Overwhelmed By Seachem Products

Hello! I have posted in other areas about my tank. We are in week 4, and I believe we are finally cycling. Our Seachem free ammonia monitor finally hit yellow again. Here are our test kit readings:
Ammonia - .25
Nitrites - 1.0
Nitrates - 10
However, my pH has dropped to 7.6. Is it okay to add baking soda to bring that up, or do I need to buy an actual aquarium product?

And speaking of products...I have become completely overwhelmed by aquarium products. I do lean towards Seachem products. Can someone help me narrow down what I should keep on hand at all times? I have Prime, Stability, Purigen and Matrix right now. We do not have coral in the tank. We do have hermit crabs. We only have live rock and sea shells. So what should I keep on hand out of their EXTENSIVE line?

Thank you!

 

Hello. I’m trying out my @ thing this morning. (Haven’t been able in a while).
Let’s see Culprit Lchi87 can you help here? Please?
These guys are just two of the many salties on here. But they’re good. Real good.

 

Hi! Congrats on the new tank!

The cycle looks pretty good. What are you using to 'feed' your beneficial bacteria? Just wondering, as it's almost time to to do so.

May I ask what you're doing to provide saltwater to the tank? Also, what's your salinity level?

The thing is, it causes much more harm than good to mess with pH. A steady pH slightly out of range is much, much safer than having pH swings by using baking soda or other products. Good saltwater is also quite full of buffers and whatnot to achieve the correct pH and KH (usually called alkalinity over on the salty side.) So, perhaps your salinity could need adjusting, or perhaps a different salt brand would help, because using a good quality salt mixed to the correct salinity level with pure (0 TDS) water should be all you need for pH.

I understand how 7.6 might not feel ideal, but I implore you not to mess with pH. My own tank ran at 7.8 for the better part of a year and fish, inverts and corals were happy. It's only slightly higher now, but that is due to dosing for alkalinity and calcium, (and that only becomes important to do later on... when there is enough calcifying coral growth in a tank that the aquarist needs to replenish what is used up between water changes.)

 

Thank you for that reply! I am not using anything to feed my beneficial bacteria. We feed the fish raw frozen food. The only thing I had been dosing the tank with was Seachem Primer to try and keep the tank safe for my fish during the cycle. (I truly regret not doing more research to start and cycling my tank without fish in it to set it up.) Mind you, those numbers I listed have dropped. To preface all this my ammonia levels were up to 2.0, nitrites 1.0 and Nitrates 5.0. And my Seachem Ammonia Alert was approaching blue. So, I think we are coming out of one cycle.

My protein skimmer is pulling a lot of water off the tank right now, and that's dropped my salinity to 1.021, but I am working slowly to get it back to 1.025 which is was holding steady at before my skimmer kicked in high gear for some reason. I had to turn it down. I am using Instant Ocean for my salt. Our water is well water, so it has no chlorine in it. It is very hard water, so high in alkalinity. I have ordered a CA, GH and KH test kit.

I haven't done any purposeful water changes yet. I had to add 1 gallon of water last week due to how much the skimmer has pulled off. I did have to add a mixed salt solution instead of just plain water, because the salinity had began to drop at this time, as mentioned above. I say "purposeful" water changes because there is so much conflicting information online about doing water changes during the new tank syndrome time period, and so my LFS and I decided it was best to provide stability to the fish and not change water 1x/week. That seems to have been the right decision so far.

 

I didn't know you had fish in the tank.

I can't tell you much about using skimmers... since I haven't used one in nearly 20 years, lol. However, I think it's often advised to not run it during a cycle. Sounds like your skimmer is running 'wet' and while I couldn't tell you how it seems like it needs some tuning... or perhaps there just isn't enough to skI'm at this point. Let me call on a couple guys with more skimmer experience than I. Culprit Jesterrace

I don't advise water changes during a fishless cycle unless ammonia or nitrite is very high. I would advise water changes for a fish in cycle if ammonia + nitrites equal more than 1ppm, (that is, if ammonia is 0.5ppm and nitrites are 1ppm, do a water change, but if ammonia is 0.25 and nitrites are 0.5, skip the wc and dose Prime.) I'm not sure exactly what you mean by new tank syndrome, but to me that often means diatom outbreaks, or much worse, cyanobacteria. Either way, I've been doing weekly water changes ever since our tank was cycled, and this regular maintenance allowed for cleaning of new tank diatoms so it never got too ugly. I wonder why people would advise skipping water changes for a newly stocked tank? Tbh, it just doesn't make sense to me. New tank syndrome makes me think of the uglies, and keeping a clean tank helps get rid of the uglies, so... Anyhow, as long as the parameters are safe for the fish, do what feels right.

 

Oh we have diatoms. The entire tank is covered in red algae. Nothing isn't covered in it. Again, my LFS said just to let the tank continue to mature and let it be.

 

Thank you for that reply! I am not using anything to feed my beneficial bacteria. We feed the fish raw frozen food. The only thing I had been dosing the tank with was Seachem Primer to try and keep the tank safe for my fish during the cycle. (I truly regret not doing more research to start and cycling my tank without fish in it to set it up.) Mind you, those numbers I listed have dropped. To preface all this my ammonia levels were up to 2.0, nitrites 1.0 and Nitrates 5.0. And my Seachem Ammonia Alert was approaching blue. So, I think we are coming out of one cycle.

My protein skimmer is pulling a lot of water off the tank right now, and that's dropped my salinity to 1.021, but I am working slowly to get it back to 1.025 which is was holding steady at before my skimmer kicked in high gear for some reason. I had to turn it down. I am using Instant Ocean for my salt. Our water is well water, so it has no chlorine in it. It is very hard water, so high in alkalinity. I have ordered a CA, GH and KH test kit.

I haven't done any purposeful water changes yet. I had to add 1 gallon of water last week due to how much the skimmer has pulled off. I did have to add a mixed salt solution instead of just plain water, because the salinity had began to drop at this time, as mentioned above. I say "purposeful" water changes because there is so much conflicting information online about doing water changes during the new tank syndrome time period, and so my LFS and I decided it was best to provide stability to the fish and not change water 1x/week. That seems to have been the right decision so far.

I would try to feed very little during the cycle. It will cut down on the ammonia being produced from the fish. I'd only feed really small portions 3 times a week until you cycle. May I ask what fish you have in the tank? I would keep dosing Prime as long as you have ammonia or nitrites, I'd dose at 2 or 3 times the recommended tank volume.

It sounds like your skimmer is running wet, as Stella said. I don't get how it would drop your salinity unless you have an ATO running and you were pulling out lots of Saltwater with the skimmer? For one thing, you need to break your skimmer in before attempting to dial it in. This means running it for 3-4 weeks and cleaning the neck regularly with saltwater. Then you can follow this to help dial it in https://support.coralvue.com/317511-How-do-you-dial-in-a-protein-skimmer

 

We are feeding less than we normally would. We are priming 5x the normal amount. I think the skimmer has dropped the salinity because it is pulling pure saltwater off the tank and I am having to empty it to keep it from over flowing. The LFS said I have to run the skimmer, that it can't be turned off.

 

This is what my filter and skimmer look like. It's the
Coralife Marine Filter with Protein Skimmer

 

FWIW - the amount of oxygen in the house affects the pH drastically.
The more people in your house the lower your pH will be. If it's feasible, open the windows near your tank and you will slowly see your pH climb back up within a 24hour period.
If you have a protein skimmer, you can run your air intake line outside to help draw in extra oxygen.

I wouldn't be too overly concerned about pH though if your corals are doing okay.
If you do need to raise pH with a product, I recommend going with 1/5 of their recommended dosage and wait 12 hours later and adjust in very small increments as needed.

 

Thank you for the responses everyone!

 

I think the skimmer has dropped the salinity because it is pulling pure saltwater off the tank and I am having to empty it to keep it from over flowing. The LFS said I have to run the skimmer, that it can't be turned off.

So... as Culprit said, the skimmer removing water does not change the salinity unless you are topping off with freshwater or running an ATO, (auto top off unit.) In other words, water removed should not affect salinity unless it is replaced with freshwater or water that is lower in salinity. So, are you topping off? Salty tanks do need daily top offs to keep salinity from rising... but yours is lowering, so we're trying to get that figured out.

If you are topping off, it certainly sounds like you're adding too much freshwater. But... how are you to know how much freshwater to add when saltwater is regularly being removed? Without an ATO, most often we note and/or mark and a waterline and allow the tank's volume to tell us how much freshwater to add. However, this will not work where saltwater is being removed. So, if I were in your shoes, I would keep saltwater handy, measure what is removed from the skimmer, then add that amount back to the tank. This doesn't really fix the problem of maintaining a waterline to know how much freshwater to add per day to account for evaporation. Unfortunately, your skimmer is the problem here because it sounds like it is removing too much water for you to maintain a consistent waterline, or to even really know where your water line is.

The LFS likely advised that you can't turn off the skimmer because it is part of the filter, so you probably can't turn one off without the other and really don't want to be messing with filtration during a cycle. I'm really sorry... I hate to tell people things like this, but I honestly feel your LFS started you off on the wrong foot. The combo filter/skimmer might seem like a good idea, but the problems you're having are a good reason why it's not. Also, I just don't like a unit that forces you to keep purchasing things, (like that floss cartridge in yours), and think you'd have been much better off with something you have more control over, like an Aquaclear HOB. These don't include skimmers, of course, but allow you to completely customize your filtration. I'll be glad to share with you how my own HOB and a few deets about my tank if you think it would be helpful. Sadly, we just can't always trust the LFS, since after all, ultimately, their job is to turn a profit.

Hopefully, the unit will get dialed in and you won't have to continue dumping saltwater. Otherwise and/or until then, I'd suggest you keep both fresh and saltwater on hand, monitor salinity frequently, and adjust as needed. Everything that goes in our tanks, be them fresh or salt, will be happier and healthier with a stable system without fluctuations.

I may have missed your other posts on this tank, or perhaps I just don't remember, being the forgetful person I am. We do love the help around here, and if you find that useful, it would be really great if you could do a build thread including all your tank details. If you do, please tag me in it, as I love to watch new tanks come together and am always happy to help.

 

Right now I am topping off with saltwater, but I don't think I am getting the new saltwater high enough to bring the tank up. This tank is at my Dad's house, who is 74 years old, so I am not over there everyday to work on it. In defense of the LFS, they gave me this filter for free, so it wasn't a profit to them. I have the Aquaclear on my own tank and love it, so I think switching him would be the best option, too. The first two weeks the skimmer works great. It wasn't pulling a ton of water off, just the yucky gunky stuff, and when I removed the cartridge to dump the water, it was nasty green stuff. Now it is filling up too quickly and it's appears to be just regular tank water. I can turn the skimmer off without turning the filter off.

 

Unless I am missing something, your tank is currently cycling, yes? If so then you shouldn't be running a skimmer at this point as it won't serve any purpose as it will just pull saltwater. Unfortunately nano-skimmers are relatively limited in their effectiveness. Is there any way to just run the filter without the skimmer or is it a complete all in one unit?

 

Yes tank is currently cycling. Yes, I can run the filter without running the skimmer.