Help reading/ translating levels pls

justjes45 · Apr 5, 2018

Hi guys! When somebody has a chance I need some help understanding what my testing levels should be at. I realize that everybody’s tank is different due to the number of corals and fish and size of tank… But this is what my levels read now.
Using the Hannah tester, my dKH is 11.6 – I do not know what this means.
My pH I stayed consistently around 7.4. I measure at the same time of day, and I feel that this might be low? I do not know how to fix it. A water change does not seem to help.
Why calcium reads 567 which is insanely high – and I’m wondering if I did the test wrong. I might try a different test.
And my salt is it 102.6 consistently. I was hoping for a little bit higher but maybe this is fine?

The deal is this, my fish seem totally happy. I have a 40 gallon nouveau tank. I have only about six fish. Also my carpet anemones and mushrooms and torch all seem wonderful. The strange thing is that my Zoe’s are closed up and disappearing. They are usually the easiest out of all of them to keep happy?!

If anybody has any helpful and constructive ideas I would happily hear them! Thank you guys

mahindra.dev · Apr 5, 2018

Ru looking for ranges to keep the parameters at??

What are you using to check all the parameters???
pH : 7.8-8.4
Sal: 1.024-1.026 sg
Cal: 400-450 ppm
Alk: 8-10dKH
Mag: 1400

pH is low but that is due to excess co2 in the house... need more info before we can determine what is causing low pH.

Cal: what test kit are U using?
Sal: are you saying 1.026 or 102.6?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 5, 2018

Calcium at 567 ppm, while perhaps just a testing error, is not insanely high, and if you are not dosing, just ignore it. It is not causing coral problems.

Some salt mixes have targeted levels not far from that, although most target calcium levels in the lower 400's.

A sg of 1.026 is perfect.

This has more:
Optimal Parameters for a Coral Reef Aquarium: By Randy Holmes-Farley
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/o...-reef-aquarium-by-randy-holmes-farley.173563/

Brett S · Apr 5, 2018

pH does seem a bit low at 7.4. What time of day did you read it. It will likely be lowest early in the morning before the lights come on and highest in the evening just before the lights go off. If it’s 7.4 in the evening, then I might be a bit concerned. If it was 7.4 first thing in the morning then that’s probably not too terrible.

Alkalinity and Calcium are both a bit high, but still in the acceptable range. If you’re dosing then you might want to cut back a bit, but if not then it could be your salt mix. It’s not a problem and I wouldn’t worry about it.

justjes45 · Apr 5, 2018

I test the Ph in the morning- so that sounds like an acceptable number..
Maybe my numbers are ok, but if they are,... what is up with my “bomb proof” zoas?
[emoji848]

justjes45 · Apr 5, 2018

mahindra.dev said:
Ru looking for ranges to keep the parameters at??

What are you using to check all the parameters???
pH : 7.8-8.4
Sal: 1.024-1.026 sg
Cal: 400-450 ppm
Alk: 8-10dKH
Mag: 1400

pH is low but that is due to excess co2 in the house... need more info before we can determine what is causing low pH.

Cal: what test kit are U using?
Sal: are you saying 1.026 or 102.6?

Mostly Hanna Testers-
Umm and now I am drawing a blank on the decimal point.. lol I will have to go home and check- [emoji51]

Brett S · Apr 5, 2018

justjes45 said:
Mostly Hanna Testers-
Umm and now I am drawing a blank on the decimal point.. lol I will have to go home and check- [emoji51]

Haha... you don’t have to check. Trust us, it’s 1.026 and not 102.6. If it was 102.6 then everything would be dead

FredsNJReef · Apr 5, 2018

Zoas aren't that easy as I'm finding out. They like some nitrates apparently. Test for nitrates and phosphates.
I use the Red Sea Pro kit for nitrates, and a Hanna checker for phosphates and DKH hardness.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 5, 2018

pH 7.4 is likely an error. Calcium carbonate rock, sand, and skeletons would slowly dissolve at that pH.

justjes45 · Apr 6, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
pH 7.4 is likely an error. Calcium carbonate rock, sand, and skeletons would slowly dissolve at that pH.

I am using a Hanna tester- maybe I have it set wrong? I will try another kit-
Maybe that is why my zoas and Monti are unhappy...

justjes45 · Apr 6, 2018

justjes45 said:
I am using a Hanna tester- maybe I have it set wrong? I will try another kit-
Maybe that is why my zoas and Monti are unhappy...

OK, so I tested it again this morning with my Hannah tester. It says is calibrated to seven. This morning‘s reading with a 7.5. I’m not sure what’s going on but is there a way to raise the pH? This is what I will be looking into today.

Brett S · Apr 6, 2018

justjes45 said:
OK, so I tested it again this morning with my Hannah tester. It says is calibrated to seven. This morning‘s reading with a 7.5. I’m not sure what’s going on but is there a way to raise the pH? This is what I will be looking into today.

Before you do that it might be worth verifying the result. You can get a pH test kit or test strips for less than $10 at any pet store. Just make sure that it’s intended for saltwater use.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2018

justjes45 said:
OK, so I tested it again this morning with my Hannah tester. It says is calibrated to seven. This morning‘s reading with a 7.5. I’m not sure what’s going on but is there a way to raise the pH? This is what I will be looking into today.

To calibrate, or check calibration, you need to check two different pH values, usually pH 7 and something higher (10) when measuring seawater.

There are plenty of good ways to raise pH (fresher air is often the easiest). BUT LISTEN, pH 7.4 and 7.5 is quite rare. I've read thousands of pH threads. It is possible, but far more likely that the pH is higher than you think. Your house has a bad CO2 problem if the pH is that low.

Here's a way to know if the pH is really low, and where the CO2 is coming from if it is:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

justjes45 · Apr 6, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
To calibrate, or check calibration, you need to check two different pH values, usually pH 7 and something higher (10) when measuring seawater.

There are plenty of good ways to raise pH (fresher air is often the easiest). BUT LISTEN, pH 7.4 and 7.5 is quite rare. I've read thousands of pH threads. It is possible, but far more likely that the pH is higher than you think. Your house has a bad CO2 problem if the pH is that low.

Here's a way to know if the pH is really low, and where the CO2 is coming from if it is:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/

The Aeration Test

Some of the possible causes of low pH listed above require an effort to diagnose. Problems 3 and 4 are quite common, and here is a way to distinguish them. Remove a cup of tank water and measure its pH. Then aerate it for an hour with an airstone using outside air. Its pH should rise if it is unusually low for the measured alkalinity (Figure 2). Then repeat the same experiment on a new cup of water using inside air. If its pH also rises, then the aquarium’s pH will rise simply with more aeration because it is only the aquarium that contains excess carbon dioxide. If the pH does not rise in the cup (or rises very little) when aerating with indoor air, then that air likely contains excess CO2, and more aeration with that same air will not solve the low pH problem (although aeration with fresher air should). Be careful implementing this test if the outside aeration test results in a large temperature change (more than 5°C or 10°F), because such changes alone impact pH measurements.

Thank you so much-
I will study up on this-
It is late winter in Vermont- so we HAVE been cooped up in here all winter, and the Co2 theory might be the case—-
Thanks so much!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2018

You're welcome.

Good luck.

justjes45 · Apr 13, 2018

Ok... something is “off” could be me, could be the test kit/ calibration... the calcium is so high, my Ph is better... maybe do a massive water change?
I usually do a 20% water change every week- week 1/2, ( as chaos allows..)
Maybe do a bigger change?
Fish are fine, mushrooms good, toadstool coral is looking crabby...

Brett S · Apr 13, 2018

justjes45 said:
Ok... something is “off” could be me, could be the test kit/ calibration... the calcium is so high, my Ph is better... maybe do a massive water change?
I usually do a 20% water change every week- week 1/2, ( as chaos allows..)
Maybe do a bigger change?
Fish are fine, mushrooms good, toadstool coral is looking crabby...

Calcium and alkalinity definitely look a bit high, but they are still in safe ranges (although alkalinity is definitely toward the high end of the safe range). Keeping in mind that stability is key you don’t want to make sudden changes. It would be worse for your corals to bring the alkalinity down to 9 by doing one large water change than it would be to just leave the alkalinity at 14. If you do bring it down, do so no more than maybe .5 dkh per day.

That said it is unlikely that your calcium and alkalinity would be that high unless you are dosing calcium and alkalinity. It is also very unlikely that that they would have gone up from your previous numbers without you dosing anything. So if you are dosing calcium and alkalinity then you are dosing too much and you need to stop or slow down. If you’ve been using a pH buffer to try to help the pH then stop that as well as that will affect the alkalinity.

If you haven’t been dosing or using a buffer then I suspect testing error. You might want to repeat the tests or maybe even have a LFS test your water and see if they get different numbers.

You also might want to test a batch of freshly mixed salt. Some of the salt mixes do have high calcium and alkalinity levels, but I don’t think there are any that are quite that high. But if your new salt has super high levels then all the water changes in the world won’t bring down the levels in your tank.

Finally as a side note, your temp of 74.1 is pretty low. Most people keep their reef tanks closer to 78 or 79 or even into the low 80’s. Again, 74.1 isn’t unsafe, but it’s definitely a bit lower than ideal. Like I said, stability is key, so you don’t want to just crank up your heater and bring the temp up to 78 in an hour, but I would bring it up a degree every day or two until you get up to 78 or 79.

justjes45 · Apr 13, 2018

Brett S said:
Calcium and alkalinity definitely look a bit high, but they are still in safe ranges (although alkalinity is definitely toward the high end of the safe range). Keeping in mind that stability is key you don’t want to make sudden changes. It would be worse for your corals to bring the alkalinity down to 9 by doing one large water change than it would be to just leave the alkalinity at 14. If you do bring it down, do so no more than maybe .5 dkh per day.

That said it is unlikely that your calcium and alkalinity would be that high unless you are dosing calcium and alkalinity. It is also very unlikely that that they would have gone up from your previous numbers without you dosing anything. So if you are dosing calcium and alkalinity then you are dosing too much and you need to stop or slow down. If you’ve been using a pH buffer to try to help the pH then stop that as well as that will affect the alkalinity.

If you haven’t been dosing or using a buffer then I suspect testing error. You might want to repeat the tests or maybe even have a LFS test your water and see if they get different numbers.

You also might want to test a batch of freshly mixed salt. Some of the salt mixes do have high calcium and alkalinity levels, but I don’t think there are any that are quite that high. But if your new salt has super high levels then all the water changes in the world won’t bring down the levels in your tank.

Finally as a side note, your temp of 74.1 is definitely pretty low. Most people keep their reef tanks closer to 78 or 79. Again, 74.1 isn’t unsafe, but it’s definitely a bit lower than ideal. You don’t want to just crank up your heater and bring the temp up to 78 in an hour, but I would bring it up a degree every day or two until you get up to 78 or 79.

Wow! thank you for all of the information! It was super helpful. Thank you for taking the time!