I think I am in need of a large water change and as I only have two 32g brute containers, one to make new water in and one to drain old water out of the tank into, about 30g is all I can do at one time. I have come up with a plan B, lol. I was thinking about making the 30g new water in one container and buying four, 5 gallon containers of this water from the LFS. I guess what this water is, is actual sea water, not sure of the brand. Anyway, I could then drain 20g out of the tank into my container, go dump that, then drain another 30g and then add back into the tank the 30g that I made and then the 20g of the store bought saltwater for a 50g water change. Is this store bought water any good? My nitrates are holding steady at 20, I did a calicum test last night and if I did the test right, my calcium is at 495. I also bought another test kit last night, its a Salifert KH/Alk Profi test kit. This test has me alittle confused on how to read it. You will most likely have had to use this test to help me. Anyway I went thru the test doing what it says to do up to the point where the water turned to a blueish green, then added the next soultion a drop at a time til the water turned a redish color. At this point the way I see it, the test is over and you take a reading off your syringe and compair it agaainst the chart for your reading. Now is where I get confussed, lol. My syringe says at this point 0.5 when I look at the chart to find 0.5 there isn't a 0.5 the chart starts at 0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 and so on. My syringe says 0.5 and I am sure that isn't the same as say the charts 0.04 or 0.05, but lets say it is that would mean my KH is at 15.2 and my Alk is at 5.56. Am I reading this test right and if so, what do these numbers tell you?
Water Change Question
- Thread starter strout
- Start date
dkH is just another measurement of water hardness or alkalinity. Your alk measurement is probably meq/l and dkH is just a different measurement of the same thing. Your alk could be a bit higher and your ca lower. these two measurements.....alk and ca work in tandem.....raise one the other goes down sort of....here is a good article tool
Reef Chemistry Calculator
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Reef Chemistry Calculator
Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Just an observation here, with all these water changes I have been doing, my zoas and polys have never looked any better. They haven't really started putting out many babies yet but they really look good and I am sure they are getting ready to start. My purple death polyps is the only frag that is putting out any babies really and they are pumping them out. There are about I would say 20 to 30 polyps on the frag and they are fixing to grow off the frag they are on.
Found out what kind of a skimmer I have, Coralife Super Skimmer 225, seems like a good one, makes alot of bubbles. I did the 50g water change this afternoon after work. Used 32g of my water and three,, 4 1/2g of this http://www.nutriseawater.com/ so I will give it a few days and see what my numbers are.
Well, maybe thats part of my problem not being able to get my nitrates below 20. This water change should have got them lower, we will see what the number is and then see if I can keep it there, if not we will look at a new skimmer. Can you buy to big of a skimmer for your tank? Where I am going with this is: I don't want to buy a new skimmer for my 125g when I am wanting to buy a 250g tank and then get stuck with a 125g skimmer. If I buy a skimmer I want it to be one that I can use in a 250g tank, and that I can use in the 125g till the new tank is bought. I did the water change about 3 hours ago and just checked the Nitrate level, maybe a tad below 20. Now, that check was done with my quick strips not my good nitrate test kit. 20 or a tad above was where I was at a few days ago when I tested the water.
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theres no such thing as too big of a skimmer! 
with that said a skimmer that will support a 250g is guna cost a pretty penny... btw as a rule of thumb if it has the word coralife its usually junk.... ive heard nothing but good about the octopus extreme skimmers, i just picked up a used msx160 which is the same exact as the octopus extreme160 and i got it for $180... if you dont mind buying used i think thats the way to go! when your ready search around craigslist, reefcentral, ebay
with that said a skimmer that will support a 250g is guna cost a pretty penny... btw as a rule of thumb if it has the word coralife its usually junk.... ive heard nothing but good about the octopus extreme skimmers, i just picked up a used msx160 which is the same exact as the octopus extreme160 and i got it for $180... if you dont mind buying used i think thats the way to go! when your ready search around craigslist, reefcentral, ebay
I talked to the man at the LFS today, he told me to pretty much stop, well not stop, but to feed my frozen (sp) mysis shrimp only every third or fourth day and feed the spectrum pellets as my main fish food. He told me I could feed the mysis shrimp but only if I thawed them out then rinse them off in some RO water. He says they release alot of nitrates in the water. He said 20 is not real bad on my nitrates and that I could grow SPS corals with that number. I told him,That my tank has made this a personal thing between me and my tank and I will get my number down to 10. Oh, I bought a coral and as I usely do, I forgot what it is called. I need to start carring a pen and paper around with me. I will try and get a pic posted tommrow. I do know it is a ORA coral and sort of looks like a birds nest, but it isn't. I had a choice between a birds nest and the one I bought. LFS said the birds nest is a harty coral and that I most likely couldn't kill it. I told him I wanted something that would die if my water wasn't right, I want to know if I can keep SPS corals alive.
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