krautburner
Member
I have been outta town for a couple weeks,
my roommate has been feeding the fish, and topping off the sump tank.
before I left, my tank had a non intentional 30% water change
(developed a leak, roommate topped off tank (5 gal) then the next day, noticed it was another 5-10 gal low
I fixed the leak, topped off the tank, only thing I had time to do was check the S/G was a little high 1.027)
it's been about 2 weeks since doing chem on the tank
I just did a 5 gal water change (stirred up more sand than intended)
and checked the chem:
78* new water sucked the tank temp down from 80-81* (norm)
PH 8.4
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20-40ppm (in between colors)
this is the highest I've ever seen the nitrates
should I be worried?
is this because I stirred up the sand, then tested too soon?
I'm still pretty new at this,
and kinda worried.....
I've seen the amonia go up a little, then back down
but this is the first time I've ever seen the Nitrates above 5.0ppm
my tank:
60 gal (ish) with 10 gal in the sump
about 75lbs of LR 2-3" L/S / crushed coral mix
full clean up crew (couple types of snails, hermits, emerald crabs, ect....)
only 1 fish (that I can find) 3" blue hippo tang
and a bunch of mushroom corals, and a big leather type coral
a few small feather dusters/tube's
thanks in advance
Russ
edit: more info on the tank
I've had the tank for about 4 months
tank was a friends, was setup for about 3 years or so.
did about a 60% water change when moving it
previous owner "rarely" did water changes
the tank seemed to keep itself
my roommate has been feeding the fish, and topping off the sump tank.
before I left, my tank had a non intentional 30% water change
(developed a leak, roommate topped off tank (5 gal) then the next day, noticed it was another 5-10 gal low
I fixed the leak, topped off the tank, only thing I had time to do was check the S/G was a little high 1.027)
it's been about 2 weeks since doing chem on the tank
I just did a 5 gal water change (stirred up more sand than intended)
and checked the chem:
78* new water sucked the tank temp down from 80-81* (norm)
PH 8.4
Amonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20-40ppm (in between colors)
this is the highest I've ever seen the nitrates
should I be worried?
is this because I stirred up the sand, then tested too soon?
I'm still pretty new at this,
and kinda worried.....
I've seen the amonia go up a little, then back down
but this is the first time I've ever seen the Nitrates above 5.0ppm
my tank:
60 gal (ish) with 10 gal in the sump
about 75lbs of LR 2-3" L/S / crushed coral mix
full clean up crew (couple types of snails, hermits, emerald crabs, ect....)
only 1 fish (that I can find) 3" blue hippo tang
and a bunch of mushroom corals, and a big leather type coral
a few small feather dusters/tube's
thanks in advance
Russ
edit: more info on the tank
I've had the tank for about 4 months
tank was a friends, was setup for about 3 years or so.
did about a 60% water change when moving it
previous owner "rarely" did water changes
the tank seemed to keep itself
