levels...how am i doing?

chadman

chadman

Active Member
for those who do not know i have a 30g tank and before i new anything about sw i bought the tank and after only one day of having water in the tank i had six fish in the tank...three months later and a ton of mistakes later i have six fish a clean up crew and about ten corals....my levels were as follows:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20
Alk: Normal(it doesn't have numbers just the colored areas that say either high low or normal)
PH:8.2
SG: about 32 about 1.026
i cannot get my nitrates down for the life of me...i started cleaning out my sponge so we will see if that can bring them down...i may have to break down and get rid of some lr and get a skimmer
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Levels look good. Glad to hear everything made it. Good luck
If your going to keep corals i suggest you start testing for calcium and magnesium.
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by chadman
i need to get a magnesium test kit...what would mag come from?
Your Mg should come from your salt mix. I would suggest testing for that. If your Mg is low it will prevent your calcium from rising. Mg helps keep your ph and alk stable and also helps prevents your calcium from precipitating.
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
well until i get that test i guess as long as my ph and my calc levels stay stable then that should mean my mag levels are alright too then right?
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by chadman
well until i get that test i guess as long as my ph and my calc levels stay stable then that should mean my mag levels are alright too then right?
You should be ok. Ideally you want your Mg level to be anywhere from 1320ppm-1500ppm. I keep mine just over 1400ppm and my Ca is 430 and my Alk is 2.9 and ph 8.2.
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
Originally Posted by drew2005
You should be ok. Ideally you want your Mg level to be anywhere from 1320ppm-1500ppm. I keep mine just over 1400ppm and my Ca is 430 and my Alk is 2.9 and ph 8.2.
sweet......do u think my nitrate level is at a harmful point or if it stays there or lower will i be alright?
 
jerth6932

jerth6932

Active Member
Glad to see your levels are staying good!! I would love to see you tank if you got any updated pix of it!!!!
 
chadman

chadman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Jerth6932
Glad to see your levels are staying good!! I would love to see you tank if you got any updated pix of it!!!!
it is a little messy right now...i just picked up some epoxy so i am trying to find those perfect spots for my corals before i glue then down....i promise though there will be pics soon!!! everything is going well though with the exception of every day about half way through the lights being on my tank gets tons of little white specs floating around in the water...but then once the lights go off by the next day they are all gone and the water looks perfectly clear.....i don't know what this is
 
drew2005

drew2005

Active Member
Originally Posted by chadman
sweet......do u think my nitrate level is at a harmful point or if it stays there or lower will i be alright?
If you can get it lower thats good. Honestly i cant get mine lower than 20 myself. I havent had any problems at all with it at this level. It will have to be much higher for fish to be affected. As for corals, i wouldnt want it any higher than that. If you can keep it 20 and under youll be ok.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top