help!!!!

a LFS about 40 minutes away from me called "Pet World Warehuse" just recently ripped out there RO units so they could sowlely use tap water for both fresh and saltwater tanks....needless to say there tanks are going downhill every time i see them, they allways have dead fish in there tanks

 

not to be mean but how do you have a SW tank for that long and not know what your params stand for???

 

For the lack of a better word I would say you might be screwed sorry. But asap actually 4 years ago get yourself some test kits, ie dkh, cal, mag, ph, p04, nitrite, no3, amm, hyydrometer, and start testing. As for the lfs telling you you don't need calcium in your tank he is wrong. go somewhere else. And you need to use ro/di water not tap that is treated with prime

 

Your tank could be saved, but you need to buy some test kits, starting with Magnesium, Calcium, PH, Phosphate, Ammonia, Alkalinity, Copper, Nitrate, and a good refractometer. These will cost some money, but much less than restarting your tank. Salifert is a good test kit to buy, the cheapest that I would trust my tank to. Buy some kits, then get back with us after you do the tests, we really can't help out much without knowing these results.
And to everyone else, I've seen many people that have had tanks for years that have never seen a test kit. A lot of people out there aren't as fortunate as us to have a great resource like 3reef to go off of, they just have the local pet store that sells fish supplies, goats and guns. Lets not be harsh and try and save this guys tank. I'm not trying to get on to anyone, but I really have seen in real life people that do not know anything about testing water.

 

Amen

 

Yeah I was in the same boat a few years so I feel his pain. And I am speaking for lots of people on here I don't want to sound mean and degrade anybody or any lfs but going forward test your water yourself. Post your results of the tests on here and we will go from there.

 

But I am not an optomist so I will always think the glass is half empty.

 

You can only change what's wrong if you know what's wrong. As others have said, you should consider testing your water for the basic parameters necessary for reefkeeping. Calcium, Alkalinity, Phosphate, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates, Magnesium for starters.

Only after you know what these levels are, can you effect change.

Good luck.

 

nicely put

 

If you know your pH is high and your alk is low, I assume you at least can test for those, so you can start there now. Bump up the alk to 12dKH. A low alk level is very likely the cause for the unstable pH level. Use an alk raiser (sw commercial brand or baking soda, your choice) to raise it.