Saltwater help ... What water tests should I be doing?

Question

I went to a LFS (never been to this one before) and the guy tried to sell me the whole shelf full of chemicals! My tank is a 55 gallon with 55 lbs live rock, coralife pc 4x65, no fish or soft coral yet, but I hope to be adding these soon.

Please help!

Answer 1

You DON"T need to add fish, all of the dead crap on your live rock should cycle your tank very quickly and believe me ALL LIVE rock has dead organism in it.
I would add a few snails and hermit crabs after about 2 weeks.
As for testing, for the first few months all you need to test for is
PH, Amonia, nitrite, and nitrate,(you can get them all in one cheep kit) You should already have a hydrometer to check for salinaty.
As long as your PH is good and your nitrate has peaked and fallen to 0 you can go ahead and add a Hardy fish(Clowns are very hardy and nice to look at) and maybe a hardy soft coral or 2.

Answer 2

I am not sure how long your tank has been cycling. You don't need a whole lot of anything on your shelf, that will come in time. Less is always better, more is just more. Having a good dechlor water conditioner is number one. As was mentioned, test for Nitrates, Nitrites (usually a high and a low range) Alkalinity KN (Really not needed after your initial test) ammonia, PH. This usually comes in one kit (a water kit as well as a high and low range nitrite test). Check the expiry date on the box. I see so many outdated test kits.

Later when you start adding corals or start your nano reef you may want to consider a reef additive. But for now, you don't need anything else.

The rule with salt water is keep hands and chemicals out as much as you can.

Also, there are things dieing and growing in your tank. as 000 stated, start with the hearty fish, damsels. If your tank is less than 6 months, I would advise to stay away from your corals and inverts. They require a more mature tank to survive. No matter how much live rock or sand you have.

I was glad to hear you did not over load your tank with the live rock and you started with a dead base. Gold star for you.

Sounds like you have most things under control and you are taking your time and asking questions. The real shame here is that you cannot find a LFS that can and /or will give you good sound advice.

Remember we are all here to help at any time.

Answer 3

Don't over-think your aquarium. AND DON'T BELIVE EVERYTHING A "SALES PERSON" IS TELLING YOU.

Test pH -salinity-ammonia levels-and nitrate to begin with.
you really only need more advanced testing if there is something wrong with these levels that you cant fix or figure out.

When I say don't over think i mean don't stress so much. Give your tank time to find its own rhythm and balance. I would suggest sticking to a few inexpensive fish for the first couple of months.

SETTING UP A HEALTHY TANK CAN NOT BE RUSHED.

If you don't have any "starter" fish in the tank you need to get a couple NOW, because with nothing in the tank to provide waste materials, your live rock is just sitting there doing a whole lot of nothing.

Answer 4

Take a sample of your water to the lady at the first LSF,if your live-rock has started to function,very little testing will need to be done,the water parameters that need attention are Specific gravity(Do I have the salt right?) Ammonia(Is the live rock de-nitrifying) maybe pH(A good indicator of trouble),and Nitrate(Should I change some water?) These should get you going,and I think that the first fish store will probably test your water one or two times to get you going.----Good luck----PeeTee

Answer 5

Like they reported, it relies upon on if it somewhat is basically a fish basically, or a reef tank. In the two varieties, in case you prefer to, you may attempt for ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, ph, and alkalinity. In a reef tank, you need to try for copper, calcium, and phosphates. Kits can value everywhere from $5-10 for guy or woman assessments(purely one element, like ph or ammonia), and $25-a hundred for kits that incorporate distinct assessments. you do not prefer coral or sand or stay rock in case you do not prefer it. looking on which sort of tank you have however, employing overwhelmed coral(fish basically) or aragonite sand (fish and reef tanks) will help shop your ph the place it desires to be. There are buffers which you will upload to the water which will help administration ph too. they are in many situations someplace close to to the attempt kits and stuff on the puppy save. stay sand and stay rock are good issues to function. not basically do they help with filtration and furnish safeguard, yet they are able to help furnish a food source for the animals interior the tank. in my opinion, I stay remote from including any chemical compounds and ingredients that regulate the filtration. in case you place your tank up properly and do suitable maintenance on it, you will in no way could desire to stress with regard to the micro organism. the only element different than the hint minerals and calcium that i exploit is Seachem's best. it somewhat is the terrific water scientific care that i've got chanced on, it does not mess with the protein skimmer as much as others do.

Answer 6

not to sure or salt water but u can test for ph levels, level of salt in the water, an important thing to check would be water temperature although would do it more wen u get the fish. in some cases u can get wat is known as a water conditioner but i think it may be fresh water only. best idea is to see advice from a pet store. if they try to sell u everything off the shelf then they arent interested in ur fish only ur wallet.

Answer 7

Here's a link that will help you with most of your questions.GL

http://members.aol.com/buddyri/aquarium/index30.htm