questions about waterquality and my new frags

dixienut

dixienut

AC Members
Jun 15, 2006
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Hookstown/Georgetown area pennsylvania
hey there i have a tiny frag of zoa's green, and a green mushroom, i just got last night, at lfs. and thought id test my water before a water change,. just to see if it was really bad being well water, and these are the readings i got,

amm. 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
ph 8.4
phos looked 0 to me api test kit
kh 11/12
ca was down since i tested for it last/ it was down to 100ppm i dosed it with liquid reef calcium

any suggestions on calcuim please let me know what you think about raising it,.. it was 400/500 in the summer but well changes in the winter,these were the readings of fresh salt mix not in the tank but was in tub for a few weeks
nitrate a little darker than 0 but not the next color
ph 8.0
phos 0
kh 11/12
ca 120

i just pulled a ton of caulpera out of tank to take to lfs for credit and got 10.00......yea

i didn't think that my calcium would drop that low over the winter,. any ideas on a plan for uping it,..
as these are the only frags o have.. as of yet,..
are there any problems so far that anyone see yet?

tank is 30 long
2 black clowns small
clean up crew
cpr skimmer/ no bio media
350 mag for flow
hob for flow and sponge for bio wich i will be taking off as soon as i feel it stable to do so,.. chicken i guess,..
and
i have a ecosystem 40 fuge on the back without mud or bioballs
http://www.ecosystemaquarium.com/products/filters/deluxe-hob-system.html
but i have cheato in there
was going to put agranite sand in there but haven't yet
:feedback:
 
Do you have copper pipes?

Unfortunately, many of the problem chemicals that may be in well water are not things the average person can test for on their own -- pesticides, metals, etc. These can be problematic over the long term, especially in the case of metals, since they tend to accumulate within the tank. The only way to know what's really in your well water would be to have it tested periodically. Many health departments offer free or low cost well testing. Even if it costs $50, $50 spent now could prevent the otherwise unexplained deaths of many $100s of corals.
 
no pipes in my home we have the newer manablock system, all pvx tubing,

what metals in perticular are you refering to so i can see about checking for them,..

as to pesticides i'm on top of large hill and very little chance of any run off to seep into water system, except from ourselves so that shouldn't be a problem,..

i don't think that there would be any metals that wouldn't already be in the oceans with all the pollution around, and yes i know its a closed system, but i will see if i can get it checked,..
 
Your salt mix should make the water contain about 400ppm calcium. If you can dont use well water. And if you have well water buy an RO/DI unit. I am on well water and bought the $150 Coralife RO/DI unit on Drs Foster and Smith and its great. Well worth it.

Oh and dont mix SW and let it sit for a few weeks. Mix it the night before if you can. Or the same day of the change. But dont just let it sit there. It starts to seperate and lose its good qualities.
 
Eddiecorrea; Oh and dont mix SW and let it sit for a few weeks. Mix it the night before if you can. Or the same day of the change. But dont just let it sit there. It starts to seperate and lose its good qualities.[/quote said:
ok i was told to let is set and airate to bring up the ph instead of using chemicals,
also i tested the unused water and calcium was a tad higher but not a lot, as posted
but perhaps its because it sat,..:huh:
Click to expand...
 
Copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, etc. are not good to have in a marine tank if there's inverts present.

Living on a hill can have little or no effect on well water quality as it relates to impacts from runoff, depending on the depth of your well.
 
You can let is sit overnight but I wouldnt let it sit much longer than that. If you really need to raise your PH then use Kent Marine Superbuffer -dKH. Its great stuff. I wouldnt really trust anything but Kent Marine or API. JMO.
 
fsn77 said:
Copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, etc. are not good to have in a marine tank if there's inverts present.

Living on a hill can have little or no effect on well water quality as it relates to impacts from runoff, depending on the depth of your well.
Click to expand...

i know about run off and wells as i'm a farmer, and this is what we are about, and the inverts are fine in my fresh water for years,
as farmers we are more prone to knowing about water quality etc,..

also i only use kents,.. or api stuff anyway

also we are in pa our hills are other peoples mountians lol.
not being cocky, but, i'm a bit more aware, than others,.
about the enviroment,..
thanks guys i'll see about getting a test run,.....
 
Instead of wasting money on having a test run on the well just spend another $100 and get a nice RO/DI unit. That way you are not throwing away money on the test.
 
Eddiecorrea said:
Instead of wasting money on having a test run on the well just spend another $100 and get a nice RO/DI unit. That way you are not throwing away money on the test.
Click to expand...

if i don't have these metals in my water why would i spend the $ to filter them out if there not in there ?
then take out all the minerals in the water to buy bottles of minerals to put it back??

the unit and the filters are not so cheap either,..
i haven't had a problem as of yet , i'm not getting anything hard to keep nor do i plan on it as i'm not going to get the really expensive lights either,.. just a basic low end reef stuff ,.. is all that i need to keep me happy.
 
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