HELP HELP HELP SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!!!

[reefwars]

dude trust me slow down , your tank is new and your also new to the hobby i wouldnt be dosing anything at all. if i were you i would forget about alk,cal and mg for a short while.... do some water changes and forget about your tests. water changes will bring you back to where you need to be since your tank prob doesnt actually consume anything.its a 20g right?? in a 20g with a few water changes you will be where you need to be in no time and it wont cost a fortune in salt. bring your water in for testing to an lfs for now.buy good quality test kits i prefer elos for most and api for nitrate and amonia. do the test over and over but do not dose anything.if after a couple weeks your levels stay consistant with water changes then you can try to figure out whats low and for what reason.when dosing you ABSOLUTELY NEED TO KNOW WHY YOUR LOW OR HIGH or you wont know what to dose or why to dose.dosing blindly is bad, adding only one thing like calcium is also bad when dosing daily and in a small tank of 20g. just do some frequent water changes and let your eyes be the judge. once you start to add corals and your tank gets more full and mature you can start to see what your tank uses up.i think youll find at the stage your in your tank doesnt use practically anything.start with calcium keep an eye on it and do water changes, test before and after the water change, if your at 320 keep doing the water changes and watch it go up slowly, once your at where you need to be(i like 420) then watch your alk, it should also be where it needs to be.with a tank as small as 20g and not a full blown mature reeftank water changes is all you will need......keep it simple is the key



salinity at 1.023 isnt bad salinity above 1.026 is bad so its better to be slightly lower than higer, you dont need to add salt to raise your salinity let evaporation do it for you its slow and free, then just replace the salt at the level that matches your tankget a refractometer hehehe

[spawn]

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned yet, is that if you do your mixing in a 5 gal pail with a pump & a heater, it takes 2 2/3 of a household measuring cup to mix your water to 1.026 @ 79 degrees. So if you want to mix your new batch at 1.024 just put a little bit less salt then that, & you should know that your water is very close in terms of sal.

[Nano]

k again, thanks guys.. I hate being the newb.. its so frustrating, and I'm sure most of you have been where I am at some point. I'm just glad I have the help. I am getting a refractometer today. you know to top of all my other problems, my only fish (Ocellaris Clown) has ICH. ughhh.... so I am treating him with ich attack. I use garlic rich food (new life spectrum with garlic) and he is still eating, but today I came and saw he is covered head to tail poor guy. I know this is a typical thing to say, but I just feel like giving up, I am afraid of killing everything.
the few zoos and ricordea I have are fine, and my clean up crew as well are fine. I just don't get it. lol.. I'm going nuts over here!! I mean fresh water is a breeze but this is just giving me a brain tumor.

[Blom]

Well as many have said you need to slow down... fresh water is easy because most people don't over think it.... tank, water, fish... pretty easy. Ive noticed that there are alot of people who over think these salt water tanks at the start. Just worry about your temp, ph, and sg. I test for nitrates from time to time just to see, but I can usually tell from looking in the tank if somethings off. The old hammer coral shrivels up like George off Seinfeld. There is no need to panic... a small water change can have a big difference. Its basically the only thing I need to do to get the water parameters back into a good range. And remember Big Als is like a walmart, lots of stuff, some good some not so. But it is for the most part a one stop shop, I just tend not to talk to the staff lol. Over the next bit you will figure your tank out and have more confidence to deal with it.

[paddyob]

Originally Posted by Blom

Well as many have said you need to slow down... fresh water is easy because most people don't over think it.... tank, water, fish... pretty easy. Ive noticed that there are alot of people who over think these salt water tanks at the start. Just worry about your temp, ph, and sg. I test for nitrates from time to time just to see, but I can usually tell from looking in the tank if somethings off. The old hammer coral shrivels up like George off Seinfeld. There is no need to panic... a small water change can have a big difference. Its basically the only thing I need to do to get the water parameters back into a good range. And remember Big Als is like a walmart, lots of stuff, some good some not so. But it is for the most part a one stop shop, I just tend not to talk to the staff lol. Over the next bit you will figure your tank out and have more confidence to deal with it.

Don't even worry about Ph. If you play with that you might cause more issues. I have never dosed a thing to control ph.

It's the last thingnon the list.

Denny has it pegged. +1.

[Blom]

Originally Posted by paddyob

Don't even worry about Ph. If you play with that you might cause more issues. I have never dosed a thing to control ph.

It's the last thingnon the list.

Denny has it pegged. +1.

Never said dose anything... just monitor. To be honest Im starting to get more out of my pH trend off the profilux. Ive noticed a cycle from my water change schedual. After a water change I see an overall gain in my pH of approx 0.2. Not a big gain, but enough that it keeps my night pH swing above 8.0 and 8.3 during the day. If I neglect a weekly water change then the pH starts to dip in the second week. At night I can dip just below 7.9. I dont dose anything at all. I just think that as someone who is new to salt water it is important to watch the parameters to gain some incite into the working of your tank.

[Myka]

I agree that you are better off monitoring and doing waterchanges right now than trying to dose anything. If you do a weekly 15% waterchange the parameters should stay pretty good because you only have a few corals that will use calcium and alkalinity anyway.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by nanomano

I hate being the newb.. its so frustrating, and I'm sure most of you have been where I am at some point. I'm just glad I have the help

Hehe, just you wait. I haven't found a tank yet but when I do, you can help me

And not to hijack the thread...
Myka, I'm sick and couldn't sleep so I read your 90g build last night (this morning ). The whole thread. Whew.
Glad to see you are sticking to it
I learned so much. Plus your links.
Thanks for your contributions
PS: it's your fault that I'm re-thinking a FOWLER with a 6 bulb t5...150w twin MH and LPS maybe

[Nano]

Originally Posted by gregzz4

Hehe, just you wait. I haven't found a tank yet but when I do, you can help me

And not to hijack the thread...
Myka, I'm sick and couldn't sleep so I read your 90g build last night (this morning ). The whole thread. Whew.
Glad to see you are sticking to it
I learned so much. Plus your links.
Thanks for your contributions

no worries hopefully I wont be totally useless at this by then haha. and yes myka is a very useful user! lots of good threads

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by nanomano

no worries hopefully I wont be totally useless at this by then haha. and yes myka is a very useful user! lots of good threads

Oh, dude... I'm sure she is so happy she's useful
We know what you mean but, err, maybe knowledgeable, or, helpful...