What is going on with parameters in Nano reef?

[Emma01]

What on earth has happened, please help!?
I checked my parameters few days ago and all was well.
Today, I’ve checked and my KH, Mg, Ca low! What causing it and what can I do? I can’t remember roughly what time I checked few days ago, so can’t be sure it was exactly same time.

Today’s parameters......

Ca- 350
Mg - 1050
KH- 7.5
PH- 8.3
Salinity - 1025
Nitrates-5
Nitrites- 0
Ammonia-0
Phosphate-0



Few days ago
PH (redsea) -8.2
KH (salifert) - 8.7
Calcium(salifert)- 400-410
Magnesium (salifert)- 1275
Nitrites (redsea)- 0
Nitrates(redsea)-5-10ppm
Ammonia(redsea)- 0
Phos (salifert) - 0
Salinity- 1025

it’s a 30 litre Nano with......
- 1 shrimp, 1 Percula clown, 1 acan coral, brittle starfish (hitchhikers)

I use H2Ocean pro reef salt

Really hope someone out there can help
Thanks.

 

[Flippers4pups]

What on earth has happened, please help!?
I checked my parameters few days ago and all was well.
Today, I’ve checked and my KH, Mg, Ca low! What causing it and what can I do? I can’t remember roughly what time I checked few days ago, so can’t be sure it was exactly same time.

Today’s parameters......

Ca- 350
Mg - 1050
KH- 7.5
PH- 8.3
Salinity - 1025
Nitrates-5
Nitrites- 0
Ammonia-0
Phosphate-0



Few days ago
PH (redsea) -8.2
KH (salifert) - 8.7
Calcium(salifert)- 400-410
Magnesium (salifert)- 1275
Nitrites (redsea)- 0
Nitrates(redsea)-5-10ppm
Ammonia(redsea)- 0
Phos (salifert) - 0
Salinity- 1025

it’s a 30 litre Nano with......
- 1 shrimp, 1 Percula clown, 1 acan coral, brittle starfish (hitchhikers)

I use H2Ocean pro reef salt

Really hope someone out there can help
Thanks.

When was the last time you did a water change? Do you dose anything?

 

[Emma01]

When was the last time you did a water change? Do you dose anything?

I don’t dose no, I do strict 10% water changes a week, due tomorrow.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I don’t dose no, I do strict 10% water changes a week, due tomorrow.

How long has your tank been running?

Sounds like a precipitation event, but your not dosing, so I'm not sure.

Is your test kits with in expiration dates?

Test again, if same, do a water change and test.

 

[Bryce M.]

Agree with flipper, with cal, what coral do you have in there? My chalice sucks up cal like all heck

 

[Emma01]

How long has your tank been running?

Sounds like a precipitation event, but your not dosing, so I'm not sure.

Is your test kits with in expiration dates?

Test again, if same, do a water change and test.

Been running going on 3 years. They’re all in expiration date yes.
I’m wondering wether it’s because I’ve recently changed salt mix.... from pre-mixed to H2Ocean (because I wanted to keep corals) so wasn’t really checking for Ca,Mg prior. Is it possible that I need to do a bigger water change to ‘deplete’ the water parameters that were already in there, therefore increasing my Ca, Mg ?

 

[Emma01]

Agree with flipper, with cal, what coral do you have in there? My chalice sucks up cal like all heck

Just 1 acan as I’m starting to keep coral. Up until about 6 months ago, it was fish only with LR

 

[Bryce M.]

Personally I bet it's due to the change of salt mix, but I could be completely wrong but that can be a pretty significant change.

 

[Emma01]

Personally I bet it's due to the change of salt mix, but I could be completely wrong but that can be a pretty significant change.

Any suggestions how much should I change a week to attempt to get it ‘on track’?
Thanks

 

[Bryce M.]

Any suggestions how much should I change a week to attempt to get it ‘on track’?
Thanks

Personally I dose with calcium, but that could lead to an overdose. I use aquavitro cal, 7 ML is 10 ppm so in your case I would dose 35 ML to increase cal to 400 ppm. What type of substrate do you have?

 

[Emma01]

Personally I dose with calcium, but that could lead to an overdose. I use aquavitro cal, 7 ML is 10 ppm so in

Personally I dose with calcium, but that could lead to an overdose. I use aquavitro cal, 7 ML is 10 ppm so in your case I would dose 35 ML to increase cal to 400 ppm. What type of substrate do you have?

I have live argonite sand. I’m always so frightened to start dosing incase I kill something

 

[Bryce M.]

Alright so that adds cal. I know dosing is kinda scary but we do have a reef chemist on here to help you professional advise (I'm just a random dude with an eel), but as long as you test and really know the numbers, it's perfectly fine. For my chalice I would blindly dose cal, storium, and iodin, and it went well, but testing the numbers is better

 

[SteveEreef]

According to Marine Depot. These are the numbers on the salt you are using. Did you mix it with RO/DI? Also did you test the new saltwater before adding to the tank?

Parameters when mixed to a S.G: of 1.025 @ 25°C = 35.5 ppt

Parameters Level Range Units
pH 8.3 8.2-8.4
dKH 9.3 8.7-9.8
Calcium (Ca2+) 440 430-460 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg2+) 1340 1300-1380 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) 19550 19960-20130 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 410 380-420 mg/l

 

[Emma01]

According to Marine Depot. These are the numbers on the salt you are using. Did you mix it with RO/DI? Also did you test the new saltwater before adding to the tank?

Parameters when mixed to a S.G: of 1.025 @ 25°C = 35.5 ppt

Parameters Level Range Units
pH 8.3 8.2-8.4
dKH 9.3 8.7-9.8
Calcium (Ca2+) 440 430-460 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg2+) 1340 1300-1380 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) 19550 19960-20130 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 410 380-420 mg/l

Hi. Yes I used RO/DI water
No I don’t test the freshly made saltwater, which I will definitely do to check parameters before putting in display tank to see if all adds up.
If that’s all to check, I don’t know why my levels are low. Should I test display tank straight after adding new batch to see what (if any) difference it has made?
Thanks

 

[Emma01]

According to Marine Depot. These are the numbers on the salt you are using. Did you mix it with RO/DI? Also did you test the new saltwater before adding to the tank?

Parameters when mixed to a S.G: of 1.025 @ 25°C = 35.5 ppt
Parameters Level Range Units
pH 8.3 8.2-8.4
dKH 9.3 8.7-9.8
Calcium (Ca2+) 440 430-460 mg/l
Magnesium (Mg2+) 1340 1300-1380 mg/l
Chloride (Cl-) 19550 19960-20130 mg/l
Potassium (K+) 410 380-420 mg/l

Hi everyone. About to do water change, and been battling low Mg, KH, Ca. Never tested the fresh made salt water before adding to aquarium. But today I did! ;Bored

I use H2Ocean salt (recently switched to this) 1025 salinity, 25C. Mixed with RO/DI -TDS- 0 phos-0
I thoroughly mix the salt bucket before using too

Brand new test kits and another new set just to double check what I was seeing! There’s no wonder I’ve been struggling with parameters! :mad: New salt mix......
Ok here goes......
KH- 7.0
Magnesium- 1020
Calcium- 375

Is this a batch issue or what guys???
I’ve lost confidence in the salt,
any other suggestions what I can switch to?

Other parameters were...
PH- 8.2
Nitrates -0
Nitrites -0

Thanks everybody.

 

[Stigigemla]

I would doublecheck your refractometer.
If you have a swing arm hydrometer throw it far away.

 

[Emma01]

I would doublecheck your refractometer.
If you have a swing arm hydrometer throw it far away.

Hi. No I’ve never had one of the swing arm ones. I’ve got the ‘eye’ one. Maybe I should calibrate it again?

 

[Captain Quint]

Been running going on 3 years. They’re all in expiration date yes.
I’m wondering wether it’s because I’ve recently changed salt mix.... from pre-mixed to H2Ocean (because I wanted to keep corals) so wasn’t really checking for Ca,Mg prior. Is it possible that I need to do a bigger water change to ‘deplete’ the water parameters that were already in there, therefore increasing my Ca, Mg ?

When reading your initial post I first suspected different salt was started.

Tanks at around 18 months to two years will balance themselves a bit after 2 or 3 days of a water change even if it is barely noticeable.

Not all salts are created equal IME. Do you know what type of salt was used in your previous premix?

 

[Emma01]

When reading your initial post I first suspected different salt was started.

Tanks at around 18 months to two years will balance themselves a bit after 2 or 3 days of a water change even if it is barely noticeable.

Not all salts are created equal IME. Do you know what type of salt was used in your previous premix?

Just recalibrated my refractometer. And it’s now showing 1021....... I’m freaking out a bit! Is that where I’m going wrong!? Has my refractometer been incorrect all this time?? Thinking of just getting a new one??
Feel like I’m gonna cry
Are my fish going to be ok? Have they been used to that salinity I wonder? How quick can I now increase the salinity to 1025

Shall I switch ATO for couple days see how it goes?
Stupid stupid mistake of mine :mad: thanks /stigigemla for the suggestion of the refractometer

 

[eggplantparrot]

Hi. No I’ve never had one of the swing arm ones. I’ve got the ‘eye’ one. Maybe I should calibrate it again?

DEFINITELY calibrate, i calibrate every time i use it, you would be surprised how much it can change, day to day and depending on how you clean it. I thought i could leave mine for a few days, but nope! My salinity rose to 1.031 over a week since i trusted my refractometer.

Also maybe mix the salt before you use it, apparently different components of the salt settles to different layers after a while so shale things up and mix a new batch then measure.