I’m confused

[alliw]

Hey everyone!
I’m new here so I hope this post is in the right place.
I have a nano tank 20g running since March with only live rock laden with feather dusting worms I think and a single black Molly to get things started. Two weeks ago we added a blood shrimp and he’s been happy and molted once. I didn’t think I wanted to add coral when I first set the tank up but now I’d like to add a couple of smaller pieces but am a little confused about these phosphorus vs phosphate checking devices. I ordered the ultra low range Hanna checker and have a nitrate one on its way. I saw a fair amount of what looked like white hair algae in the tank so I thought maybe I don’t have the right balance of something for a coral. Did I order the right one? Where should my levels be and do I need to order something else rather than the ULr checker or some supplements to add to the water? I prefer an accurate reading as the colour ones are hard to tell- I’m not sure if my levels are too low, one the strips I get 0 but with the API vial kit I’m getting a little but not accurate enough for a beginner that doesn’t know how to really use the readings either.
Thanks in advance. Pic of my rocks with the algae for reference

 

[alliw]

Hey everyone!
I’m new here so I hope this post is in the right place.
I have a nano tank 20g running since March with only live rock laden with feather dusting worms I think and a single black Molly to get things started. Two weeks ago we added a blood shrimp and he’s been happy and molted once. I didn’t think I wanted to add coral when I first set the tank up but now I’d like to add a couple of smaller pieces but am a little confused about these phosphorus vs phosphate checking devices. I ordered the ultra low range Hanna checker and have a nitrate one on its way. I saw a fair amount of what looked like white hair algae in the tank so I thought maybe I don’t have the right balance of something for a coral. Did I order the right one? Where should my levels be and do I need to order something else rather than the ULr checker or some supplements to add to the water? I prefer an accurate reading as the colour ones are hard to tell- I’m not sure if my levels are too low, one the strips I get 0 but with the API vial kit I’m getting a little but not accurate enough for a beginner that doesn’t know how to really use the readings either.
Thanks in advance. Pic of my rocks with the algae for reference

 

[Subsea]

First post,

Welcome from Texas. Your picture is difficult to interpret. Would you do a full tank shot under white light.

If you have feather duster worms, I suggest you.forget about chasing numbers. Healthy micro invert population is a good bioindicator of system health.

Start with easy soft corals. I suggest you start a tank journal and give more system details.

Beginner Corals: Corals Suitable for Beginners in Saltwater Aquariums

LiveAquaria® has a vast selection of corals perfect for the beginner

www.liveaquaria.com

off this list, I can recommend Green Star Polyps, Xenia and mushrooms.

 

[00W]

Agreed and welcome welcome to R2R!
Nice to see you are taking it slowly so kudos to that.
People have sucess running all sorts of different numbers as far as phosphate and nitrate. I try to not concentrate on the numbers.
Use good water, keep salinity and temperature stable and once you have tested, post those numbers for everyone and we'll do what we can to help !

 

[alliw]

Lovely! I appreciate your input, as I’m just learning I realize that many folks will have seen many posts like this and pass them by as this may be a more advanced area on this forum. I’ll try and grab a nice white light shot and add it

 

[alliw]

Agreed and welcome welcome to R2R!
Nice to see you are taking it slowly so kudos to that.
People have sucess running all sorts of different numbers as far as phosphate and nitrate. I try to not concentrate on the numbers.
Use good water, keep salinity and temperature stable and once you have tested, post those numbers for everyone and we'll do what we can to help !

Thank you! I’ll do my best to be close to numbers but my kits for now are the eye charts and a salinity refraction meter

 

[00W]

Lovely! I appreciate your input, as I’m just learning I realize that many folks will have seen many posts like this and pass them by as this may be a more advanced area on this forum. I’ll try and grab a nice white light shot and add it

Everyone starts somewhere and there's lots of us who are here to help.
That's what R2R is all about so you came to the right place.
Keep asking questions and yes,white light pictures are great!

 

[fishyjoes]

The hanna phosphate checkers are confusing. There are four variations! I ended up getting the "Marine Phosphate ULR (ppm)" (HI774) which tells the ppm reading from 0.0 to 0.9

People usually say to keep phosphate between 0.03 and 0.1 ppm when you have corals, but you can certainly keep corals with much higher levels.

 

[alliw]

Thank you! I’ll do my best to be close to numbers but my kits for now are the eye charts and a salinity refraction meter I just aim for the green area on that and I’m doing water changes every 4 days now that I’ve seen that white growth ( almost looks like a dancing white fuzz over all the rocks and glass I didn’t scrub) coming from the freshwater world years back it looks like slime but not as heavy and it’s opaque like jelly I scrubbed most of it off with a toothbrush yesterday- maybe I should’ve left it alone??

 

[alliw]

Everyone starts somewhere and there's lots of us who are here to help.
That's what R2R is all about so you came to the right place.
Keep asking questions and yes,white light pictures are great!

Thank you!! I’ll get some pics added here to help

 

[alliw]

Thanks everyone for chiming in! Here are a couple white light pics I hope they can show the stringy goo.

 

[alliw]

Thanks everyone for chiming in! Here are a couple white light pics I hope they can show the stringy goo.

 

[alliw]

First post,

Welcome from Texas. Your picture is difficult to interpret. Would you do a full tank shot under white light.

If you have feather duster worms, I suggest you.forget about chasing numbers. Healthy micro invert population is a good bioindicator of system health.

Start with easy soft corals. I suggest you start a tank journal and give more system details.

Beginner Corals: Corals Suitable for Beginners in Saltwater Aquariums

LiveAquaria® has a vast selection of corals perfect for the beginner

www.liveaquaria.com

off this list, I can recommend Green Star Polyps, Xenia and mushrooms.

First post,

Welcome from Texas. Your picture is difficult to interpret. Would you do a full tank shot under white light.

If you have feather duster worms, I suggest you.forget about chasing numbers. Healthy micro invert population is a good bioindicator of system health.

Start with easy soft corals. I suggest you start a tank journal and give more system details.

Beginner Corals: Corals Suitable for Beginners in Saltwater Aquariums

LiveAquaria® has a vast selection of corals perfect for the beginner

www.liveaquaria.com

off this list, I can recommend Green Star Polyps, Xenia and mushrooms.

Okay thanks! Yea… I kinda was thinking I should just go with the beginners, I suppose that’s the best place to start. I was hoping to get some deep orange sea whip I thought looked cool lol out of my league rn

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

When you get both checkers, it's most important to make sure the levels are not too low, since that can risk dinos. IMO, you want at least 2 ppm nitrate and 0.03 ppm phosphate.

 

[alliw]

When you get both checkers, it's most important to make sure the levels are not too low, since that can risk dinos. IMO, you want at least 2 ppm nitrate and 0.03 ppm phosphate.

My levels of ph go down during a month. I have a bed of sand but also add crushed coral, which dissipates. From what I read this is supposed to raise ph, so I have also added a small sock of crushed coral and baking Soda to my filter in the very bottom I’m hopes that it will keep these levels in check before adding live fish. I don’t like playing with numbers. I would prefer natural over chemicals and am patient to add to the system but I’m thinking maybe I need a couple of poop machines at least now. (Maybe I took things toooooo slow) lol.
I have a neon blue goby coming and added a couple of snails as well as removed the small hob skimmer

 

[alliw]

 

[alliw]

Saw the same on a coral at the LFS and they said it’s mucus. Which makes sense. I did a bunch of reading and it could have something to do with an essential oil diffuser I added near our dog crate. Ugh. Shoulda known better! Of course. But also, my tank is very close to the kitchen in the dining area, so maybe that’s got something to do with it. I have an acrylic lid and it covers most of the top but 2” in the back. I want to go back to my old fluval sub filter. Would it be ok in a 20g salt tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Calcium carbonate cannot keep pH above about pH 7.8. It just doesn't dissolve.

 

[alliw]

Calcium carbonate cannot keep pH above about pH 7.8. It just doesn't dissolve.

I don’t know an exact reading as I right now only have the vial tests. What is the best place to look at these vials? I am such a visual person too as I’m a graphic artist and the colours just hover depending on where I hold the vial and the lighting. I’m like “really?! I should totally be ‘getting’ this”

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know an exact reading as I right now only have the vial tests. What is the best place to look at these vials? I am such a visual person too as I’m a graphic artist and the colours just hover depending on where I hold the vial and the lighting. I’m like “really?! I should totally be ‘getting’ this”

You mean what lighting?