got my water tested?

so i went to get my water tested for some stuff so here it is

ALK. 2.86

Nitrate. 15

Phosphate. .25

salt. 1.021

Calcium. 420ppm

ok so i have algae issues and i have phosban media in my filter tro bring the phos down and i wanted to start keeping sps in my tank would my phosphate kill it?

 

I would think you need your salinity closer to 1.025

 

IMO if you want to begin to keep SPS or more challenging corals, you should be testing your water yourself on a regular basis so that you can keep it as stable as possible.

I would increase your SG to 1.025 or 1.026

 

I also got saltwater top off there to so i just top off with salt to increase the salintiy. And iknow i should start testing my own water.

 

I believe .25 ppm phosphate is way too high for SPS. Your test kit should register 0. Which test kit are you using?

Is Alk in meq/L or dKh? If it is meq/l you'll want to raise it just a little. If it is dKh you need to raise it a lot.

The specific gravity of 1.021 is very low. That should be raised to 1.025 to 1.026. Do it slowly by letting water evaporate and top off with saltwater rather than fresh.

Nitrate is also on the high side. You'll want to get that as close to 0 as possible. The Jury's still out on how low it should be.

Calcium is pretty good. Try raising it to 440.

Bottom line is you'll need to resolve the algae issues before adding SPS. Ar you using RO/DI water for mixing salt and top offs?

 

i buy it from my lfs its RO water and premixed salt oceanic

 

You don't know how good their RO water is unless you have tested it yourself. You should purchase a TDS meter and test it.

 

Or just buy an RO/Di with a TDS meter on it and call it good. Over time it will pay for it self, and not having to lug buckets of water from the LFS is a very nice perk. Before even thinking about getting some sps frags I would get a RO/Di, your own testkits / buffers (calcium, mag, alk, amonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, etc.) and a refractometer. After that you can make sure you have around 40-60x turnover, enough light and a stable enough tank to support them.

~Will.

 

phosphate should be 0 at all times....you might want to use a reactor to keep it down at 0. SG you might want to bring it to 1.023-1.024 i would not go higher then 1.025. Cal should be higher like 460-480 SPS eat it up.

 

thanks. i looked at DFS and all their test kits and the phosban reactor and for a power head wich koralia (spelling) my LFS dont go higher than a 3?