Three Ecospheres Into One Tank?

[below_radar_00]

Mustafa,

The tank did come with a set of LED lights but I have the tank sitting on my fireplace mantle, in the middle, and running a power cord across the mantle looked tacky. I did have the light on for 4-5 hours a day though while I was thinking up a wireless solution. I ended up settling on some battery operated LED lights. These are the lights: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000R7 ... UTF8&psc=1

It came in a three pack but I only have one light above the tank. It's VERY bright but I'm not sure if it's exactly what I need for algae growth. Any idea?

Also, my living room is pretty bright during the way. My living room, kitchen and dining room are all connected so it's one giant room. I have three large windows and a sliding glass door along the back wall and a smaller window in the kitchen. I leave the blinds open all day so a lot of light comes in that way. Does that help the tank at all? It gets dark around 6ish right now and I usually turn on the LED light around 7 and let it run until 11 when I head off to bed.

[below_radar_00]

Checked the levels again. This time I decided to try and do pH as well since I haven't done that before. I started with the standard pH test and it was at the upper level. I know that test caps out there so I broke out the high pH test and found that the pH levels were at 8.0. Everything else is pretty much the same: Ammonia at .25, Nitrite at .50, and Nitrate at 160. So far I'm just holding tight as everyone suggested. I won't plan on doing any water changes unless someone says otherwise. The shrimp are all still red and swimming around. I have caught them settling in at certain times of the day and grazing around. I do have a couple of shrimp that are clearish in color so not sure what's up with them but the rest all seem good.

[below_radar_00]

Tested again today. pH went up a bit but Nitrite went down.

pH: 8.2
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 160

[Mustafa]

The kind of light does not seem to matter much for algae growth as long as there is enough of it. There is always some species that is adapted to the spectrum that the light source gives off. An easy way to test if you have enough ambient lighting is if the ambient light is at least as bright, or brighter than the light source. If that's not the case, I'd leave the light on during the day, too, for a total of approximately 12 hours. That's what I do. That's really the only way to get the nitrates down...they need to be "eaten up." It seem like your tank was sitting in the dark for months and months (years?) for economical reasons (save energy) before being sold to you. That's why so much nitrate accumulated (and there are no algae in your tank). Unless, of course, the source water for the tanks had lots of nitrates to begin with. Other than the nitrates (in your case) I would not worry about testing anything really...

[below_radar_00]

Thanks Mustafa!

I also wanted to post something on here for reference...I use the API Freshwater Master Kit for my testing. They also make a Saltwater Master Kit. It appears that the Freshwater Kit is the same as the Saltwater kit with some minor exceptions:

1: The Freshwater Kit comes with the low range pH (7.6 and below) as well as a high range pH test. The Saltwater only comes with the high range.
2: The chemicals for the other tests (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, high range pH) are all the same in both tests. The only difference is the testing card itself. The colors change a little bit between the two.

Since we all have brackish water, I wasn't sure which test would be more accurate so I reached out to the folks at Mars Fish Care (makers of API) to get their input. They said that 1.010 (the specific gravity of my tank) is right near the cut off point for the freshwater test. They said that really the colors I'm getting back would match halfway between the two testing cards. They said that nitrite will be the same color on both cards but the rest will be different. They said the Freshwater cards will be close enough but won't be exact. I know there's a lot of debate on this topic all over the web so hopefully this helps some folks.

Here's a link to an online reference of the different color cards. You can see that they are very similar:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/downloads.html

[below_radar_00]

Here's a question...should our tanks not have a "normal" pH level since they are brackish water? I'm new to aquariums so I don't know a whole lot but since the saltwater API test only comes with a high range pH test that would seem to indicate that adding salt bumps up the pH levels. I tested some distilled water with salt added that I had laying around and it came back with a pH of 8.2 which is the same as my tank. So I guess I'm worried about pH for no reason? Anyone with aquarium experience care to chime in?

[KenCotigirl]

Normal pH? pH should not be a problem for opae ula. You start with destilled water add reef salt at half stated quantity you get a pH between 7.8-8.2. Just like you measured 8.2. The reef salt box may indicate this. If your substrate is crushed coral or you have broken shell, coral pieces and or limestone this should help maintain the pH in the Acceptable range. No real need to check. Opae ula even at high density and feed as per mustafa's recommendations should have little impact on pH. So i would not worry about measuring pH. The main keys are: do not over feed and leave things alone.