Quote:
Originally Posted by nub5  The hydrometer that we were using was broken. Our friend came over to test our tank with his little kit thing. He said our tank was wayyyyy to cold and the "Specific Gravity" was at 1.028. |
Did your friend test for
Nitrates and
Phosphates? If so, what were the results?
What kind of filter do you have for the water you use for making
SW batches and for evaporation?
How many gallons of
SW do you change out every week?
What/How much/How often are you feeding the tank?
How well is the jebo
skimmer performing? What is the skimmate like, and how much/how often do you empty the collection cup?
What temperature (Kelvin) bulbs are you running? How long are your lights on each day?
Quote:
Anymore advice?  |
I am going to be presumptuous, but here are some ideas:
1) Do not add any more organisms to your very young tank.
2) Invest in some basic test kits (Ammonia,
Nitrite,
Nitrate,
Phosphate). Many people use the Salifert kits, but some are happy with API, Seachem, and FastTest. You need to test for
Nitrates and
Phosphates. Also get a
Refractometer to regularly test your
salinity.
3) Make sure you have a decent heater and thermometer, and keep the tank at 78-82 degrees.
4) Fully cure 60-80 pounds more
LR in a bucket for 3-4 weeks, and then add it to the tank when
Ammonia,
Nitrite are zero and
Nitrate is 5
ppm or less. You should have at least 125 pounds and preferably 150+ pounds in your tank total.
5) I would strongly recommend that you buy Reverse Osmosis - Deionized Water filter if you do not already have one, and regularly test it with a
TDS meter.
6) I would recommend that you augment you flow with at least two stream pumps, like Koralia 4's, or Maxijet 1200's (with
stream mod kit) and have them at both ends of tank pointing toward each other to produce chaotic, broad current.
7) Research. Listen to the TR podcasts if you have not already. Buy some recommended books, read the plethora of online articles by respected authors and start stalking the forums (with a grain of salt). This hobby has a TON of free information available on the internet.
8) Eventually get a
Sump (with a
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
)
