Water Parameters

[Mr_Cool]

O'kay. I just got a new test kit today. It's a Seachem multitest kit. Never really tested my water before, but figured I better start before I start to upgrade and add more corals.

Anyway, I was wondering what others think of this kit. I'm pretty confident that my pH is at 8.3 'cause that test was easy enough. My alkalinity tested at 5 meq/L and I think that's probably right, too. But, it looked like my amonia was detectable. If I had to give it a number, I'd call it .01. I know that's so close to zero that it really shouldn't matter, but the sensor had just a hint of green to the yellow. Is this a concern?

Also, the nitrite and nitrate readings bother me. Nitrites were slightly more detectable than the amonia. I'd call it about .03-.04. Nitrates were at about .2. The thing is, for all of these tests, the color change at the low end is so minimal. That is, it's hard to tell the difference between a .5 and 1 on the nitrite scale or a 1 and 2 on the nitrate scale. The same amount of color change at the high end is a jump of 5 or 10, though.

A while back, I was having some trouble keeping my nitrates down. Without doing much different in the past 2 or 3 months, my nitrates have dropped from about 40 to .2. Is this possible? My skimmer is working better now, and I think my deep sand bed has really kicked in, too. Something still doesn't seem right, though.

Just a summary:

pH = 8.3 (I'm o'kay with that)
Alk = 5 meq/L (??????? never tested it before)
amonia = .1 (probably just as good as 0)
Nitrites = .03 ( " " " " " " " )
Nitrates = .2 (certainly more than acceptable, but how?)

It's just a 55 gallon with 2 old power heads, an emperor 400 w/out bio-wheels or carbon, and a Remora skimmer. Sand bed is about 6 inches deep and I only have about 20 lbs. of liverock. The rest of the rock is Texas Holy rock and old coral skeletons. Livestock is 1 true percula clown, 1 royal gramma, 4 damsels, 1 coral banded shrimp, 1 emerald crab, and a total of about 30-40 various snails.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[gjuarez]

Something is definately odd. How long has your tank been setup? Amonia and nitrite should always be undetectable. Have you considered buying more live rock. That should give some more biological filtration. Are you using RO water?

[hobogato]

you should have no traces of ammonia or nitrite. probably could use more live rock. i would get those to zero before i added any corals. and the nitrates need to be close to if not zero for some of the more sensative (sp?) corals.

[Mr_Cool]

Tank has been up for about 2 1/2 years! I used to have that crushed coral substrate. Switched to DSB about 8 months ago, though. I know I should get some more live rock. I teach school, so the Christmas break is coming up in 2 days. I have plans to build a sump and redo the rockwork during this time. (I need someone to give me a deal on some live rock, though.)

Am I just being too anal about the readings? Or, does a hint of color really make that big of a difference?
Maybe I'm just tired or need more practice with this test kit. I'll test the water again tomorrow and post the results.

Oh! I just use dechlorinated tap water. I'd like to start using RO water, but getting it seems like a pain, and buying a unit for home just isn't going over real well with the wife. We'll see, though.

Oh! (again) I also have some nice colonies of mushrooms, yellow polyps, and green polyps that are doing great. I have a green finger leather, too, but it doesn't look so good.

[Richard]

Don't those have reference solutions for you to test against?

[Mr_Cool]

Richard,

I'm not sure if I understand the reference tests. I think they are supposed to tell me if the test is working properly, or really, if I'm doing the tests correctly. In effect, that would tell me if my interpretation of the results is accurate. Right?

I tried it for the ammonia, and I think it worked right. I didn't do it for pH or Nitrites/Nitrates, though. Again, I'll try once more tomorrow night.

Does time of day make a difference? I know that pH could could give different readings at different times due to lighting cycles, but what about the others?