Maintainence Tips

Thanks to everyone for your great advice. Believe me, I need it & I'll use what works for me. I guess, in the end, that is all any of us can do. I will get a test kit for sure.
My light is antic 16W. ( which has been burnt out or has a loose connection for some time ) My LFS says many people don't use them @ all. Both the antics & my white have 2 flourscent tubes. The white one ( which means nothing to me ) is Coralite 29/60. I run it for 8 hrs./day.

Phosphate is in the kit I mentioned. I agree that an ammonia test is unnecessary. There would be no problem telling if that was out of wack.

It had all but PH, ALK & magnesium. I may have to order those separately.

 

Atnincs are not to be overlooked. That's all my tank is...

 

If your not understanding all of the chemical talk, yet, don't worry. Once you bring your salt level up, you should be very close, if not right where you need to be. With more salt in the water, you are also adding more calcium, magnesium and raising the alkalinity. Make sense?

 

Thanks Nor Cal Guy. I have emailed my LFS. I know my light is not something they commonly keep in stock, but they can order it for me. My whole canopy ( lights & all ) needs to be replaced. If I can't afford the whole thing,I'll get new lights for sure. What is the schedule you use for antics & brights ?

Thanks to you, Barbianj for the lack of technical talk. Many throw those words @ me & I don't know what they are talking about. I should ask more questions. I do understand what you are talking about.

 

Public thanks to Corailline for all her help. I'm sure she has forgotten more than I will ever know. I've learned much from her. THANKS BIG TIME !!

 

After MUCH searching on the internet, I found a test kit that measures ; ammonia, PH, AK,nitrates & nitrites. Is that enough ?

 

Oh Yeah, I forgot, I could also order that kit that measures calcium, carbonate hardness & phosphates

If I ordered all of that, what do you think ?

 

Oceansurf , if you order all those, you will definitely have more knowledge of your water quality and parameters, and without doubt, you will be in a much better position to eliminate some of the most common causes of "things not looking right" IMHO

the ammonia and nitrite kits will not be very useful to be honest, but its always good to have them in case you "feel" something looks to be a problem and a quick test for reassurance if nothing else is worth the effort IMO


most the other kits will be useful - and running Nitrate, Phosphate, Alkalinity and PH tests each week would be ideal

with ammonia and nitrite being tested when you 1st get the kits - and also use those to check new batches of saltwater you make up ( there have been instances of low levels of ammonia being recorded in newly made up artificial salt water, due to either contamination in the mix or possibly contamination in the users mixing bucket - so always worth periodically testing a bacth of new water before you add it to your tank


Steve

 

Good to see you starting in the right direction! K+ to you!

 

Who makes the kits? Not all test kits are the same.