PhishHead

Did my water change 2 weeks ago
heres my parameters

30 gallon live rock 1 yellow tang ( i know too small for a tang)
p.h 8.4
alk 3.5
nitrite 0.05
nitrate 50-100
ammonia 0
water temp 76
salinity 1.020
low for what i normally have, how can i bring this up a little?

also my rock seems to be turing more purple and now some bright green is showing what is the green algae?

harpua2002

The presence of nitrite suggests that your tank either has not completed cycling, or that something has happened to cause a mini cycle. The nitrate reading is extremely high and if it were my tank I'd do daily water changes until it was brought under control (10-20 or less if possible). How many lbs of live rock are in the tank?

To bring the salinity up, all you need to do is top off a little with salt water instead of fresh when the water evaporates a little. Keep an eye on salinity- you don't want it to change too fast.

Oil_Fan

Agreed on using SW for top offs. That'll allow you slowly raise the SG until you get it a bit higher.

The purple algae is coraline. Good stuff. The green is some sort of algae. Astrea snails are good option for control of this. Your high nitrates will also contribute to this too.

PhishHead

thanks my tank cycled already someone already owned the tank for 6 months before they gave it to me with live rock i dont know how much live rock is in there here is a picture of it.. My tang is happy swimming around and doesnt seemed bothered by it. i had a purple yellow gramma died and a little blue/green chromis died. but i got an inside scoup on the fish place by me. Not to by fish from. Of course i found out a couple days to late i knew that placed seemed sketchy.

Attached Images

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harpua2002

Then there's something going on in the tank causing a mini cycle. A cycled tank won't have detectable ammonia OR nitrite. The nitrate is very high; high enough to cause stress to the tang. It may not be showing signs of stress now, but poor water quality will bring about health issues if it's not addressed.

Goldwing_Don

How much water did you change? nice looking tank but from the pic you don't have near enought live rock in it, maybe 15 - 20 lbs and needs 30-45 lbs.....JMHO

PhishHead

i think i figured it out our water is very hard water the from the tap pH is high 8.8. going to store to get some bottled water jugs my girlfriend uses this on her freshwater tanks. and we tested the ph in the jugs very low mabye this will hellp. ill be on the look out for more live rock.

PhishHead

wow much better results with the bottled water. levels r going down fish seem much happier.

My Salinity is still low what should i do?

levels
temp 76
salin 1.019
P.H 8.2
Alk 1.9
Nitrate 50 -10
Nitrite 0.1
ammonia 0

sgould

When doing your regular water changes, mix the new water extra salty. For ex...I normally put 2.5 cups of mix in per 5 gallons. In your situation I would put in 3 cups, let it mix, then re-test. That, in combination with adding salt to your top off water as has been suggested should help bring your SG back up. You want the increase to be gradual, as you can stress the fish if you pump the SG back up too quickly.