Test results HELP!!!

tarrahsmom

tarrahsmom

Member
My tank has been running for a little over 3 months. I have live rock, sand, shrimps, crabs, anda few fish. I did my test tonight and the results are..
ph 8.8
amm 0
trite 0
nitrate 80ppm
specf. grav 1.029
Is this good? How can i lower the nitate? is it to high? I have been useing tap water (i know i know) Can I use distilled water from the store?
I have a sea urchin that is loseing its spines and i have lost 3 fish in the last week. I did a water change on Monday night.
I just put in some Purple up to get my coralline to grow. i have never used it before
 
trigger11

trigger11

Member
Your PH is pretty high at 8.8 Ideally should be around 8.3 8.5 is starting to get on the high side.
SG at 1.029 is pretty high. Ideally 1.025 is good especially if have any inverts in the tank.
Adding purple up on the surface seems like a good idea because it does claim to help with coraline growth. However, the main ingredient in it is calcium. The best recommendation is to only put additives in the tank that you can test for.
I highly recommend switching to RO water or something better than tapwater. I would do fairly frequent water changes. Like every 4 days or so depending on how big your tank is. I myself use the RO water from walmart. It is fairly cheap considering how much better it is than using tapwater. Your nitrates are pretty high if you have any corals. My guess is that is also due to the tapwater.
 
vibbertations

vibbertations

New Member
pH, Sp Gravity, and the trates are all a little high from where I keep mine....
pH might have went up from the purple up stuff...
Go ahead and mix up about 20-30 gallons of saltwater around 1.020-1.022 so you can do a water change tomorrow night...
Mix up another batch Sunday night and do another water change on Monday....this should start getting you in the right direction....and get your gravity and ph at the right levels (I keep mine around 1.023-1.025 and 8.4)
 
tarrahsmom

tarrahsmom

Member
So how can I lower the ph and the spec. grav? Can I just used bottled water. I dont have a walmart here so i cant get ro water. I have not got any corals yet. Also I have a hydrometer that I use.
 
vibbertations

vibbertations

New Member
Go ahead and use regualr water...if you've got fish dying, they are gonna appreciate any help you give them(the living ones)...Right now, I use RO/DI water for top offs, and regular tap water for water changes.....I will continue to do this until I can afford an RO/DI unit. I get my RO/DI water now from the LFS. Its 50 cents a gallon.
If you continue to use tap water, your phosphates will rise, and you will probably see an algae outbreak. Just try to start using RO/DI water sometime in the future and frequent water changes....you should be all right..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top