Need help with parameters
- Thread starter praveen85
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mues
Active Member
If there are no fish in the tank already, lowering salinity is pretty easy. Just pull out salt water in small amounts and replace with rodi.
Multiple ways to increase alk in our tanks, also easier without fish/corals present. I'm no expert on that bit, maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can assist with that
Multiple ways to increase alk in our tanks, also easier without fish/corals present. I'm no expert on that bit, maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can assist with that
randomfishdude
Valuable Member
What you testing alk with? Also ehat salt mix are you using.
eliaslikesfish
Active Member
To lower salinity just take a half gallon or so of water out at a time and replace with RODI, check salinity every few hours till you’re down to 1.025. I used seachem’s reef builder (attached a photo) about once a week, you probably won’t need to use it as much because you don’t have corals but I mix half a teaspoon of the powder with about 1 cup of RODI and pour it in front of a high flow area, raises it about 1-2dkh. hope this helps!
eliaslikesfish
Active Member
note: if you can, at some point i would invest in a alkalinity hanna checker, just a little pricey.
More information about your tank and even pictures of your set up would help everyone offer you more specific advice.
However I would always calibrate your salinity testing device before making salinity changes, all testing devices can drift and a lot of amazon refractometers come in miscalibrated. Calibration solution is super cheap and you should have some on hand.
Do you have an auto top off on the system? If not, it is helpful to mark the water level in your return pump section of tank when the salinity is good so you know when to top off the tank with RODI water.
Your tank will constantly evaporate water and leave the salt, so it is important to top off your tank with RODI water regularly.
Alk can be raised in many ways, bicarbonate is a good one.
Mr. Mojo Rising
5000 Club Member
Hopefully there are no fish in the tank, so just add rodi water till you get to the right salinity.
Why testing alk while cycling? No need to test alk until you are interested in corals.
Why testing alk while cycling? No need to test alk until you are interested in corals.
praveen85
New Member
There’s no fish in tank. So u mean don’t worry about alkalinity before I add fish. Tank is fully cycled.
praveen85
New Member
Refractometer is calibrated using the solution. No auto topoff, no fish in the tank, just finished the cycling. Should I raise alkalinity before adding fish.
Mr. Mojo Rising
5000 Club Member
Thats right. For fish, the only things I measure are salinity, temperature, and nitrate. I do weekly water changes which keeps the tank in line.
All others such as alk, calcium, magnesium, etc.... only when you want corals
praveen85
New Member
praveen85
New Member
Thank youTo lower salinity just take a half gallon or so of water out at a time and replace with RODI, check salinity every few hours till you’re down to 1.025. I used seachem’s reef builder (attached a photo) about once a week, you probably won’t need to use it as much because you don’t have corals but I mix half a teaspoon of the powder with about 1 cup of RODI and pour it in front of a high flow area, raises it about 1-2dkh. hope this helps!
Great to hear, I would just top off the tank with RODI water until its at the correct salinity, you can pull out some of the saltwater if needed. Keep a good eye on salinity as fish are sensitive to rapid salinity changes.
I would correct Alk before adding fish, low alkalinity can cause PH issues.
The rapid bacteria bloom from cycling the tank probably depleted the alk and may continue to do so. I would recommend keeping an eye on it, but as mentioned by others fish are not as sensitive to alk fluctuations as corals are. But that is no excuse to ignore it.
With your aquarium you aren't just taking care of fish but are managing a little ecosystem of flora and fauna from the microscopic level to the fish. Taking good care of the micro organisms will make your aquarium experience a lot easier in the long run.
If your gonna do fish only I recommend adding some macro algae (I like caulerpa prolifera) it will help reduce your nutrients which can help with the hair algae outbreaks and looks it good too. When the macro algae gets overgrown I just pull about half of it out and throw it in the trash super easy.
Bicarbonate works great, you can even use arm and hammer stuff from the grocery store (pure unscented stuff of course) if you don't wanna spend too much $$. Just follow randy's DIY recipe #2.
https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php#11
Last edited:
praveen85
New Member
Than
I just edited my last post and a little bit in the middle about micro fauna and macro algae that might help with your tanks future.
Good luck, it sometimes seems like a lot to learn when first setting up a tank but at some point you get used to all the little details and will just know what to do when a problem arises.
randomfishdude
Valuable Member
There is no response. Just quote
randomfishdude
Valuable Member
Oh crap I didn't see that.
Check and see how old your reagent is expired. I went into a small period on my tank thinking alk was 4.2 and started emergency dosing. Turns out it wasn't and the reagent was just bad even though it wasn't expired.
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