How soon is too soon for a water change?

I did a water change on Saturday. Roughly 10% of the volume of my DT. I ran some tests with my API reef kit and things looks OK, not great, but ok. I was at .25 PPM according to that kit.

However today I got a new RedSea NO3 test kit and its showing nearly 2 PPM. I"m freaking out. Is it too soon to do another water change? My pH keeps dropping too. Started out at 8.1 and today it is at 7.8.

This is a new tank and is roughly in the second week with fish in it, but has had water and rock and sand for over 6 weeks.

 

2PPM is nothing to worry about bigdubb. I can't help on the ph question but your fish will be fine with 2PPM NO3. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to do another water change 3 days apart but then that will make it difficult to see how your parameters are over time on their own.

I think with such a young tank, you will see parameters take a bit of time to stabilize. The one parameter you should worry about if there is any detected ammonia because that could be harmful to your fish.

HTH

 

Just tested ammonia and that is showing 0 PPM per the API testing kit. But from what I've seen on the NO3 test. I don't have a lot of confidence in this test.

I guess I was just freaking out on the RedSea test because as it sat it got pinker and pinker and pinker. After about 10 minutes it settled on 3ppm. I was expecting it to be 0.

I also picked up two Hanna checkers, one for phosphates and the other for kH. kH was a little low at 8.4 and Phosphtates were at .05. Also did a Red Sea Ca test, and that came in at 420.

I think I'll mix up some more salt water just in case. Do another NO3 test tomorrow and make a water change if necessary.

Thanks for the response.

 

+1

While not desirable, a NO3 reading of up to 50 is mostly harmless.

Slow down, Cowpoke! You're going to turn the hobby into a stressful, laborous chore in no time flat at this rate. You're chasing numbers unnecessarily. You don't need to worry about cal, alk, etc until you're ready for SPS corals. Relax and give your tank time to mature.

 

Aight, I'll just let it go. It was just hard to see my pH be so consistent as well as my NO3. Then BAM!!!!! they changed. Freaked me out a bit. This diatom bloom is hard to look at. It's actually releasing bubbles in the tank.

I also just noticed some hair algae in the tank. Just wait for it to go for a few weeks before I start addressing issues?

 

Moved to---General Reef Topics.

 

Absolutely! It wouldn't hurt to manually remove hair algae if you see it. From my understanding, the diatoms will eventually go away but it gets ugly first.

I am always happy to see someone so excited when getting into this hobby! You do want to sit back and enjoy some now that you've worked so hard to get to this point. You can still do weekly water changes and in between don't be testing "too often" only if you see an apparent issue. I know it sounds crazy, but your tank will let you know by looking at it that something isn't right. Expect various algaes at various points.

What fish do you have in the tank?

 

Right now I just have three chromis in the tank a long with a pretty significant clean up crew. I have about 100 lb of live rock in the tank and fuge.

I'll see if I can't get the algae off the rocks, It's just a few small spots.

Here's the update I made this past weekend for my tank.

I was also prompted on that thread to include an image.. So here is an image. (The diatoms are much more present now, just a few days later)



On the previous thread, there is an imgur album outlining a lot of what I've done thus far and what's in the tank. The Hermit crabs and chaeto ball should be arriving sometime tomorrow.

 

Because you have fish in a cycling tank you could do a couple small water changes, like a couple of gallons.

As for the rest hair algae, diatoms, other water chemistry ie: pH, Ca......Don't stress it. Give the tank 3 months and it will all resolve.

Other than that sit back and wait and be patient. Like Mr.Bill said, do not chase the numbers. With that said I recommend small water changes because you have fish and inverts in a cycling tank and to avoid any undo stress to them small water changes seem in order.

 

Thanks Corailline. I just mixed up a batch of salt water and am letting that sit for a day or so, then I'll do a small water change of a couple of gallons. Per the previous recommendation I have tested ammonia and that is at 0 and the skimmer is pulling stuff out, so as far as that is concerned, things seem to be plugging along. I guess I just need to let it sit and stabilize a bit longer before I start to worry too much.

I don't want to be too eager to fix stuff right now is what I'm gathering from this thread, its just hard to sit by after the all the work and effort for the past three months I don't want it to get out of control and make a larger problem.

[Is sitting on hands]