New to hobby water test help!

[JB64]

I am new to the hobby. 7 month old 75 gallon reef tank I hope! I received my ATI test results back and am not sure what to do now? Any suggestions or ideas would greatly be appreciated! The RODI test came back good.

 

[slojim]

fish only or reef? I think you're just low on salt - so maybe you need to check your hydrometer - make a batch of SW with a scale, buy some calibration water, or take yours to an LFS that you use.
If you're livestock don't look stessed, don't over react. Just add SW instead of FW as top off until you have salinity in a comfortable range.

 

[JB64]

I only have fish and a few hermit craps. I have tried snails and a few cleaner shrimp but none survived long after acclimation. I posted about it and was suggested to test the water. I will recalibrate the refractometer. I want to slowly turn this into reef. Are the copper and tin levels going to allow that?

 

[JB64]

fish only or reef? I think you're just low on salt - so maybe you need to check your hydrometer - make a batch of SW with a scale, buy some calibration water, or take yours to an LFS that you use.
If you're livestock don't look stessed, don't over react. Just add SW instead of FW as top off until you have salinity in a comfortable range.

I only have fish and a few hermit craps. I have tried snails and a few cleaner shrimp but none survived long after acclimation. I posted about it and was suggested to test the water. I will recalibrate the refractometer. I want to slowly turn this into reef. Are the copper and tin levels going to allow that?

 

[slojim]

oh - I transposed those as a I read down, no they are not. Is it a used tank or used rock that could be leaching copper? Vinyl tubing can leach zinc. I'd do a good sized water change and run some adsorbent - cuprisorb, perhaps, or carbon. I think that polybiomarine makes a pad that will remove heavy metals. They get a curious rep, but long ago I had good results.

 

[JB64]

oh - I transposed those as a I read down, no they are not. Is it a used tank or used rock that could be leaching copper? Vinyl tubing can leach zinc. I'd do a good sized water change and run some adsorbent - cuprisorb, perhaps, or carbon. I think that polybiomarine makes a pad that will remove heavy metals. They get a curious rep, but long ago I had good results.

I am running cupisorp and carbon. I will check into the polybiomarine pad. I started the tank with tap water and used thr dechlorination drops for the first few months untill i could get my RODI system. Could that be part of the problem? Someone talked about copper getting stuck in the sand and the rocks. Should I replace my sand, rocks?

 

[slojim]

I don't know. I'd likely get rid of the sand, but I like my rocks too much to give up on them that quickly. Still, I might pull some or most out and treat them in a rubbermaid tub or trash can, just to get the copper out of the tank. But remove too much rock and sand too quick and you might have an ammonia spike. If your crabs are fine (not to mention your fish), then it seems like a problem to fix more than an emergency.

 

[JB64]

I don't know. I'd likely get rid of the sand, but I like my rocks too much to give up on them that quickly. Still, I might pull some or most out and treat them in a rubbermaid tub or trash can, just to get the copper out of the tank. But remove too much rock and sand too quick and you might have an ammonia spike. If your crabs are fine (not to mention your fish), then it seems like a problem to fix more than an emergency.

Thank you for all the input! I looked at posts about copper removal. Dosen't seem like it comes out of the rock. It is a very big set back but at least now i know what is going on. You are right, not an emergency now just a problem to fix. Good lesson learned.