Newbie struggling with water parameters

[imhyder]

hello amazing people!!!

A intro about me and my experience to date:

I had been wanting to get into this hobby for years now and finally have managed to buy my very first saltwater tank.

The tank I have bought is a Red Sea MAX Nano Peninsula G2. It was bought second hand due to being so very expensive from Facebook market place and is in excellent condition.

The tank itself is great and all its accessories and parts work perfectly fine.

However there are some issues that I currently am facing and I am not sure if it’s something I am doing wrong or how silly/dumb these may sound to you guys so please bear with me as I would love to learn from your experience and knowledge.

My tank currently has live sand from the previous owner who had put the sand from his other bigger aquarium into this one and some brand new rocks (not live) but now been in the tank for about 4-5 weeks.

Overall the tank looks great and appears to be running fine.

On the day I bought the tank I went to my local fish shop to buy some RODI water and was advised by the shop owner to purchase some additional stuff to help me prep the tank for live stock, currently there is nothing in the tank accept for water, rocks and live sand.

On shop owners recommendation these are the things I bought:

-Mixed Macro Probiotic Salt™ -reef essentials
-Stability - seachem
-Prime- seachem
-reef buffer- seachem
-saltwater master test ki
-salinity checker

Now the issue I am facing is the PH and salinity.

So my ph has remained at about 7.8 and it fails to rise even with the buffer so not sure what to do, i was advised to get a co2 scrubber but i have seen so many videos of people running the same exact tank with only what comes in the box and that’s what I’d like to do too unless there is no other option.

The second issue is salinity, so when I checked my salinity it showed to be 1.024-1.025 but I had forgotten to zero it using tap water or rodi water at the time.

So I took the water into the shop to have it tested to see if it’s ready for fish but the shop said it was 1.021 and suggested to increase it before putting in any fish I took some of his water home to cross check my results against his and this time I was very careful so washed the checker than zeroed it using rodi water and checked my water and it did come out to be low as he had advised at around 1.021-1.022 but when I checked the water from his tank it was showing at 1.029 or 1.030 and according to the shop they are running at 1.026.

Now this has left me so confused and doubting myself whether it’s me doing something wrong or is it the checker that’s broken

I would love to hear what you guys have to say and sorry if all this information was unnecessary but I thought I’ll give you guys a full picture

 

[revhtree]

Welcome to your new home for saltwater reef aquarium resources and fun! Welcome to the family!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Welcome
I suggest better kits such as Salifert and Hanna brands and also refrain from many additives and allow tank/bacteria to take its course. Use RODI water in lieu of tap water

 

[Glenner’sreef]

Welcome to reef2reef!!!!!

 

[SPS2020]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[DDenny]

Just so you know a meet and greet thread probably won’t get you answers as most will post some welcome gif/picture. I would make a separate thread on general reef discussion for more detailed answers to your questions.

 

[SPS2020]

I agree with what @vetteguy53081 said, refrain from the additives at this point. A pH of 7.8 is a little low, but don't chase numbers. When you calibrate your refractometer, used distilled water. As a backup and sanity check, use a floating hydrometer. Throw in a few chromis, etc. to start some ammonia production and "test the waters" so to speak.

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[Dom]

hello amazing people!!!

A intro about me and my experience to date:

I had been wanting to get into this hobby for years now and finally have managed to buy my very first saltwater tank.

The tank I have bought is a Red Sea MAX Nano Peninsula G2. It was bought second hand due to being so very expensive from Facebook market place and is in excellent condition.

The tank itself is great and all its accessories and parts work perfectly fine.

However there are some issues that I currently am facing and I am not sure if it’s something I am doing wrong or how silly/dumb these may sound to you guys so please bear with me as I would love to learn from your experience and knowledge.

My tank currently has live sand from the previous owner who had put the sand from his other bigger aquarium into this one and some brand new rocks (not live) but now been in the tank for about 4-5 weeks.

Overall the tank looks great and appears to be running fine.

On the day I bought the tank I went to my local fish shop to buy some RODI water and was advised by the shop owner to purchase some additional stuff to help me prep the tank for live stock, currently there is nothing in the tank accept for water, rocks and live sand.

On shop owners recommendation these are the things I bought:

-Mixed Macro Probiotic Salt™ -reef essentials
-Stability - seachem
-Prime- seachem
-reef buffer- seachem
-saltwater master test ki
-salinity c



Now the issue I am facing is the PH and salinity.

So my ph has remained at about 7.8 and it fails to rise even with the buffer so not sure what to do, i was advised to get a co2 scrubber but i have seen so many videos of people running the same exact tank with only what comes in the box and that’s what I’d like to do too unless there is no other option.

The second issue is salinity, so when I checked my salinity it showed to be 1.024-1.025 but I had forgotten to zero it using tap water or rodi water at the time.

So I took the water into the shop to have it tested to see if it’s ready for fish but the shop said it was 1.021 and suggested to increase it before putting in any fish I took some of his water home to cross check my results against his and this time I was very careful so washed the checker than zeroed it using rodi water and checked my water and it did come out to be low as he had advised at around 1.021-1.022 but when I checked the water from his tank it was showing at 1.029 or 1.030 and according to the shop they are running at 1.026.

Now this has left me so confused and doubting myself whether it’s me doing something wrong or is it the checker that’s broken

I would love to hear what you guys have to say and sorry if all this information was unnecessary but I thought I’ll give you guys a full picture

The first thing I would suggest is not to rely on the local fish store for testing and quarantine.

Secondly, I would suggest that you post your questions here first. We have nothing to gain by helping you out except the satisfaction of knowing that we've helped a newbie along their path of reef keeping.

The local fish store padded your bill. You went in for RODI and look at all the extra junk you spent money on.

Please ask here first and have some answers before going to the LFS. This way, you have the information to know if they were guiding you in the right direction or just making money.

 

[Solo McReefer]

hello amazing people!!!

A intro about me and my experience to date:

I had been wanting to get into this hobby for years now and finally have managed to buy my very first saltwater tank.

The tank I have bought is a Red Sea MAX Nano Peninsula G2. It was bought second hand due to being so very expensive from Facebook market place and is in excellent condition.

The tank itself is great and all its accessories and parts work perfectly fine.

However there are some issues that I currently am facing and I am not sure if it’s something I am doing wrong or how silly/dumb these may sound to you guys so please bear with me as I would love to learn from your experience and knowledge.

My tank currently has live sand from the previous owner who had put the sand from his other bigger aquarium into this one and some brand new rocks (not live) but now been in the tank for about 4-5 weeks.

Overall the tank looks great and appears to be running fine.

On the day I bought the tank I went to my local fish shop to buy some RODI water and was advised by the shop owner to purchase some additional stuff to help me prep the tank for live stock, currently there is nothing in the tank accept for water, rocks and live sand.

On shop owners recommendation these are the things I bought:

-Mixed Macro Probiotic Salt™ -reef essentials
-Stability - seachem
-Prime- seachem
-reef buffer- seachem
-saltwater master test ki
-salinity checker

Now the issue I am facing is the PH and salinity.

So my ph has remained at about 7.8 and it fails to rise even with the buffer so not sure what to do, i was advised to get a co2 scrubber but i have seen so many videos of people running the same exact tank with only what comes in the box and that’s what I’d like to do too unless there is no other option.

The second issue is salinity, so when I checked my salinity it showed to be 1.024-1.025 but I had forgotten to zero it using tap water or rodi water at the time.

So I took the water into the shop to have it tested to see if it’s ready for fish but the shop said it was 1.021 and suggested to increase it before putting in any fish I took some of his water home to cross check my results against his and this time I was very careful so washed the checker than zeroed it using rodi water and checked my water and it did come out to be low as he had advised at around 1.021-1.022 but when I checked the water from his tank it was showing at 1.029 or 1.030 and according to the shop they are running at 1.026.

Now this has left me so confused and doubting myself whether it’s me doing something wrong or is it the checker that’s broken

I would love to hear what you guys have to say and sorry if all this information was unnecessary but I thought I’ll give you guys a full picture

His salinity checker is off

Your salinity checker is off

 

[Solo McReefer]

use a floating hydrometer

100%

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome to R2R, happy you are here!

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!

 

[Nano_Man]

 

[Brisk]

Welcome!

 

[NanoNana]

Welcome.
In my experience probiotic salt gives you test readings of 0.78 on PH all the time. It can’t be mixed very far in advance so you have to mix a new batch for every water change or it will get slimy. I thought probiotics would be a good thing but my tank is clearer since I switched. Other may have different experiences.
You don’t need a buffer yet.
What did you use to cycle the tank? Just live sand or bottle bacteria? Did you go through the cycle adding an ammonia source?
Have you tested ammonia and nitrates to be sure you’re cycled?

Do not buy a CO2 scrubber for 7.8. That falls within the margin of error for every test on the market.

Also +1 for start a new post in the new to saltwater thread if you haven’t already. Enjoy your tank!

 

[paragrouper]

Hi,

To summarize what others have said: take it easy, nothing is too far out of whack. For your Ph, there are many things you can do to improve Ph that do not require you to purchase buffers or other chemical solutions. Do a bit of searching on this site and you will find much about this topic.

As to specific gravity: you will get differing readings from different devices. Specific Gravity is also tied to temperature and that further exacerbates the issue. As others have pointed out a hydrometer is a good way to verify any readings you get from your refractometer.

Oh, and

 

[Gman83]

Welcome!

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

Welcome to Reef2reef!

 

[Rappa]

Welcome. You can get your refracto calibrated and dialed in using a tiny bottle of salinity calibration fluid. Most LFS "should" have them in stock. I have a small bottle that reads 1.026 on the bottle. I calibrate using a few drops of that, then check it against a cheap hydrometer. Also, I have had refractometers go out of calibration somehow, so I calibrate mine a few times a year when I think of it. Good luck