Hammer dead?

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

Dolelo96 said:
You really need to check your parameters. What numbers do you try to keep. For instance, I keep my salinity at 1.026, Alkalinity 8.3-8.5, Calcium 430, Magnesium 1350.
Do you make you own saltwater or buy it from LFS? If you make it yourself, do you use ro/di water?
How do you top off your water? Do you have an ATOor do you do it yourself?

These things are really important to have a successful reef tank

Yes I make my own I do u de RODI I get my tap water I put the tap water treatment and mix it all up and when the levels get lower I add my RODI water.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 21, 2020

Not dead but receding. Lower part of tank under moderate flow. Add iodine and assure salinity is NOT high or false salinity reading.

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
Not dead but receding. Lower part of tank under moderate flow. Add iodine and assure salinity is NOT high or false salinity reading.

Salinity is no high I can check again last time I checked it was 1.025 right in between 1.026

vetteguy53081 · Mar 21, 2020

Bizzy bee reef said:
Salinity is no high I can check again last time I checked it was 1.025 right in between 1.026

I FOR THE SECOND TIME HAD SAME RESULT AND WONDERED IF IT WAS OFF. I TOOK WATER SAMPLE TO LFS AND IT WAS 1.031

Dolelo96 · Mar 21, 2020

People are really trying to help. Just as you said, people aren’t perfect and the equipment we use isn’t either. Maybe you can take a sample to your LFS. You mentioned funds are tight. It may be a good idea to hold off buying anymore fish or corals. if not taken care of properly, your corals will die.

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

Dolelo96 said:
People are really trying to help. Just as you said, people aren’t perfect and the equipment we use is to either. Maybe you can take a sample to your LFS. You mentioned funds are tight. It may be a good idea to hold off buying anymore fish or corals. if not taken care of properly, your corals will die.

Okay thank you guys

flsalty · Mar 21, 2020

Bizzy bee reef said:
Yes I make my own I do u de RODI I get my tap water I put the tap water treatment and mix it all up and when the levels get lower I add my RODI water.

I'm sorry but this makes no sense. RODI is not conditioned tap water. It is specially filtered water. It sounds like you are using regular tap water and adding conditioner to it.

Also, why the reluctance to post your parameters?

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

flsalty said:
I'm sorry but this makes no sense. RODI is not conditioned tap water. It is specially filtered water. It sounds like you are using regular tap water and adding conditioner to it.

Also, why the reluctance to post your parameters?

Yea that’s exactly what I’m doing because this is a budget I don’t have all the money. So I do with what u have

xxkenny90xx · Mar 21, 2020

Bizzy bee reef said:
Yea that’s exactly what I’m doing because this is a budget I don’t have all the money. So I do with what u have

I would recommend using distilled water. Not sure how big your tank is but it's pretty cheap by the gallon. Also if you don't have test kits then have your lfs run some tests for you (assuming they're open in your state). It's difficult to figure out what's going on without knowing what's in your water.

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
I would recommend using distilled water. Not sure how big your tank is but it's pretty cheap by the gallon. Also if you don't have test kits then have your lfs run some tests for you (assuming they're open in your state). It's difficult to figure out what's going on without knowing what's in your water.

Yea. Thank you

flsalty · Mar 21, 2020

Bizzy bee reef said:
Yea that’s exactly what I’m doing because this is a budget I don’t have all the money. So I do with what u have

I understand. Some people do fine with tap water if it's good water. But maybe you should stick with just fish until you can afford to properly take care of corals. Reefing can be done on a budget, but can't be done with no money.

xxkenny90xx · Mar 21, 2020

Np, hope that hammer pulls through. I know what it's like reefing on a budget and then losing expensive corals

Magellan · Mar 21, 2020

You can also buy RODI from most LFS, mine charges $2.50 for a 5g buckets worth.

xxkenny90xx · Mar 21, 2020

Magellan said:
You can also buy RODI from most LFS, mine charges $2.50 for a 5g buckets worth.

Also an option. My lfs sells rodi with higher tds then my tap water...

Magellan · Mar 21, 2020

If possible: get your LFS to check your parameters (regularly if you don’t have test kits yet). Possibly add some carbon to take out any toxins in your water, and/or some polyfilter.

move the hammer down and give it time, it’s not dead yet but definitely not looking good. Long term, I/we would highly recommend to use distilled or RODI water. Tap water is sometimes possible to use, depending on where you live, but most people aren’t able to be successful with it.

Bizzy bee reef · Mar 21, 2020

flsalty said:
I understand. Some people do fine with tap water if it's good water. But maybe you should stick with just fish until you can afford to properly take care of corals. Reefing can be done on a budget, but can't be done with no money.

I have money it’s just shipping costs and this covid 19 has really limited what I’ve been able to do. But thanks for the help guys