Successful Saltwater Tank Keeping is like Surgery
I once followed an anesthesiologist around during surgery and he explained his job like this:
“I want my patients to be on a gentle ride during surgery. They should remain at the same level of being under and not rise a lot, or fall a lot.”
Keeping a saltwater tank is the same way. You don’t want your tank’s parameters (temp, pH, calcium, magnesium, etc) rising or falling quickly. Avoid the roller coaster, go for the gentle rise and fall.
When you do this, your fish and corals won’t be stressed out from sudden water parameter changes, you’ll avoid disease outbreaks with your fish and rapid tissue necrosis (RTN) with your corals. All of this means a happier tank for you and its inhabitants.
Keep in mind, some changes up and down are natural. For you reef enthusiasts and reef junkies, this change is expected as during the night, your tank pH will fall because your corals aren’t carrying on photosynthesis, which pulls CO2 from the water, which in turn raises pH. (Tank dabblers don’t have corals, so a pH rise and fall will be a larger swing).
Here are some quick ways you can avoid large swings in your tank’s environment:
1. Add apples to apples. When you do water changes, match the new water’s parameters to your tank’s parameters. Salinity, temperature, and pH should be as close to your tank’s levels as possible.
2. Something out of whack? Move slowly. If you see one of your tank’s parameters are off, don’t try to change them rapidly to get them back in line. Instead, bring that level up/down slowly over the course of several days. This rule does not hold true for ammonia/nitrites/nitrates. If any of those are high (see table below for acceptable levels), do a large water change as soon as you can. And of course, see rule #1.
|
Acceptable Tank Levels
|
|
| Ammonia | 0ppm |
| Nitrites | 0ppm |
| Nitrates | 0-10 ppm* |
* Tank dabblers can be close to 10 without any issues. Reef Enthuiasts and Reef Junkies should be under 5.
3. Add new neighbors slowly. Don’t add lots of new fish quickly. Instead do it slowly over the course of a week. 2 weeks is best.
4. Sunburn is bad for corals too. When you add new bulbs to your lights, or change your type of lighting, ramp up your corals to the new lighting by slowly increasing the amount of time the new lights are on. A good rule of thumb is adding 30 minutes of time every 3 days.
The steadier your tank’s parameters are, the happier everything inside of it will be. This means healthier fish, more colorful corals and less work on your part.
Browse the Store! Questions?
my ammonia test kit is salifert. every time i have checked it, it comes out white, cloudy. i don’t know if it is good or bad. can you please explain. also my nitrates are very high. 100. i only have 8 fish in my 130 gallon tank. Got my clean up crew today, one fish in my refugium, I’m about to give up…..i feel I’m never going to make it work
Ivonne…I used the salifert kit on my new tank for ammonia and always got a cloudy reading. Nothing wrong as cloudy means 0. If you get a color tint to it, then you have issues.
Are you using the salifert kit for nitrates as well?
thank you so much, as this is like a ray of light to a cloudy tank. pun intended. yes all my test kits are salifert. is the cloudy water a cycle process if all this change was done in less than 24 hours?
Ivonne…not sure what you are asking, but the cloudy test is ok. That’s how mine came out on my tank.
100 nitrates seems very high. Did you stir the sandbed or move the rocks around? These things can stir up junk in your tank. Given how high your nitrates are, I’d do a large (50%) water change to help bring them down.
Then I’d make sure you aren’t overstocked and that your protein skimmer is running correctly.
sorry, it sounded repeated, i meant the cloudiness in the water, aside from the cloudy test. i did not stir the sand though. it seems as though they have always been that high. all the other tests come out great. its always just the nitrates. As far as my protein skimmer, it fluctuates a lot as far as the amount of bubbles go, maybe i need to look into that. thank you for your advice and i will get the water ready for the 50% water change. It won’t harm my fish right?
to no success have i been able to lower my nitrates. what do u think about vodka dosing?
I have a 65 gallon fish only, with 6 damsels, and my levels for all three amm, nitrite and nitrate, have been very random, but for the most part have stayed at zero and my water is cloudy. It seems as though the tank starts to cycle and then stops as I start to show nitrites and nitrates and as quick as I see them, the levels drop back to zero, I do however add one quart of water daily for evaporation, but I do add water conditioner to the water I add, I am totally confused and frustrated as to what is going on