First Water change is done..

6months

I was right on the money with amounts of water removed and replaced!

However, the water in the bucket was at 1.025 but once I rinsed all things off in the tub with fresh water, and then came back to check the water in the tank(about 10 minutes) it was still at 1.023..Do I need to do water changes more frequently until my 5gal at a time increases the tanks level? Or will it be fine to just continue with once a week making sure the new water is at 1.025?

How often should I do the nitrate and calcium and all that testing?

CaptainKid

How big is the tank? What percentage of water did you change? How long before the water change did you mix your saltwater? In my experience, when you mix your saltwater, you won't get a true S.G. reading right away. It might show high or low and might change over time. 1.023 isn't bad at all, why do you want to bump to 1.025? Your S.G. might also become higher over the next few days after yer water change... as the salt has more time to dissolve and settle. It also rise as water evaporates.

Maybe a little more info would help.

Cheers.

Nereaga

Its not going to change just like that. With a couple of 5 gallon water changes, maybe 4-5, it might start to increase. But it wont change with doing just 5 gallons. I would stay on a weekly WC shed. That way their wont be any drastic increases that might effect the tankmates.

I test my main tank weekly. If the tank has been up and running for a bit then weekly would be ok. If its just starting out, I tested every 3-4 days. Hope some of that helps ya.

You neighbor will be suprised to find out how much time and care you gave his tank... Nice Work! Brad

gm333

Just keep up the weekly waterchanges it will eventually come up, its not a big deal for now.
Check the calcium every other day to see how much it is going down. Then you can steup a day when you will know when to dose the calcium.
You will also need to check the PH and Alk at the same time so you can figure out a dosing schedule for those as well if needed.
You will only need to check the nitrate once a week to make sure you keep it at a low level, or perferably none at all.
I will comment on the hair algae issue in the other thread you had started before.

6months

CaptainKid, Check my other thread about needing help. It's not my tank, I have no idea how big it is. There is a link to pictures on my first thread.
I'm taking care of it for the neighbor while he's in Iraq.
As to the salt water, I mixed it up on Tuesday left it with the heater, and blower thingie, until Thursday morning when I syphoned off water, and then poured in the new saltwater. I was going for 1.025 on gm333's suggestion.

gm333, I didn't know I had any "stuff" to for dosing. eekkkk
Just that CB stuff and the planktons...