help me with my water, please.

wastememphis

wastememphis

AC Members
Sep 6, 2003
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Buffalo, New York
www.peccaviparty.com
My scooter blenny died, the last two days it has been a lighter color, but when I turn the lights on in the morning and he comes out of the sand he looked like that anyway, so I just thought he could have come from under rocks or something when I looked at him. I tested my water on Saturday and the nitrites were at 0, ammonia was between 0-.25, nitrates were between 5-10ppm, and the PH was low at 7.8… usually I just bring my water into the fish store but I just go the test kit (so that was the fist time i tested it myself.) and I know that the PH should be at 8.2, and the nitrates should be at zero…. I don’t know what to do. There hasn’t been anything added to the tank in a month. I put an overflow in today, but that wouldn’t affect any inhabitants would it? Thanks for any response.
 
Your nitrate is fine for fish. My guess is that your ammonia is actually 0, but that a lot of test kits show false positives. The pH may be down due to CO2 build up from inadequate circulation, or because of too much organic acid from the livestock. How often are you doing water changes? If it's CO2, the pH should go up in a sample that you take out and aerate vigorously.
 
Its a reef tank, the circulation i have is a fluval 204, which is not ciruclating now... and a rio power head but i just did the overflow so that made the fulval bad so i'm about to get another powerhead anyway... its just two maroon clown fish. 5gallons every week or two, its a 29gallon tank. thanks mogurnda!
 
i dont have an alkalinity test kit... ill bring water to my lfs ...
 
they said my water was fine and there was no reason for anything to be harmed, unless a coral... (ph a little low... but higher than a few days ago) everything else was normal... nitrates a little high, over feeding? Another crab died... i have no idea whats going on. My corals are fine, i've lost 4 hermits, 3-4 turbo snails and a blenny in the last month. :( :confused:
 
Although it may not be relevant in this particular case, I'd suggest getting an alkalinity kit. Like nitrate, it gives a general idea of tank health.

More often than not, these things seem to remain mysterious. I seem to recall that you're using RO water, so that's not the problem.

:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
No unfortunatly i'm not using RO water, knowing that they are good to use, I was actually convinced out of a unit by my lfs, they told me it would raise our water bill. I live at home, mom wouldn't go for that, she doesn't want me to get anything else that plugs in... and my lights take up two plugs so thats not good haha... i have room for a skimmer!!! :)
 
Is water unusually expensive there? Where i live...the water bill is only $7 per month...
 
no they told me using it would overall increase our water bill, i dont know why... doesn't seem worth buying a unit anyway untill i had more gallons o change.
 
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