Phosphate test. Recommendations for test kits please? Thanks!

[sillyqueen]

Hi...it's the *saltwater idiot* here again, although things seem to be going ok.
Up over a week..diatoms all over the place..fish (5 damsels and a tang, all given to me from a friend who tore down) doing well. All water parameters in my 55 are fine..I think..herein lie's the prob..I cant read the test kits very well. Any recommendations? Mine are the ones where you use the vials and add drops.
Actually..my main question is this. Could someone post the figures for the actual desirable parameters? Specifically phosphates? I cant find the numbers anywhere...I want to avoid problems before they occur..and phosphates seem to be an algae culprit.
Also..I did my first water change..did 5 gallons...what a MESS!!!! I siphoned out 5 gallons with my Python..overflowed my bucket as I was cleaning the substrate..then missed the tank with the new water. Any hints on how to do this without making such a mess??
One more..I have this really HARD stuff on my tank covers...how do I get this stuff off?? Hard salt buildup I guess..
Thanks so much for putting up with SUCH a newbie!

 

[andymi]

Things take time..over the next couple months you will be in here fielding questions from others.
Phosphates should be as low as possible with a maximum of (.03 ppm if I remember right). Lamotte makes a nice test kit for phosphates, but it is expensive, but worth it. I usually use FasTest kits. They have powders with plastic color pieces that sit right next to the water. I personally like this kit. They do make meters that you can buy, but not sure what all they make. I know they have pH, Temp, Salinity etc, but not sure if they have nitrates, nitrites, ammonia. As far as the other levels (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia) they should all be 0 if you can. The ones to definitely watch are ammonia and nitrites. If they go up you have a problem, try to keep these at 0 at all times. Some people have higher nitrates, this can be ok because it is not as toxic to fish, but again, try to keep everything nitrates,nitrites,ammonia at 0. pH should be kept anywhere from 8.0 - 8.4, most probably keep around 8.2. You will probably notice slight fluctuations during the hours when the lights are on (will increase) and decrease when the lights are off. My pH typicaly goes from 7.8 (lights off) to 8.0 or 8.2 when the lights are on.
Calcium (you should test for this in a reef) should be around 400-500 ppm with most people keeping around 450.
Alkalinity, this should be kept about 2.5, I believe most are around 5 or so. I just started adding Kents Pro Buffer dKH to help raise this number and have been unsuccessful so far, but my coraline is growing better. Weird
As far as the water changes here is what I do. I mix up a batch of saltwater with the same salinity as the tank. I have an extra powerhead and heater just for this purpose. (also comes in handy if you need some extra equipment for a quarantine or hospital tank). I mix up the new water approx. 1-2 days before I am going to do a water change. The powerhead helps keep the water oxygenated and helps mix the salt for me. I add salt slowly to the water and let it mix so that it does not have (calcium or carbonate buildup..not sure what it is , but the salt when not mixed properly creates deposits) buildup. I put the heater in there so I can keep the water at the same temp. Then when it is time for a water change, I syphon out the old water, and then hook up a hose to the powerhead in the tub of new water and let it push the new water out of the tub , into the hose and into the tank. This way the worst part is just dragging the tubs of water around.
As far as the hard salt around the top, only thing I know to get rid of it is a really damp rag and some elbow grease. A good way to keep this down is when doing water changes , clean the top of the tank with the rag. I do weekly water changes on my system and everything usually stays nice and clean.
I hope all of this helps.
--Andy
[ September 18, 2001: Message edited by: andymi ]