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For the book nitrite is NO2 and nitrate is NO3.
It is easy to explain. All hobby nitrate tests I know about is based om the method that first reduce NO3 to NO2 and after that analyse the NO2 level. Your colour chart will after this translate the read NO2 into the orginal NO3 value. If you have NO2 already in the water (before the nitrate had been reduced to NO2) the NO3 test will give a false result. Your test show 40 ppm NO3 but its false - you probably have 0. But your NO2 level of 1 ppm will cause the NO3 test to show between 50 - 100 time more than the orginal value. IMO - it is total worthless to analyse NO3 before the tank is full cycled and there is no NO2 in the water.
Sincerely Lasse
Hmmm so I am absolutely in no rush whatsoever. I am however still confused if I should just use ammonia alone or ammonia and some type of bacteria like dr Tim’s...
I ´m not familiarly with APEX and how their measurements work. therefore, I will only give general advices.
First pH. Have you calibrated it since the move? You need to do that. Clean the small glass bulb and the areas around it with a smooth toothbrush. Rinse it in water (best – RODI water) Calibrate. Let is run for a couple of days – do you have daily variation of the pH?
Next question is – do you have a skimmer?
Do you live in areas there you need a rather airtight house? How many people are you in the household – especially in the areas around the aquarium?
These questions are because what´s affect your pH most is the carbon dioxide level around your aquarium – especially if you have an effective skimmer. Having a reef tank and measure the pH make you to understand the word “ocean acidification”.
But calibrate first – after that we can deal with the pH if it still show low levels.
The same with the redox probe – calibrate. But there is a certain thing with ORP measurements. It will take up to 5 days before a new probe (in your aquarium) will give stable readings. 180 is no catastrophe but after 5 days you probably will read a little bit more. If you ask around – 360 mV seems to be an accepted value. But IMO – the best value for your own tank is relative and can be all from 200 to 400 mV. Just measure and look at your livestock. ORP measurement can be done but to figure out what they mean – that´s another question
Sincerely Lasse
You don't note what your alkalinity is. When you cycle a system, you're usually adding either inorganic ammonia, or an organic source of nutrients such as fish food, shrimp from the supermarket, etc... The conversion of ammonia to nitrate consumes alkalinity; at some point, you may have established enough nitrate-reducing bacteria that you recover some of this alkalinity from the reduction of nitrate to nitrogen gas, but in a new tank, there's a fair bet that you've only gotten the first half of the cycle going, so it's possible your alkalinity is quite low. That will produce a somewhat lower pH, as will an over-abundance of carbon dioxide inside a well-sealed home, as Lasse noted.
This is true - however, I was under the impression that alkalinity helps 'balance' pH - but long term (i.e. hours) doesnt change pH. Also as nitrate is turned to N2 - that is returned - am I correct?
Honestly I'll have to think through that first point; from what I remember about carbonic acid/bicarbonate/carbonate equilibrium, it was essentially impossible to have a pH below about 7.8 under normal atmospheric (i.e., CO2 ~ 400 ppm) conditions with an alkalinity of seawater. However, I'm not entirely sure about that now that you bring it up.
Yes, the carbonate consumption of the ammonia>nitrite>nitrate oxidation reaction is returned when nitrate is reduced by bacteria to nitrogen gas. The catch is that often in our reef tanks the bacteria required to efficiently reduce nitrate to nitrogen aren't present in sufficient numbers, and tanks accumulate nitrate unless it's removed by some other means. So in that scenario, one would expect the alkalinity to go down commensurate with the amount of ammonia (or organic waste) converted to nitrate.
Lasse -
Ha! Well, you'll have to forgive me, scientist or otherwise, we're all influenced by our day to day experience. In my case, I live in a house built in 1940. I love old houses, but it isn't exactly airtight - the most CO2 I've ever measured indoors was about 450 ppm.
One rather irritating thing about the 'net is that if a particular subject is "in the news", it becomes difficult to find actual data as it gets drowned out by repeated articles on the same subject from different science-oriented popular science sites. In this case, I figured it would be relatively easy to look up a chart listing the pH of seawater versus an atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in the range of 400 ppm - 1200 ppm. No such luck - all I could dig up this morning was endless articles on anthropogenic CO2 generation versus ocean acidification. Certainly important, but not all that helpful when we'd like to know what the pH would be for seawater in equilibrium with a range that we might expect for an example CO2 concentration, such as you listed (800 ppm).
Calpoly - Lasse's dead-on about the pH probe recalibration. In theory, a biofilm on the junction of a pH probe shouldn't make any difference to the measured pH, the probe would just take longer to settle at that pH. In practice, I've observed the same thing as Lasse - if I replace a probe, or if I clean one with 0.1N HCl, the probe will calibrate perfectly. But after a couple of weeks in the system, I find that the pH is significantly off of the true value, although recalibration does correct that offset.
I don't - I just try to keep windows open - when. possible - otherwise I assume that when its -20 or 90 that the pH will be a little lower in the tank. During this time I try to run the fan in the bathroom near where the tank is - to promote air circulation (as the tank is in the basement)Just out of curiosity, how do you guys measure CO2 in your homes? I see there are some meters on amazon for around $100...
I'll probably be calibrating the probe every month or couple months while also testing via salifert kits. I have backups to double check against, or plan to at least
Speaking of calibrating. Do you guys all buy those Neptune calibration packets every time you need to re-calibrate?
I don't - I just try to keep windows open - when. possible - otherwise I assume that when its -20 or 90 that the pH will be a little lower in the tank. During this time I try to run the fan in the bathroom near where the tank is - to promote air circulation (as the tank is in the basement)
Hmmm so I am absolutely in no rush whatsoever. I am however still confused if I should just use ammonia alone or ammonia and some type of bacteria like dr Tim’s...
Yes - I do that as wellHmm..i see. Perhaps I will schedule my nest to turn on several times a day for 15 minutes just to circulate the air in the house as well. Thanks for the suggestions.
Just out of curiosity, how do you guys measure CO2 in your homes? I see there are some meters on amazon for around $100...
I'll probably be calibrating the probe every month or couple months while also testing via salifert kits. I have backups to double check against, or plan to at least
Speaking of calibrating. Do you guys all buy those Neptune calibration packets every time you need to re-calibrate?
There is a thread on here (@Dr. Reef) - that compares in a fairly scientific manner with multiple repeats that suggest that Fritz Turbo 900 can when dosed to the proper directions - lower ammonia from 8 ppm to 0 in 1.5 days. Some of the others need a carbon source - and then they also work.
I have never done a fishless cycle - I've added Bacteria (sometimes a bit more than the dose because im never sure exactly the tank volume - and added fish at the same time - with no problem. There is also the @Lasse method for starting a tank (which is close to mine) that is well described here.
Though I like the idea (seriously) that patience is valuable in this hobby - It always surprises me when someone says - I've had a tank in my living room for 3 months with just rock - I personally do not have that much patience. I tend to think that the more quickly you can cover the rock with 'living things' whether its coral or zoos or whatever, the more quickly you will not have diatoms, etc. IE the corals out compete the algae. But I have no complaint for those who do it another way - to each his own.