chemistry

I've heard about the problem of Hanna's Magnesium colorimeter reading high and recently learned that you can fill out a form on the Hanna website to get them to send out a new Reagent to correct the issue. But has anyone not had to do this and is getting similar results to other tests they do? I...

Why are magnets bad for the reef tank? I have read many threads where individuals blame magnets for all kinds of misery. I am getting ready to make some magnetic accessories for my tank but I want to be prepared for my consequences if I fail to adequately protect them from poisoning my tank...

Hi, Today did some testing and I found that my alkalinity is pretty low. dKH: ~6 Ca: 470 Mg: 1440 Salinity: 1.025 pH: ~8 Nitrate: ~6 Ammonia and nitrite: 0 These testing results are 1 week after a water change. I use Tropic Marin Pro salt and a new batch of water has around 7,2 dKH. Should I...

Hey guys once again battling algae… started dinox last night and it says not to add trace elements and no products that absorb. My tank is ultra low nutrient and I want to add Neonitro to help battle the Dino’s. Can I do both at the same time?

So I accidentally bought the Hannah iodine tester for freshwater and have been wondering how I could safely dose to the reef tank without an ICP test. I was thinking I could add iodine to an ATO or mix it in my freshwater and then test prior to adding salt to achieve .06 iodine levels. I'm not...

Happy Holidays Fellow Reefers, Here’s the skinny… I have a Coral/Invert QT with a few frags in it, nothing flashy, couple of smallish rocks, frags, and some snails. Nitrate & Phosphate are consistently reading 0, everything seems happy, save a temperamental Kenya, but otherwise good. My...

I just got my results back. I took my sample the same week that I started a chaeto reactor so know my nitrates and phosphates will come down, but am concerned that my nitrates are 135x my phosphates instead of about 10x like I see being ideal. I’m thinking of starting to dose NoPox but am unsure...

alright - I'm stumped on this. Tank is 3 months old, PH is between 8.1-8.2, Salt is at 33, MG is 1240, Calcium is 480 and Alk keeps creeping from 11 into the 12's. It got as high as 14, with Ca and Mg relatively the same. If I do a 30% water change, Alk drops some, I was able to drop it from the...

Howdy! Hopefully an appropriate place to post. I've noticed over the last week or so my Alk has started to swing a fair bit from low of 8.46 to high of 9.05 with my set point 8.6 I've adjusted the dosing baseline to the average over the last month and just today increased my testing from 4/2...

Hi all, So I'm thought I might grab a few gallons of Pacific Ocean water to add to my tank over time. I have a 150g tank using Instant Ocean reef crystals. The water won't be taken near a marina or any known pollutant type areas. Has anyone had experience supplementing their tank in this...

Hello, I got a pulsing Xenia about 4 ish months ago, and up until the last month and a half it was doing well and pulsing like crazy. Now the polyps are skinny and not as puffed up without any pulsing whatsoever. I have also been battling prorocentrum dinos and now have a forest of GHA however...

Since I’ve added some Zoa frags to my tank, I’ve had wild swings in dKh and PH in my Fluval 13.5G tank. I know with a small tank, this can occur, but any advice on how to stabilize this? No ammonia or nitrite Nitrate is between 5-10 ppm No detectable phosphates (only have API kit so might not...

Heres what happened, Im fighting dinos, specifically procentrum, and I started dosing silicates. I used sponge excel, and dosed 5 drops into 10 gallons. The drops did harden upon contact with the water and turn into white flakes. I know that silicate based solutions are caustic to humans, but...

Really confused about a couple things. First I did a water change in my 45 gallon tank after I notice I have no nitrite ammonia Is .25ppm which I read means 0 since it’s an ati test kit. My issue is the nitrate is light orange so in between 10-20ppm. Second day I checked and still hasn’t really...

Tank info: Currently battling dinos and am making decent progress due to more hair, coraline, and film algae showing up. In range of reef tank parameters apart from phosphates which are elevated to encourage Dino competitions. Description: this algae looks like brown dots, and i can’t blow it...

What would cause quite a big DKH drop and a raise in magnesium? The last time I dosed was a week ago, and it was Sodium bicarbonate for the alkalinity. I tested alk 2x to make sure...same result. I'm confused and worried.

I'm just curious about sea salt. I'd like to know more in depth of why it's not good to use sea salt that has moisture in it to use it in a fish tank. I'm a little confused because it gets wet/ dissolved into our aquariums and I'm pretty sure alot of salt on the market comes right out of a wet...

I can't seem to raise magnesium, I am worried that if I put anymore in that maybe the levels will come up overnight for some reason? Pls help not sure if I am wasting my 2 part magnesium mix. My levels at the start of the day was 1140 magnesium, it is now at 1185. Can't seem to get it to 1200.

Background: I have a wrought iron stand that I had a welding buddy spray and reinforce that I use to hold my 55 up top and two 20s below as sump. While there are minimal instances of rust and all seems well I imagine the stand won't be super long term as even small amounts of corrosion worry me...

So I just spent quite a bit on a 25 pack of 5-in-1 test strips. After having gotten home and using 2 already, I realized that the precision of the strips is sorely lacking, and that I could have gotten a 100 pack for a bit less than I paid for the 25 on Amazon. Of course, I had looked before I...

Hello! I am a saltwater newbie: been running a fully cycled Fluval Evo for 2 months now. All equipment are stock. The ph has not been super consist, but for the last two weeks it has been a steady 8.3. Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate have been consistently at 0. Salinity has been steady at...

The 60ml vials are here! allowing you to perform more tests before refilling. Grab yours now from: www.reefkinetics.com/product/60ml-vial/

I recently set up a 60l nano with established media and live rock from my other tank. Tank has been running 1 week with 2 clowns and 2 lps couple of zoas. Tested my water today ammonia nitrite 0 nitrate 2.5 dkh5 ph8 and calcium 380 salinity .023 My corals look good and all open. Is this drop in...

Hey reefers, So I was wondering that our hobby relies alot on attaining "stability" but in it's raw form, what does stability even mean? I have few theories on what, why and how of stability in a reef tank. Feel free to correct me or share more opinions. What: - Stability is a range not a...

I have a 36 nano reef that’s about 5 - 6 months old. Every time I test it says my parameters are perfect. I don’t believe that is accurate because I have had 2 fish die this week, although my coral are looking healthy. I’m using the API test kit, but looking for a new one. What would y’all...