20 Gallon Cycle

[Mojeska]

I've been cycling a 20 gallon tank for about two weeks now, however I think I have a problem. My ammonia is reporting at 0, my nitrites at 1ppm (possible greater), and my nitrates at 50ppm. It's been like this for the last 4 days. Question is, are the nitrates too high? They seem high to me.

 

I started the tank with live sand. I have been using the Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kit to do the cycle, and the directions state my ammonia should be at 1ppm, nitrites should be at 0.1, and nitrates at 10-15ppm. I seem to be way off from the parameters. Should I do a partial water change to bring down the nitrates, or just give it another few days?

[xilez]

Nitrate is OK (during the cycle at least ). It means your cycle is working. They will not go down on their on without the help of water changes (nor will they slow your cycle).

 

When ammonia and nitrites are at 0, you are close to being done.

 

What type of rock are you using? (this is important)

Did you ever notice an ammonia spike?

[Mojeska]

Nitrate is OK (during the cycle at least ). It means your cycle is working. They will not go down on their on without the help of water changes (nor will they slow your cycle).

 

When ammonia and nitrites are at 0, you are close to being done.

 

What type of rock are you using? (this is important)

Did you ever notice an ammonia spike?

 

I did have an ammonia spike, I just don't recall seeing a large nitrite spike. It seemed to hit 1ppm, then just stuck there.

I'm using "life" rock (engineered, not live), so that shouldn't be causing any spikes.

[xilez]

I'm not familiar with how that kit fully works, but I don't think it requires a dosing routine does it?

 

Your nitrate readings will be skewed if nitrites are present. Does the kit mention something about waiting for the nitrite spike?

 

Im sure someone with more experience with this kit will chime in

[seabass]

Your nitrate readings will be skewed if nitrites are present.

I don't believe that's that case. I really wouldn't worry too much about nitrite (especially if it's less than 5ppm), as it isn't toxic at marine pH levels.

 

The presence nitrate indicates that the tank has processed ammonia, and the necessary bacteria are present. However, since ammonia is undetectable, you can do a large water change to lower nitrate (it should be less than 10ppm before adding livestock).

 

You want ammonia to be undetectable before adding livestock, so it looks like you are good there. The only question is how large of an initial bio-load will your tank support. You could build up the biofilter with DrTim's ammonium chloride before adding livestock, or you can do a water change to get nitrate down, then start adding livestock very slowly. I'd probably start with a couple carnivores and omnivores (like a couple of nassarius snails and a dwarf blue leg hermit crab), so you can feed them a small amount once or twice a week. Then add a small fish. Once you start to notice algae, get some herbivores (like a trochus snail).

[Clown79]

Agree with Seabass. Do a good size water change to reduce your nitrates. Nitrates won't reduce on their own.

 

Test after the water change.

 

Add a couple of hermits and continue testing. If your ammonia stays at 0 and nitrates are lower than 10, you should be good to add a fish.

[Mojeska]

I'm not familiar with how that kit fully works, but I don't think it requires a dosing routine does it?

 

Your nitrate readings will be skewed if nitrites are present. Does the kit mention something about waiting for the nitrite spike?

 

Im sure someone with more experience with this kit will chime in

The kit does have a regular dosing routine. I dose about 1.5ml of NO3:PO4-X (biological nitrate and phosphate reducer - contains denatured ethanol, not sure of other ingredients).

The kit also has me dose Nitro Bac, and Bacto Start, however those are not daily. In any case, my readings are off from what the directions say I should be seeing.

 

The kit had me do a 5% water change today, and I went ahead and did a 50% water change today to lower the nitrates.

 

I should have just done a regular cycle without the kit. I just read some good articles about it, but I think it's not working for me. To get such odd readings, I must have screwed something up. Anyway, I'll see what the water change does for me, then check the readings.

[seabass]

The only numbers you should care about right now are ammonia being undetectable and nitrate being less than 10ppm. I think your tank is in fine shape. No need to worry.