Originally Posted by
cmc3502
http:///forum/post/2677188
will this WAS an aggressive tank and copper was used (which will start a whole other discussion here).. but the rock was stained brown and so it was bleached. Basically over time and with the use of filtration, I have got the copper out and I continue to use filteration to catch any leaking out copper. I think all I have here is 'new tank' diatoms and i think it will go away on its own.
Do new tank diatoms = phosphates???
Parameters are
temp. - 79.7
phosphate - 3.5 (FIXING)
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 0
PH - < 7.4 (FIXING)
Copper - 0
Calcium - 600+ (this test is always high and has been on 2 other tanks of mine, might be wrong. hard to tell when it goes 'blue')
will have a LFS test my salinity with a better device like the refractometer. And the tank was filled with tab to start, now R/O, but tested the city water and phosphates are pretty much nothing.
Ok, here's whats going on:
1. I can't speak about the LR because I don't have any experience with bleaching LR, doesn't sound too great though. I would of maybe purchased new LR because now all you have essentially is dead base rock, which is pretty cheap if you wanted to use all new rock.
2. If copper is leaking into the water, the filter isn't gonna get it out, it's gonna mostly stay in the water column.
3. If you filled your tank with tap water then yes, you're probably going to get some really bad diatoms. Phosphates and Silicates go hand in hand, and Silicates is what causes the diatoms, it is their 'food source'. I believe all tap water has phosphates in it (could be wrong), but I know it has silica in it. Silica (glass dust) is added into tap water to prevent pipe corrosion, and causes diatom outbreaks in tanks. You can get rid of silica by getting a phosphate remover, or you can just ride it out, the diatoms will be gone once the silicates are used up. When you use tap water though this could take some time. You also want to be sure you're not unintentionally adding phosphates/silicates from something else like your salt or other water treatments. Phosphate/silicates = diatoms.
You also need to test your dKH (Alkalinity), I'm sure it's very low. Alkalinity is a measure of the water’s capacity to neutralize an acid, thereby keeping the pH at a fairly constant level. A low dKH will not allow you to maintain a stable pH and will cause your pH to fall. It will also affect your Calcium. Your calcium is VERY high, too high. It is unusable at this level and isn't available for use in the water column. This high calcium along with low pH is another tell-tale sign that your dKH is very low. When the Calcium either becomes too high or too low, relative to the dKH, it crystallizes and forms calcium carbonate which is usually noticeable by either cloudy water or a fine layer of white powder that settles on your rocks. To get all these levels to balance out you need to start with only 1 thing. You need to add a buffer to your water. I'm guessing you don't use any type of buffer and if you tested your dKH it would be low. You can use whatever buffer you'd like and just add it as directed on the product. I personally prefer "Kent Marine SuperBuffer dKH", it'll probably cost you <$8 depending on the size you get.
Please update me as I'm pretty darn sure I may be guessing spot on here. Good luck!
