Salinity Dilemna....

[Pleco420]

First, I will admit I am not exactly the most responsible person when it comes to monitoring my levels. Partly, because I do not have the time to learn how each measurement affects the homeostasis of the tank.

My SG is hovering around 1.020 despite my attempts to raise the salinity.

Here is a pic of my ph test. This is one of the reasons which prevent me from embracing test kits because I can never tell what the heck is going on anyway.



My guess is the pH is about 7.7 (Is this desirable?)

Checked me Calcium and it is about 320.

I do not keep any corals besides asst'd zoos, shrroms and still have my blastos. The blastos thrive while the zoos are not doing as well as they were when I had the tank as a mixed reef.

I increased my bio-load considerably when my tank crashed and lost all of my fish.

I have a Gymnothorax Frimbiatus (Goldenhead Moray)



Also, Pink Tail Triger.



Any advice or homework assignments are welcome!

Thanks in advance

[Vinny Kreyling]

I can not see any color to match inside the tube. I see brown.
PH should be above 8 (preferably 8.3) but not an absolute.
So- Raise the ph to at least 8.
Salinity of NSW is 1.024 but many keep it lower because lower salinity means more oxygen capability in the water.
Sometimes salt creep can eventually affect the salinity.
Increase the salinity of the water changes and it will slowly raise the tank water.

[kjbudsberg]

I will probably get trounced here, but if your salinity is correct, it is unusual to have pH below 8.1, which is a critical level. Also, if you are monitoring alkalinity and that alue is OK, then you are probably OK. See if you can find some good quality pH paper that has a nice narow range from 7-9.

[DgenR8]

Who makes that test kit, and how old is it?

[eboonaman]

Since the color doesn't come close to any color on the chart.
maybe you added two many drops, or the test kit is old or it's a freshwater kit?, IMO would go out and buy another kit for SW high range ph.

[billsreef]

Based on the color in the test tube, it looks like the reagent is over the hill. I'd suggest buying or borrowing a new kit, avoid the ones with wide range and go for the specific narrow salt water range. Don't sweat the salinity so much, what you have is not a problem for the critters you currently have. However, slowly raising will also allow you to raise your Ca levels a bit. The easist way to raise your salinity is to just top off with salt water instead of fresh.

[Justjoe]

It can often be an uphill battle on many water parameters if the salinity is below full strength salinity 1.025 so I'd suggest getting that taken care of as Bill mentioned.
Joe

[dougwilliams]

I had that problem with the test kit as well once- get a new test kit. As long as nothing looks horrible in the tank, find out what your water parameters really are first before deciding to try and modify them.

[Pleco420]

tHANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE. tHE TEST KIT IS ABOUT 2 YEARS OLD IN MY ESTIMATION....

[DgenR8]

Originally posted by Pleco420
tHANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE. tHE TEST KIT IS ABOUT 2 YEARS OLD IN MY ESTIMATION....

Some manufacturers actually print an expiration date on their test kits. At least, Salifert does.
Knowing that you have had that test kit for appx 2 years is enough to say that it's almost definately no good. Knowing that it was probably close to 2 years old when you got it tells me that it is not trust worthy.
PH is not something that you need a really good quality test kit for. PH swings (wildly, in some cases), and unless you test daily, at the same time, you really don't know what's happening with it anyway.
I know it's more expensive than a test kit, but you really can't go wrong with a PH monitor.

http://www.reefexotics.com/pinpoint.htm

[Pleco420]

Thanks Larry,

Good idea, I have dealt with reefexotics before. The Pink Tail Trigger above was a recent acquisition.

One more question: I have a TDS meter but I really do not use it all. What is the purpose? I am under the impression it helps let you know when to change the expensive piece of your RO/DI filter. I will test my RO/DI unit tomorrow, but if it is out of spec, how will that affect the water quality and could this be a contributing factor to odd pH reading. The Calcium test from the test kit seemed to give me an accurate reading of 320, I promptly added 15cc's of Kent Marine Liquid Reactor.

Thanks again for the discussion everyone, it is really helping me to understand the dynamics of providing good water quality for my inhabitants.

[fishome25]

geez thats a lot of flake food

[Pleco420]

Yes, I have a problem trying to get the right amount in sometimes.

[keefsama2003]

Dont we all