I’m doing some water chemistry for oyster stuff while Jesse is out of town!

I’ll keep updating this same log and shifting the published date to the current date as I add things to it.

Notes from Jesse:

Mondays

• Water quality test with API test strips each tank
  If nitrite is above 1 the water will need to be replaced in the next day or so
  If nitrite is above or = 3 replace it as soon as possible if you have water available

• If all other tanks are in good shape, drain and refill right blue tank with 30 ppt seatwater
• Replace filter bag on right blue tank. I will clean them and have fresh ones ready for the next few weeks
• Refill any grey bins with freshwater from the hose and make new seawater
• For 30 gallons of water (the brute grey bins hold 32 but don’t fill them up all the way) Use ~2.5 tripours full. Make sure to check the salinity after adding two full tripours because it is easy to put a little too much
• If you do put too much you can bail out some water with a bucket and add some more freshwater from the hose

Tuesdays

• Water quality test with API test strips each tank

Wednesdays

• Water quality test with API test strips each tank

Thursdays

• Water quality test with API test strips each tank
• Make sure grey bins are filled with 30 ppt water for a full drain and replacement on the left blue tank
  In the past I’ve made 33 ppt water to mix with 0ppt DI water for the yellow tanks but I still need to check with Megan if that’s the plan moving forward

Fridays

• Water quality test with API test strips each tank
  If nitrite is above 1 the water will need to be replaced in the next day or so
  If nitrite is above or = 3 replace it as soon as possible if you have water available

• If all other tanks are in good shape, drain and refill left blue tank with 30 ppt seatwater
• Replace filter bag on left blue tank

2026-09-20

Megan’s tank is Yellow Right and she was in there today with the plan to switch out her water, so I didn’t check for ammonia and she’s switching the water out herself.

I switched out the water in the Blue Right with new 30ppt seawater, and asked Chris if she’d like me to switch out hers or if she has plans to do things this coming week.

She got back to me and asked that I just take a peak at her mussel bags to get an idea of how many are still alive (closed) and she’ll do the rest.

I also made a garbage can of 30ppt seawater that’s in the cold room and labeled it in case folks need to switch out water for other tanks this week.

2026-09-18

2026-09-17

I was out, so Chris M did the check for me.

2026-09-16

Yellow left ammonia was dark blue/green and not technically an option on the scale color chart.

2026-09-15

2026-09-14

The yellow Left tank (Chris’s tank) has too high of nitrite so I refilled. Chris said the water needs to be 26-28ppt (30 ppt will kill them). I used the aquarium pump to drain the tank and then refilled.

All other tanks are good I think.

NOTE: The API test strips are all used up, but I found another brand water test strips that also test for pH, nitrite, nitrate and alk, so I used those. Tetra Brand EasyStrips.

The yellow left tank was refilled with ~27ppt water today.

2026-09-13

The tank rack room needed more water, so I check the water chem in the tanks a day early to see if I could refill one tank with the already-made 30ppt seawater in the garbage can in there.

The right Blue tank had high nitrite, so I was able to drain and refill that tank. I would have had to refill it tomorrow anyway, but I did it today and then used the empty garbage can in the rack room to make 20ppt seawater to refill that system.

I also switched out the filter bag for the right blue tank.

Note I’ll change out the left yellow tank tomorrow I think. It also has high nitrite levels.

2026-09-11

API Strip testing for pH, nitrite, nitrates in the 4 tanks + ammonia testing:

The Left Blue Tank had nitrite that is above 3 so I needed to replace it with 30ppt.

I brought the salinity in the bucket outside the tank from 10 up to 30ppt by adding some instand ocean. I then drained the tank and turned on the pump to get the fresh 30ppt water into the tank.

I then refilled the grey bucket with fresh water then added instand ocean. I emptied the bag and it’s at about 28ppt, so more will need to be added before using it to refill the right tank on Monday. I’ll need to ask where more instand ocean is.

I also replaced the filter bag in the left blue tank.

Also, I forgot to test for ammonia the past couple days, so from now on it’ll be including in water chemistry testing.

2026-09-10

API Strip testing for pH, nitrite, nitrates in the 4 tanks:

2026-09-09

API Strip testing for pH, nitrite, nitrates in the 4 tanks:

2026-09-08

API Strip testing for pH, nitrite, nitrates in the 4 tanks: