Tank Parameters

[katguevara]

I'm pretty new to the hobby, and bought a running established tank a couple days ago. It's a 30g and he only had it filled half way as he wanted to run a shallow tank. So last night I decided to pull it 5 gallon and top it up to the top. So probably about a 20g change. I tested my parameters this morning, PH is at 8.0 and Nitrite is at 0 ppm. My Ammonia is at 0.25 and Nitrate is at 20 ppm. What do I do at this point to get everything in order. Is this dangerous for the clowns and couple of coral that's in the tank? Also salinity is at 1.023, is this too low? Yesterday when I tested before I changed the water out the only thing that was off was the Nitrate and it was still at 20 ppm.

 

[Garrett W.]

Ammonia should be at 0.0 ppm. Even at 0.02 ppm ammonia can aggravate fish and corals. salinty is within range but a bit low for my tastes. i like to hover around 1.025. It sounds like you could have started a new cycle in the tank with the high nitrates and ammonia.

 

[Garrett W.]

I would suggest testing again and if you have the ability to have an LFS test as well, i would do that so they can either confirm your readings or provide a different set of numbers.