My water Parms...

[kingtriton]

so my 55g has been up and running for about 2 1/2 months, Ive got about 45lbs of LR in there now, planning on getting another 10lbs (fully cured) this weekend. Everything has been going good, I finally added fish this past weekend, small tomato clown, 2 firefish gobies, and a watchman goby. Planning on doing a reef tank eventually, but Im holding off on the coral for a couple more months.
Anyways, I have been doing frequent water changes to help out with the cycling, about 10% change every other day. I tested my water today using API liquid tests. Here are the results.
Amonia: 0 ppm
PH: 8.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrates: 20 ppm
How do I get that nitrate down? and is that worse than nitrite? Also how do I raise the PH, I would like them at around 8.4 or so, or is 8.0 good enough?

Thanks for any responses.

 

[snookedsteve]

I would do about 20% change. I would not add anything until you get your parameters stabilized. Do you but your water from the LFS or make your own? Your PH should be around 8.2-8.4 and nitrates <10. Ammonia turns to nitrite and then to nitrates. Nitrates will kill your fish if they get too high.

 

[kingtriton]

yeah Ill do 20% tomorrow, I just did a 10% change this evening. How do I get PH up? Can I get a solution to add to the water? If so does anyone have any personal favorites?...Anyways thanks for the advice, I figured 20 ppm for the nitrates was too high and Ive been doing frequent water changes

. Oh and to answer the question I make my own water, I have RO water system in my house so I use that water definately.

 

[snookedsteve]

I would check a fresh batch of water and see what the PH is there. You may need to change salt brands. Also I use Ocean blend 2 part additive. 1st part is calcium and 2nd is for PH. Hope that helps

 

[natclanwy]

Nitrates at 20ppm is fine for fish and corals so I wouldn't pull your hair out about getting it down, and it would have to be 80ppm or higher before the fish would even start to notice.
Your PH is fine as long as you are somewhere between 7.8 and 8.6 and it is stable you are okay. If you add buffers to change the PH you will cause more damage than if you were to leave it be fluctuating PH will kills things faster than a constant high or low Ph will. Since you are planning on keeping corals test your Calcium and Alkalinity both parameters can cause your PH to be on the low end of the scale. Also check to see if you have excess CO2 buildup in your tank by taking a water sample in a jar or other container with a lid. Only fill the container halfway put the lid on and take it outside. Use the lid to fan air into the container (don't blow into it your breath has elevated levels of CO2) then put the lid on and shake it for 15 seconds. Repeat this 3-4 times then test the PH of the water sample and compare that result to the PH of your DT if there is a noticeable increase in PH you have excess CO2 in your tank and you will need to look at ways to get better surface agitation.
BTW ammonia and nitrite are both much worse than nitrate. ammonia can kill at levels below 1ppm and nitrite anything above 1ppm is not good.

 

[kingtriton]

Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/3003310
Nitrates at 20ppm is fine for fish and corals so I wouldn't pull your hair out about getting it down, and it would have to be 80ppm or higher before the fish would even start to notice.
Your PH is fine as long as you are somewhere between 7.8 and 8.6 and it is stable you are okay. If you add buffers to change the PH you will cause more damage than if you were to leave it be fluctuating PH will kills things faster than a constant high or low Ph will. Since you are planning on keeping corals test your Calcium and Alkalinity both parameters can cause your PH to be on the low end of the scale. Also check to see if you have excess CO2 buildup in your tank by taking a water sample in a jar or other container with a lid. Only fill the container halfway put the lid on and take it outside. Use the lid to fan air into the container (don't blow into it your breath has elevated levels of CO2) then put the lid on and shake it for 15 seconds. Repeat this 3-4 times then test the PH of the water sample and compare that result to the PH of your DT if there is a noticeable increase in PH you have excess CO2 in your tank and you will need to look at ways to get better surface agitation.
BTW ammonia and nitrite are both much worse than nitrate. ammonia can kill at levels below 1ppm and nitrite anything above 1ppm is not good.
great!

thank you very much for the info, explained it clearly!!

 

[fau8]

Never chase ph, anywhere between 7.9 and 8.3 is fine. Nitrates are the last of the nitrogen cycle and the least toxic. 20ppm are acceptable for most setups. They are also proportional to your water capacity. ex if you have a 20 gallon tank and 20ppm nitrates and you did a 50 water change your nitrates would be 10 ppm.

 

[fishstick4sale]

if u insist on raising ur ph i use seachem ph buffer. i safely raise my ph from 7.9 to 8.3 all the time with just one teaspoon after every water change. i have tons of coral in my tank an it works great.

 

[natclanwy]

Originally Posted by fishstick4sale
http:///forum/post/3004362
if u insist on raising ur ph i use seachem ph buffer. i safely raise my ph from 7.9 to 8.3 all the time with just one teaspoon after every water change. i have tons of coral in my tank an it works great.
There is no reason to add buffer though based solely on the Ph value, if your tank is low on alkalinity fine if not you are upsetting your water chemistry and its dosing buffer that cause alkalinity to get up in the 300-400ppm range which may be the reason your Ph is low in the first place. Its just not a good idea to dose buffer without testing your alkilinity and calcium. One more thing if you are raising your PH with one dose from 7.9 to 8.3 you are stressing your corals and fish whether there are visible signs or not and there are a few fragile species that would not survive such a Ph change. My GSP won't open for a few days if I drip kalk too fast and raise my Ph more than 0.3 and most of my other corals will slime up. At .6 my pods start spazzing out.