Need Help interpreting Results

Hi Guys,

I bought an established 150 Gallon tank from a friend. Moved it about 7 hours away and added 100 pounds of live rock about two weeks ago.

I ran a water test this evening and here are the results.. Not sure what to think... The only things I have added are some calcium and some Kent - Superbuffer. There are no fish in tank, just live rock.

Alk - 10.0
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 120
PO4 - .5 (I tested a few days before and it was 2.0)
Calcium - 100


Thanks,
Justin

 

Seems to be at the back end of a cycle. Once your nitrates go down to 0 you should be good to go for fish.

The calcium is also very low if you are thinking of a reef.

 

I think my Nitrates are high because I pulled powerheads out a few days ago to soak and clean in vinegar.....

 

Thx Ryan... I will keep adding calcium.

Justin

 

Its more likely because of some die off from the live rock causing a mini cycle.

The ideal Ca is 400-460ish.

Lets see some pics

 

in order to know exactly what you calcium levels are you need to test for magnesium as well as ph.

trates are at border line on the very dangerous levels, a large water change will help lower those values, however if your bioload and or filtering media are not appropriate to your system they will shoot up again quite rapidly forcing you to have a more aggressive stance in terms of water changes.

Po4 is also a little high, are you having algae issues? Po4 can come in your water through several ways including feeding. are you using ro/di water or tap water? (tap water could also be a source of No3)

on another note, here is a good read.
A Simplified Guide to the Relationship Between Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

hope this helps

* didnt notice the absence of live stock when i first read this post, but the advice still stands regarding trates"

 

How are you testing calcium? If you filled the tank with newly mixed saltwater, I don't possibly see how it could be that low, especially if you have already dosed to increase it!

What kind of salt are you using, and have you tested a fresh batch? If you have a LFS, I would bring them a sample to test as well.

 

Welcome to 3REEF! Stick around, it's a great forum, with lots of good advice

I agree Marshall,

The most puzzling of them all is a Ca that low.

Don't add any fish yet till you get things figured out.

 

The filtration should be adequate. I have a 50 Gallon sump, a pretty good protein skimmer. Will be installing a calcium reactor in a few months (I already have it).

The tank has 150 pounds of live rock. Could this just be the back end of the cycle?

The tests were made by API

The only thing I did notice is water circulation is not very high, I will be increasing that by putting powerheads back in today.

I am having some algea issues - seems like brown diatoms on walls and rocks and some green film as well..

I used about 50 gallons of seawater from the original tank and I made the other 100 with RO/DI water and used oceanic sea salt..

 

Thanks again for all the help! You guys are great!