HelifaxNZ's 7G Nano
- Thread starter helifaxnz
- Start date
Hi Folks,
I need a little help. I don't understand the reason why, but these are my parameters for the water....
Salinity: 33ppt / 1.025 (a little high).
Nitrite: 0-5
Nitrate: 40
I have bought new test kits because I thought my old test kits were reading incorrectly, but the new kits have the same results.
Looks like it is cycling, but the water and rock was from my existing old tank. I have been doing water changes pretty much every day. Approx. 3 litres per day. I've swapped from NSW to ASW to see whether NSW is the cause.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I need a little help. I don't understand the reason why, but these are my parameters for the water....
Salinity: 33ppt / 1.025 (a little high).
Nitrite: 0-5
Nitrate: 40
I have bought new test kits because I thought my old test kits were reading incorrectly, but the new kits have the same results.
Looks like it is cycling, but the water and rock was from my existing old tank. I have been doing water changes pretty much every day. Approx. 3 litres per day. I've swapped from NSW to ASW to see whether NSW is the cause.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
TimSchmidt
New Member
Well honestly I have my salinity at 1.026. But having nitrite and nitrate does raise a point of concern. I follow the belief that our tank is constantly "cycling". A balance of bacteria and waste is almost always trying to be maintained. The water shouldn't have too much of an affect. My guess is only this. In your old tank IF you had sand then the amount of bacteria in that tank was split between the sand and rock. Now in this tank there is no sand so the rock needs to have more bacteria added in and you parameters will be unstable for a bit. Constant water changes are about the only thing I can think of. If you can evacuate your livestock while the parameters even out that would be ideal, but then again it would be ideal to win a million dollars. 
TimSchmidt
New Member
Good luck. Good thing doing water changes are easy in our small tanks.
Hi folks,
Just give you an update. Photos will come soon.
I had a digital Salinity tester which sort of went a bit off in the measurements. I sort of suspected there was a problem so bought myself a manual refractometer with LED (Best thing I bought!). Found the salinity to be 1.030 + !!!!! :doh
So I've been slowly reducing the salinity to the right measurement. No wonder the corals looked sick!!!! Everything is starting to recover nicely now.
Have been doing water changes every day. Approx. 3 litres a day. I still have a little cyno, but not as bad as before.
Managed to score a couple of nice frags of zoos and yellow polyps.
I'm going to pickup tonight a coral with a big clump of Xenia in the middle, then bright green zoos all around it. Looks really nice, but I don't have the space for it in my little tank as it is, so will need to frag it :neutral:
Just give you an update. Photos will come soon.
I had a digital Salinity tester which sort of went a bit off in the measurements. I sort of suspected there was a problem so bought myself a manual refractometer with LED (Best thing I bought!). Found the salinity to be 1.030 + !!!!! :doh
So I've been slowly reducing the salinity to the right measurement. No wonder the corals looked sick!!!! Everything is starting to recover nicely now.
Have been doing water changes every day. Approx. 3 litres a day. I still have a little cyno, but not as bad as before.
Managed to score a couple of nice frags of zoos and yellow polyps.
I'm going to pickup tonight a coral with a big clump of Xenia in the middle, then bright green zoos all around it. Looks really nice, but I don't have the space for it in my little tank as it is, so will need to frag it :neutral:
TimSchmidt
New Member
Wow. Just FYI even refractometers need calibrating once in a while. Glad you found the issue.
Ok, here's some updates on the Nano Tank.
I was going through a rough time with some corals melting and I wasn't sure why because I was doing water changes. Found out that my digital refractometer was giving me a wrong reading and my salinity was over 1.030!
After purchasing a LED lit Refracto, all is sweet now and salinity is correctly 1.024.
All corals are looking very healthy and some now are recovering after looking like they are half dead and melting away.
I also moved the Koralia Nano Powerhead to the right side so I have both on the right of the tank which is giving less flow on the left and the low flow corals like the mushy and candys are enjoying.
My Taam Rio Skimmer is running very well. I still have the odd problems of it losing suction and then have to try to adjust the air intake again :roll: . Just the other day I bought a AquaClear Surface Skimmer attachment for the Rio. It works really really well and I'm getting prestine water. This AC SS can be adjusted so it sucks water from the normal bottom sieve as well as skim the surface.
Here's some shots of my tank now.
Shots of some corals.
I was going through a rough time with some corals melting and I wasn't sure why because I was doing water changes. Found out that my digital refractometer was giving me a wrong reading and my salinity was over 1.030!
After purchasing a LED lit Refracto, all is sweet now
and salinity is correctly 1.024.All corals are looking very healthy and some now are recovering after looking like they are half dead and melting away.
I also moved the Koralia Nano Powerhead to the right side so I have both on the right of the tank which is giving less flow on the left and the low flow corals like the mushy and candys are enjoying.
My Taam Rio Skimmer is running very well. I still have the odd problems of it losing suction and then have to try to adjust the air intake again :roll: . Just the other day I bought a AquaClear Surface Skimmer attachment for the Rio. It works really really well and I'm getting prestine water. This AC SS can be adjusted so it sucks water from the normal bottom sieve as well as skim the surface.
Here's some shots of my tank now.
Shots of some corals.
TimSchmidt
New Member
Very Nice!