Hey guy's I have a question about my water, my readings are: NO3 is at about 30, NO2 is at 0, Total hardness is about 400, Total alkalinity is about 240, and PH is at 8.4, how do these look. I am a little worried about my NO3 I don't know why it is this high, I even did a water change and it is still the same, and I use RO water. Can someone please help?
water peremeters?
- Thread starter reefking
- Start date
I think u need to find where is the source of ur NO3.
as example: from bio home, dead fish, poor water circulation.
may i know ur is reef tank or FOWLR tank? if fishy tank, then No3 is not a major problem...But if reef tank, then u need to get ur NO3 as low as it can..
After finding the source, kill/remove/change it. Then do another 40% water changes. Maybe ALGONE product will help you a bit. But the important thing is ur Skimmer and water circulation. Poor skimate will increase ur No3 level as well as poor water circulation.
anyway, could you please provide more information of ur tank so that other reefers will knew more in details.
Thanks. Hope it's help..
as example: from bio home, dead fish, poor water circulation.
may i know ur is reef tank or FOWLR tank? if fishy tank, then No3 is not a major problem...But if reef tank, then u need to get ur NO3 as low as it can..
After finding the source, kill/remove/change it. Then do another 40% water changes. Maybe ALGONE product will help you a bit. But the important thing is ur Skimmer and water circulation. Poor skimate will increase ur No3 level as well as poor water circulation.
anyway, could you please provide more information of ur tank so that other reefers will knew more in details.
Thanks. Hope it's help..
The most likely source is food. How much are you feeding?
As an aside to anyone who reads this, it's a big help to put your tank specs in the specs forum, then link them in your sig (there are instructions in that forum). That way you don't have to keep typing them every time you ask a question.
As an aside to anyone who reads this, it's a big help to put your tank specs in the specs forum, then link them in your sig (there are instructions in that forum). That way you don't have to keep typing them every time you ask a question.
I only have two corals and I feed them about 3 to 4 times a week, I mix it up with phytoplankton (1 tsp ), frozen brine ( 1 tsp ) and I have 3 small fish and I feed them twice daily, I give them flake ( just a small pinch ), then frozen brine, is this too much? Whenever I feed my corals my fish eat at the same time, so I'm not double feeding, if this makes sense. I'm thinking that it also might be poor circulation, I only have 1 powerhead. How leathal is my NO3 right now?
30 ppm nitrate is not lethal, just a sign that something is off balance. How much frozen brine do you give the fish? 1 tsp sounds like quite a bit for few corals.
I buy the frozen brine cubes, and when I feed both the fish and the corals I use the whole cube, I hope this helps, by the way how much should I feed my two corals? And would poor circulation cause my problem? Also I don't know if my total hardness and alkalinity is o.k.
One cube is about what I would feed my 90 gallon reef, with dozens of corals and 7 fish. I would keep up feeding phytoplankton, but would stop feeding the corals with the brine shrimp. They should get plenty of food when the fish are fed. If it were my tank, I would cut the cube in half for a meal. Because brine shrimp is not very complete nutrition, you might want to add other frozen foods into the rotation, like Prime Reef or Formula 1.
You alkalinity seems high, almost 5 mEq/L. Are you adding any buffers? Total hardness is not normally a parameter I think about in SW. Have you got a Ca test kit? In any case, neither hardness nor alkalinity should have much effect on nitrate. Circulation may have a small effect, if it's too low to keep stuff in suspension before the skimmer gets it.
You alkalinity seems high, almost 5 mEq/L. Are you adding any buffers? Total hardness is not normally a parameter I think about in SW. Have you got a Ca test kit? In any case, neither hardness nor alkalinity should have much effect on nitrate. Circulation may have a small effect, if it's too low to keep stuff in suspension before the skimmer gets it.