend using it. I had a continual problem keeping my pH up and my alkalinity at 10ish until I found this stuff.
Definitely want to bump your heater down a notch or get a fan or two to circulate the heat from the lights away from the tank. Do you have a canopy that might be trapping the heat?
Calcium looks ok, little on the high end but still under 500 which really wouldn't hurt anything anyway.

 

[rcoultas]

Agree with both - except that I think your calcium levels are ideal and not on the high end - desired range is 400-460

 

[emtguy]

I have nothing in tank but LR and yeah its got a canopy. LFS guy said 78-84 degrees is considered warm water and i would be OK there in that range.????
I just wana get my levels good before i start adding CUC etc... I wana start the tank off right. guess i shall buy a chiller and just keep temp at 79.
WHAT about GH? The test never turns green no matter how many drops i put in and is 179 (10 drops) ok on Kh?

 

[big]

Originally Posted by emtguy
I have nothing in tank but LR and yeah its got a canopy. LFS guy said 78-84 degrees is considered warm water and i would be OK there in that range.????
I just wana get my levels good before i start adding CUC etc... I wana start the tank off right. guess i shall buy a chiller and just keep temp at 79.
WHAT about GH? The test never turns green no matter how many drops i put in and is 179 (10 drops) ok on Kh?

Hummmm ,Something is amiss here , A GH test would be for freshwater not salt. It should be a KH test for saltwater . Look at your test kit info sheet and instructions again.

 

[emtguy]

ok im a tard? the api kit had Kh and Gh so i tested them both. Thanks. Is 10 drops good for Kh test? thats 179 on the chart supplied wth kit.

 

[big]

Originally Posted by emtguy
ok im a tard? the api kit had Kh and Gh so i tested them both. Thanks. Is 10 drops good for Kh test? thats 179 on the chart supplied wth kit.

NP, my wife calls me a lot worse than that!!

KH 10 drops you are OK

But do watch that high temp. 84 is a bit too high

 

[emtguy]

Thanks for info, I got a few diatoms showing up now so im thinking im on the right track. I have actinics running a total of 9 hrs and 150w running total of 8hrs.
What do i have to do to get my Ph up? It's staying around 7.8 - 8.0. I just did a 10%WC so i cant check my levels right now but this afternoon my Amm, trites were 0 and trates were 20( thats why i did WC) calc. was 420 last i checked and Kh 179.