Water test analysis - please provide advice
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DaJMasta
Well-Known Member
Check your salinity. Alkalinity and magnesium are both low, calcium a little bit but not the same way. I feel like when I see several low numbers, it's often just low salinity, and recalibrating and checking should show you if that's the case. A smallish (10-20%) water change should replenish things fairly evenly, and if your salinity is fine and your primary minerals have just been used up, you're likely missing a bunch of more trace elements along with it.
Important to note that if the tank is acting fairly healthy, don't make any corrective moves suddenly - while low, the parameters aren't going to kill anything healthy outright, you just want to make a course correction towards more standard parameters in the future (think a month down the line).
Important to note that if the tank is acting fairly healthy, don't make any corrective moves suddenly - while low, the parameters aren't going to kill anything healthy outright, you just want to make a course correction towards more standard parameters in the future (think a month down the line).
Kmst80
Well-Known Member
Tank looks good. If you refer to diatoms as the brownish bits on the sand i wouldn't be worried about it to much, you got no visible hairalgae and coraline algae seems to start taking off.
What water do you use to top up and for waterchanges? Is the Source water RO Water?
If you use Tapwater for topup you introduce silica same if you use Natural Sea water or you make your saltwater with tapwater.A cleanup crew should take care of the diatoms.
I would slowly bring up salinity to 34- 35 ppt or 1.025-1.026. Just top up with Saltwater until you reach the right Level.
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Rocktron1
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Thanks mate for reply
I'll slowly raise salinity as per your comment
Yes the brown dusty algae on sand is what I was referring to. I was buying saltwater from LFS until 4 weeks ago when I started to mix myself. I have just bought a brand new RO unit with extra large DI resin filter so I'm pretty sure my ro/di water isn't an issue and I top up my tanka with this water also
Salt mix is the red sea one
There is zero other algae in tank and rocks are getting covered nicely as you said with coraline
The diatoms started before I started mixing own salt so perhaps it's my fish feeding habits. Pretty sure I overfeed so will reduce amount for time being. I did use reef flux about 3 months ago to treat GHA outbreak I had which although cleared up the GHA, seems to have interpreted the stability of my tank a bit, as after that it seems to have gone through several early tank stages again like a small cyno stage and now this brown algae on sand and glass every day
Other than that, tank is doing great, corals slowly growing and everything seems healthy
Clean up crew for my 25g waterbox is 6 X small hermit crabs, 5 X trochus snails, 5 X zombie snails (nassarius), 1 X sand sifting star and 1 X strombus snail
I'll slowly raise salinity as per your comment
Yes the brown dusty algae on sand is what I was referring to. I was buying saltwater from LFS until 4 weeks ago when I started to mix myself. I have just bought a brand new RO unit with extra large DI resin filter so I'm pretty sure my ro/di water isn't an issue and I top up my tanka with this water also
Salt mix is the red sea one
There is zero other algae in tank and rocks are getting covered nicely as you said with coraline
The diatoms started before I started mixing own salt so perhaps it's my fish feeding habits. Pretty sure I overfeed so will reduce amount for time being. I did use reef flux about 3 months ago to treat GHA outbreak I had which although cleared up the GHA, seems to have interpreted the stability of my tank a bit, as after that it seems to have gone through several early tank stages again like a small cyno stage and now this brown algae on sand and glass every day
Other than that, tank is doing great, corals slowly growing and everything seems healthy
Clean up crew for my 25g waterbox is 6 X small hermit crabs, 5 X trochus snails, 5 X zombie snails (nassarius), 1 X sand sifting star and 1 X strombus snail
Kmst80
Well-Known Member
Once you got your salinity up recheck mg,alk and calcium, i aim for alk to be between 7-9dkh, mg around the 1360 and calcium around 430-450. Don't think cal will matter much for you since you got mostly softies. Coraline loves mg so once you get that up you might see coraline explode.
twentyleagues
2500 Club Member
Agree that you should slowly raise salinity. How often are you changing water? The growth of Coraline algae and the few lps you have may be using the alk and mag faster then your current wc schedule replenishes it. May need to increase your frequency.
twentyleagues
2500 Club Member
Also, do you know what the parameters are when you mix a fresh batch of salt? What's listed on the bucket isnt always what you get with quite a few of the brands out there in my experience.
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Rocktron1
Active Member
Thanks for replies guys appreciate it
I do approx 30% changes every 2 weeks at the longest interval, sometimes I do it weekly. I must admit I don't test my water often as I was presuming the frequency and percentage of water I was changing would maintain water quality
I'll raise the parameters mentioned above and report back in a few weeks
I do approx 30% changes every 2 weeks at the longest interval, sometimes I do it weekly. I must admit I don't test my water often as I was presuming the frequency and percentage of water I was changing would maintain water quality
I'll raise the parameters mentioned above and report back in a few weeks
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Rocktron1
Active Member
@twentyleagues
Excellent point- no I never thought to test the salt water I mixed. I only checked the salinity of it and temperature before I put it in display tank. I only mix 30L at a time and the whole lot goes in every 2 weeks in a 96L tank. So if you take rock etc out I think I'm actually doing larger than average water changes
Excellent point- no I never thought to test the salt water I mixed. I only checked the salinity of it and temperature before I put it in display tank. I only mix 30L at a time and the whole lot goes in every 2 weeks in a 96L tank. So if you take rock etc out I think I'm actually doing larger than average water changes
twentyleagues
2500 Club Member
Depending on what you find happening once your salinity is corrected you may find it better to break your wc schedule down to half that amount weekly. I have just went through this same with my small tank. I was doing a 20% biweekly wc and my alk was sitting at low 7. My fresh mixed water is 8ish. I switched to weekly 10%ish closer to 15% actually and it's steady 8 now before a wc. Like you I have a few lps and coraline is starting to grow. I dose nothing currently and don't plan to on this tank. It's basically a grow out until I get my larger tank online and a sort of toe dip back into the hobby after 12 years.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Raising the specific gravity to match average seawater (sg = 1.0264) will boost magnesium to normal.
Alk is a tad low and I'd raise it to 7-11 dKH.
Are you sure what you have are diatoms and not something else, such as cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates? If it is diatoms, I'd just wait them out as you transition to your new RO/DI water for top off and water changes.
Alk is a tad low and I'd raise it to 7-11 dKH.
Are you sure what you have are diatoms and not something else, such as cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates? If it is diatoms, I'd just wait them out as you transition to your new RO/DI water for top off and water changes.
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Rocktron1
Active Member
Thanks randy. Yep pretty sure diatoms as it's like a dust that blows off easily. Not Dino's. No stringy bubbles etc
As for cyno I did also recently dose chemiclean as I had a small visible patch of red cyano so don't think it's that either as its different
I'll get the salinity back and see how I go from there
As for cyno I did also recently dose chemiclean as I had a small visible patch of red cyano so don't think it's that either as its different
I'll get the salinity back and see how I go from there
CoastalTownLayabout
Active Member
Flux and chemiclean in the last few months might have knocked things a bit. I wouldn’t go berko on parameter adjustments or water change schedules in the short term. Maybe just get back to your usual water change groove for a while.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Rocktron1
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Yep agree. although the reef flux worked wonders on my GHA, it seems to have "shocked" my entire system afterwards and I seem to be going through all the different stages again. I'll just take it slow again and give you guys an update in a month or so
Thanks everyone for all the replies and advice
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Rocktron1
Active Member
Update
Salinity back to 1.026
Alk 9.2
Calcium 495
Ph 7.9
Phosphate approx 0-0.01. salifert colour chart so hard to tell
Nitrate approx 5 with colour chart . All other tests were with Hanna digital tests
I have also dosed dr Tim's refresh and waste away for last 7 days and the nuisance algae that was covering sand
is almost completely gone
Tank seems to be getting back to more stability again . Next tests I'll carry out will be testing my Rodi water and also freshly mixed salt to see what I'm
actually Puting in there
Salinity back to 1.026
Alk 9.2
Calcium 495
Ph 7.9
Phosphate approx 0-0.01. salifert colour chart so hard to tell
Nitrate approx 5 with colour chart . All other tests were with Hanna digital tests
I have also dosed dr Tim's refresh and waste away for last 7 days and the nuisance algae that was covering sand
Tank seems to be getting back to more stability again . Next tests I'll carry out will be testing my Rodi water and also freshly mixed salt to see what I'm
hunterallen40
Active Member
So 4 TDS is actually not good... Your TDS should be zero coming out of the unit, no exceptions. If it is not zero, the resin has been depleted, and is allowing certain compounds to pass through. Among the first to pass through at that TDS are silicates and ammonia.
Silicates often fuel diatoms, so be prepared for those to return...
Do you have color changing resin? Could we see the RODI unit?
