HELP! Strange measurements in my water chemistry.

reagent

New Member
Hi all,
I am naw to the hobby, I used to research before doing anything, but currently I am in a situation that I don’t understand my water chemistry.
I completed the cycling my 65g tank with LR; NH3 / NO2/ NO3 = 0. After 3 days, I added 5 snails, pair of small clown fish, and 1 small salarias.
It’s three days now and I still see a a lot of hair algae, and my water chemistry looks strange!
PH: 8.6
KH: 5
Ca: 500
Mg: 1400
PO4: 0
NH3= 0.15
NO2=0
NO3=9

How it is possible to see hight PH and low KH ? And why I see algae if both nitrate and phosphate are ok ? I did 10% water change for two days, and I am using red sea coral pro salt.

Can anyone explain this and tell me if I am missing something?


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PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
A few things to consider. Cycles don’t happen in 3 days unless the LR you used was fully cured. What kind of test kits are you using? Have you tested your fresh mixed water? What kind of salt and what salinity is it mixed to?

I think you’d be well served to get a proper baseline of your salt at 1.026 (measured with a quality refractometer) and start there.

Pics help!
 

reagent

New Member
A few things to consider. Cycles don’t happen in 3 days unless the LR you used was fully cured. What kind of test kits are you using? Have you tested your fresh mixed water? What kind of salt and what salinity is it mixed to?

I think you’d be well served to get a proper baseline of your salt at 1.026 (measured with a quality refractometer) and start there.

Pics help!
Thank you, sorry not being very clear about cycling, indeed, I saw cycle completed in three weeks, then I waited three days with zero ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before adding any live stocks.
I use RO water (TDS 5 ppm) to mix red sea coral pro salt to salinity (1.027).
Measurements of my freshly prepared saltwater are
PH: 8.3
KH: 8
I am using RS test kit for Ca/ Mg, and tetra for the rest.


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PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
Your algae could be fueled by the nitrate in the water or the rock could be leaching it. Best the to do would be some 25-50% water changes to get thing back in line. Do you have fish and corals in the tank?
 

reagent

New Member
Your algae could be fueled by the nitrate in the water or the rock could be leaching it. Best the to do would be some 25-50% water changes to get thing back in line. Do you have fish and corals in the tank?
As mentioned 3 small fishes and 5 snails. No corals yet. Is it safe for the fish to change up to 50% ?


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reagent

New Member
May be useful for others, searching around I found someone recommended to clean the PH meter probe in vinegar and recalibrate it. I did so and found my PH is 7.2!
What is the best way to boost booth KH and PH ?


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PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
You can do a 100% water change with fish only..... just match temp and salinity.

how old is your probe? How did you calibrate?

At the end of the day, I wouldn’t chase ph, it’s likely fine.
 

PSU4ME

JoePa lives on!!!
Staff member
PREMIUM
You can absolutely do a 100% change......especially in a fish only tank. Now if it were me, I’d do a few, 40-50% changes because it’s easier.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
This thread was inactive for about 6 months, so what ever was going on is likely long resolved one way or another.

On pH probes. They usually need replacement after about 12 to 80 monthas, but they are ok to use as long as you can correctly calibrate them and they don't drift. Cleaning with vinegar is usually a last resort. Use a probe cleaning solution instead. In this case it's likely that a little residue from the vinegar cleaning messed up the calibration a bit. Recalibrate and retest the probe. BTW, it never hurts to have a cheep SW pH test kit around just so you can cross check the probe.

As for changing 100% of the water, it can be done, but it's usually sonething you do only when there are no other options and it's more or less an emergency. My preference would be to make about a 50% to 67% if you can.
 
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