Ammonia reading? corals

[NanoPerson67]

hey guys.. i got a test kit and was told by my lfs eveything is fine and i can add a few cleaners and some hardy soft corals... heres is what i got

a turbo snail
a snail ( forget name - itburrows under sand0
a mushroom coral frag
zoanthids
leather coral

i bought some tests for my water and here r the results.. im kind of cinfused on the ammonia... the girl at the store said the ammonia was between 0.25 and 0.. i think it looks more like 0. the instructions in the test said pick the color that is closest and the color that is closest is 0... it's almost the same color if not... heres some pics... o and also
my mushroom coral looks a little closed or curled up.. yesterday in the bag it was closed.. i didnt put it in the tank until 2 hrs later... acclimated for 35 mins... my leather coral also i recalled was alot bigger!! my zoanthids r perfect thought... their opened up all the way.. once i turned the lights on the bloomed out and also my mushroom... the leather started the have the little bumps on the head and it appeared to be a slight bigger... do corals like the leather take time??? maybe my mushroom is splitted or curling due to too much flow??? i placed it on the bottm a little near the right side of the filter... maybe the filter flow is too much... it's opening up more now... i had the light on all night because they havent had any lights at all in that bag... they have been roughed up a lil in the tank from me moving my rock... on of my small rock fell on the zoanthids but the zoanthids look perfect.. the mushroom kind of got touched by the rocks and my hand and the glass.... but it's pretty bright... and the leather coral was moved around alot and hit some rocks... but they seem fine... except for the fact that the leather coral is smaller (or maybe it;s just me) and the mushroom closes and zoanthids in the night... right noe i think it's opening up.. in the store the mushroom was a full circle... my sg is currently at 1.025 testing with a refractometer at the store... i didnt get a refractometer yet... my hydrometer says 1.22... so everytime i add it i add 3 salt levels using the hydrometer... the refractomter is more accurate.. the girl at store told me it was a little high and too brong it down.. i also needed to buffer my r/o water... the ph is around 6 so i buffered it to around 8.4... the oh in my tank is 8.2.. nitrite 0... ammonia i believe 0.... i am planning on doing a water change tommrow.... i got the salt mized at a lower salt gravity at around 1.23.... my hydrometer sayd 1.19 but when i add 3 salt levels it should be 1.23..... it sucks i dont have a refractometer yet... it makes everything bad.. maybe i should just add some water tommrow at 1.23 to fill it up a bit because if i do a water change it would take all the good stuff out... i whould probably wait a week before changing water.... anyways thanks for reading... o and the snail thats in the sand.. what is it called?? i forget.. eveytime i takr it out of sand it keeps going back in... it has like a little atenna air hole thingy..
also what does my ph look like?? i think it's 8.2... the girl at atore told me 8.2 also











heres the pics

 

[NanoPerson67]

forgot to ask.... how long will it take my mushroom leather and zoanthids to grow/spread??? will the mushroom split into two???

 

[albano]

Sorry...not in the mood to read that long post...:splitspin...but I will tell you that leathers, HATE to be touched/moved, so it's usuallly not a problem if it doesn't open right away! and LEAVE the salinity alone!

 

[NanoPerson67]

Sorry...not in the mood to read that long post...:splitspin...but I will tell you that leathers, HATE to be touched/moved, so it's usuallly not a problem if it doesn't open right away! and LEAVE the salinity alone!

lol ya i kow it's alot to read.... k ill leave the salinity alone but, i want a higher water level... how would i go about doing that?? match the same salt gravitys? so lets say my tank is at 1.022 and my water i just mixed is at 1.019... should i add more salt to the mixed 1.019 and mix to 1.022?? my hydrometer says 1.022 but really it's 1.025... the girl at store told me to add like 2 or 3 levels to my sg.. she was using a refractometer so it should be rite...my tank is only 10 gallons.... should i really leave the sg alone?? shouldnt i drop it a little to like 1.024?? due to evaporation??

again sorry for alot to read...im a noobie and i tired to buy a reefing book but the one i wanted was sold out.. and i never buy online...

 

[albano]

:shhh: I have a feeling that YOU were the kid in school, that ALWAYS had his hand up!
If you just made new saltwater, don't add it yet!, let it 'mix' for 24 hrs. If you're 'adjusting' for the .003 that the hydrometer is off, thats fine, but keep the additional/new water the same as the tank water. Add the makeup water daily, for evaporation...you have to keep your eye on it...that is one of the problems with a small tank!

 

[NanoPerson67]

:shhh: I have a feeling that YOU were the kid in school, that ALWAYS had his hand up!
If you just made new saltwater, don't add it yet!, let it 'mix' for 24 hrs. If you're 'adjusting' for the .003 that the hydrometer is off, thats fine, but keep the additional/new water the same as the tank water. Add the makeup water daily, for evaporation...you have to keep your eye on it...that is one of the problems with a small tank!

by mix do u mean adding a power head to the bucket or just letting it sit? i will make sure to add some salt and wait a lil longer for it to mix so it is the SAME sg as the tank. the tank is 1.022 with 3 salt levels making it 1.025... the bucket it 1.019.. add 3 sg's and it makes 1.023... i need to add a pinch of salt so it's just rite...how quickly do corals grow/spread?? i really need a refractometer lol...if not another hydrometer just to make iteasier... how much should i top off daily? im starting to do around half a cup a day around.. cause my tank isnt open top... but it is open in thr back for easy acess to feed and to acess equipment

 

[albano]

the bucket it 1.019.. add 3 sg's and it makes 1.023...

Oh, yeah, you were that kid: 19 +3 = 23!
the right way is powerhead and heater in 'mixing' container

 

[NanoPerson67]

Oh, yeah, you were that kid: 19 +3 = 23!
the right way is powerhead and heater in 'mixing' container

i dont have an extra power head at the moment. i took the heater off my nano and placed it in the water so that way tommrow i can add rite away and won't need to hurry for water to heat up.. although i might need the heater at night i went without plugging in the heater last night and when i woke up the temperature was at around 82.... rite now it's really cold so the temperature swung to around 81...80... o and since i dont have a powerhead and since it;s only 1 gallon... should i mix it with my hand or something every few hours?? so that way i at least know it's mixed... or should i take my power head out and use that?? and put my heater back in the tank... my powerhead heads up the tank to around 82 anyways since it's so big... but if i remove my powerhead it will reduce flow.. ill only have around 100gph with my aqueon filter.. is removing the powerhead a good idea?? or just mix it physically with hands every few hours and keep heater in bucket

 

[albano]

When you can afford it, you should get an extra PH...for mixing, and backup, in case other one fails...for now use the PH for mixing...otherwise you'll have to wake up every 15 minutes to hand stir the water...if you do that, please start a new thread every 30 minutes, so we all know how it's going!

 

[NanoPerson67]

When you can afford it, you should get an extra PH...for mixing, and backup, in case other one fails...for now use the PH for mixing...otherwise you'll have to wake up every 15 minutes to hand stir the water...if you do that, please start a new thread every 30 minutes, so we all know how it's going!

k so ill take the powerhead out and put the heater back in my tank... im gonna have to wash my hands real good cause i had indian food today and some got on my hands and i can't get the smell of it out of my hands!!! ive washed it 5 times already... LOL maybe it's because everytime i wash it i touch the keyboardand it smeels back again... lol... i dont think the smell will have any effect but im definetly going to eat indain food anymore before doing a water change... lol.....

 

[NanoPerson67]

:shhh: I have a feeling that YOU were the kid in school, that ALWAYS had his hand up!
If you just made new saltwater, don't add it yet!, let it 'mix' for 24 hrs. If you're 'adjusting' for the .003 that the hydrometer is off, thats fine, but keep the additional/new water the same as the tank water. Add the makeup water daily, for evaporation...you have to keep your eye on it...that is one of the problems with a small tank!

what if the salt level is a little off?? buy like .5 or half a level... caused i added more salt and it is very very close.... my hydrometer read at 1.022 in the tank so it's 1.025 and then it red a lil under 1.022... then it read a lil over... so im going to assume it;s exactly 1.022... and anyways the new salt i added to the bucket it just around there... it's 1.022 a lil under... is this a big problem?? it's very close if not perfect it's just this stupid hydrometer i have.. i need to get a refractometer

 

[albano]

... my hydrometer read at 1.022 in the tank so it's 1.025 and then it red a lil under 1.022... then it read a lil over...

Hydrometer is just a gauge...an air bubble or even dried salt, can affect the reading...do you clean it with fresh water after each use?

 

[NanoPerson67]

Hydrometer is just a gauge...an air bubble or even dried salt, can affect the reading...do you clean it with fresh water after each use?

not usually... but sometimes i rinse with r/o water when i feel it should be rinsed.. maybe i should buy a new hydrometer?? or a new refractometer?? the hydrometer is like 2 years old... it's fallen alot of times.. i do try and tap in and hit it a lil to remove air bubbles..

 

[ming]

Ammonia looks fine, leathers, or actually any coral in general doesn't like to be touched which is why they retract when you touch them. My methodology is to set things the way you like it and leave it alone with minimal interference. Things tend to do better for me that way unlike the people who like to reaquascape every week.

 

[NanoPerson67]

Ammonia looks fine, leathers, or actually any coral in general doesn't like to be touched which is why they retract when you touch them. My methodology is to set things the way you like it and leave it alone with minimal interference. Things tend to do better for me that way unlike the people who like to reaquascape every week.

lol i aquascape alot!! but this is my final one... i aquascaped during the cycle and when i put my frags in the tank which i shouldnt have done