Paul B
10K Club member
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Reef Of The Month
Article Contributor
Rock Pool Reef Keepers
I am not a big fan of testing the water every ten minutes as long as everything is living well, but last week I lost a couple of new torch corals so I figured I would test the water. I have a very old nitrate kit probably from Christopher Columbus test kit company so that is what I used. My nitrates read 160 or off the chart. OMG, I hurry up and change 25 gallons of water in my 100 gallon reef. The next day I test again. OMG again, it's still off the chart. So I change another 25 gallons of water and run out and buy a new test kit and test the nitrates again. Another OMG, now it reads 90. I hurry up and change another 25 gallons of water. This is getting very tiring as I usually change 25 gallons of water 4 or 5 times a year. My fish are looking at me like
"Really! are you kidding us?" Then I test the salinity with my swing arm hydrometer, also probably from Christopher Columbus Swing Arm hydrometer company. The salinity reads 025. So I dig around and find an old floating hydrometer and throw it in the tank. It sinks like a rock. This is now the fourth OMG. So I look closely at that floating hydrometer and put my reading glasses on to read the numbers. The numbers read like 1260 and 1280. I then realize that that was my battery acid hydrometer so I could take back one OMG. Now I only have three. So I take some water to my favorite LFS to check my numbers. My salinity reads 025 and my nitrates are 30, which to me, is fine. So I can now remove the last three OMGs. The water is fine. The corals probably died by being in a coral war as sometimes corals exude chemicals that can irritate or kill other corals, so the corals have to say OMG, not me as this is their problem, not mine.
"Really! are you kidding us?" Then I test the salinity with my swing arm hydrometer, also probably from Christopher Columbus Swing Arm hydrometer company. The salinity reads 025. So I dig around and find an old floating hydrometer and throw it in the tank. It sinks like a rock. This is now the fourth OMG. So I look closely at that floating hydrometer and put my reading glasses on to read the numbers. The numbers read like 1260 and 1280. I then realize that that was my battery acid hydrometer so I could take back one OMG. Now I only have three. So I take some water to my favorite LFS to check my numbers. My salinity reads 025 and my nitrates are 30, which to me, is fine. So I can now remove the last three OMGs. The water is fine. The corals probably died by being in a coral war as sometimes corals exude chemicals that can irritate or kill other corals, so the corals have to say OMG, not me as this is their problem, not mine.
