Water Testing Help

[Anthony Malagisi]

Hey everyone I have a quick question I'm in the process of cycling my tank and have been testing the water daily and right now my levels are like this

Ammonia .50
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate .5
pH 8.0
Phosphate .25
Salinity 1.026

My question is should I see ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at the same time and also should my salt level change daily?

Thanks for the help

 

[40B Knasty]

Ocean water is 1.026. The less salt the more O². I run around 1.024.5-1.025. So I have leeway for evaporation. Kind of a little safety net. So it doesn't go above 1.026. If you want want 1.026. Just stay on top of top offs with plain fresh water.
Right now your ammonia is up. Which makes nitrites become available. Which makes nitrates the least toxic of the nitrogen cycle (which is all 3 of those) available. One breaks down the other in that order. Anaerobic bacteria is what turns nitrates into the gas form and floats it up and out of your tank.
So yes the good bacteria nitrates is populating. That is a great thing to see. Wait till the ammonia and nitrites to come back down to zero. Then do a 40% water change. That will bring your nitrates down. Then check it. I would suggest not having over 10ppm nitrates before adding anything.
When you add. Add slow. It allows you to know what your tank can handle. It also allows your take to adjust to new livestock. With no ammonia spikes.

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

Ocean water is 1.026. The less salt the more O². I run around 1.024.5-1.025. So I have leeway for evaporation. Kind of a little safety net. So it doesn't go above 1.026. If you want want 1.026. Just stay on top of top offs with plain fresh water.
Right now your ammonia is up. Which makes nitrites become available. Which makes nitrates the least toxic of the nitrogen cycle (which is all 3 of those) available. One breaks down the other in that order. Anaerobic bacteria is what turns nitrates into the gas form and floats it up and out of your tank.
So yes the good bacteria nitrates is populating. That is a great thing to see. Wait till the ammonia and nitrites to come back down to zero. Then do a 40% water change. That will bring your nitrates down. Then check it. I would suggest not having over 10ppm nitrates before adding anything.
When you add. Add slow. It allows you to know what your tank can handle. It also allows your take to adjust to new livestock. With no ammonia spikes.

Thanks for the info

My salinity seems to fluctuate alot yesterday it was 1.028 I added about a gallon of fresh water and it came down to 1.024 today I checked it and it was 1.026 so I added a half gallon of water it just seems like it's going up and down quite often

 

[40B Knasty]

Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer to test your salinity?

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

Are you using a hydrometer or refractometer to test your salinity?

Refractometer

 

[40B Knasty]

Are you using Acurasea to calibrate your refractometer?

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

Are you using Acurasea to calibrate your refractometer?

No I've been using deionized water for calibrations

 

[40B Knasty]

No I've been using deionized water for calibrations

I am not sure how that works. I will say there is times where 2 months will go by before mine needs an adjustment. Sometimes 2 minutes.
How long are you mixing your salt for and are you really mixing it up good?
What size tank is it?

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

I am not sure how that works. I will say there is times where 2 months will go by before mine needs an adjustment. Sometimes 2 minutes.
How long are you mixing your salt for and are you really mixing it up good?
What size tank is it?

Well this is a new tank setup and I just added the salt to the fresh deionized water initially and let it mix that way now I've just been adding fresh water to lower the salinity. The tank is a 72 gallon bow front with a 20 gallon wet/dry sump setup below it and a canister filter also a media reactor with denigrate media in it and my protein skimmer

 

[40B Knasty]

You should not have a .002 swing to have 1.026 from 1.024 with that size tank without losing 2g+ due to evaporation.

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

You should not have a .002 swing to have 1.026 from 1.024 with that size tank without losing 2g+ due to evaporation.

Do you think it's a ****** refractometer?

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

That's the model refractometer I'm using

 

[40B Knasty]

Do you think it's a ****** refractometer?

That I could not tell you. I use the Acurasea. Shake the bottle, because salt settles everytime. Put some in the cap and put the Acurasea on the prism. Put the rest in the cap back in the bottle and close it. Then you KNOW it is reading salt right. Should be 1.026.5 or 35ppt.

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

That I could not tell you. I use the Acurasea. Shake the bottle, because salt settles everytime. Put some in the cap and put the Acurasea on the prism. Put the rest in the cap back in the bottle and close it. Then you KNOW it is reading salt right. Should be 1.026.5 or 35ppt.

Hmm now I'm not sure what the issue is and if my salt level is even correct, I have a hydrometer maybe I can compare the 2 and see if there close

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

With my refractometer I got 1.026 so idk what to believe

 

[40B Knasty]

I would trust a refractometer over a hydrometer. If there is bubbles under that arrow. It is off. With Acurasea you know it is calibrated and what your salt is, is.

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

I would trust a refractometer over a hydrometer. If there is bubbles under that arrow. It is off. With Acurasea you know it is calibrated and what your salt is, is.

I think my refractometer sucks lol

 

[40B Knasty]

I hope not, because I think I have the same one. Haha

 

[Anthony Malagisi]

I hope not, because I think I have the same one. Haha

Did you get it from Amazon?

 

[40B Knasty]

Not sure. My trusted LFS guy said,"Dont get the one with the blue case." So I got that one.