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Old 04-03-2009, 01:39 AM
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Myka Myka is offline
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Your tank is done cycling. Once you have 0 for ammonia and nitrites it is considered "cycled". What is your salinity at? If you are using a swing arm hydrometer consider taking it in to your LFS to get them to check its accuracy with a refractometer. I say this because both your pH and Calcium are higher than they should be, so I'm wondering if your salinity is higher than you think it is.

I am glad to hear you found a new home for the Queen Angel, that is very good to see as you are right, they are not suited to a 54 gallon aquarium. The Blueface Angel is in the same boat as the Queen though, unfortunately.

For reference to the phosphate check out the guide in my signature. That should help you out.

In the case of the nitrate, the canister filter would be my first suspect as a contributor to the elevated level. Although <10ppm is considered "acceptable" for a reef tank, it is obviously not ideal. The best way to deal with nitrates is to control waste so it doesn't have a chance to decompose and show up as nitrate. If you have any medias in the canister that "biological" which you just rinse and put back in (like ceramic rings, bioballs, or media granules) which are designed to collect detritus and allow it to break down you should remove it. You (generally) shouldn't have medias like that in a reef tank. if you are just using sponges or sheeted filter media it should be replaced at least once a week if not more often than that. This can get costly (try J&L for cheap rolls of filter media) so many people nix the use of a canister filter as it really isn't needed in a reef tank. Or you can simply just use the canister to run medias like phosphate remover (if the flow is slow enough) or carbon.

Your tap water could also contain phosphate and nitrate. Test it, and see what your kits say.

What are you putting in your tank besides salt? Any additives of any kind? What do you feed? Many additives and foods contain nitrate and/or phosphates too.
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Last edited by Myka; 04-03-2009 at 01:42 AM.
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