Is the presence of nitrates common...after only 2 days of cycling??

[southpaw23]

Hi there again...

 

Chapter 2 of the cycling paranoia....i just got back today and thought i'd test the waters in my 2 day old cycling tank...unfortunately, i hadn't gotten an ammonia test kit yet (or any other kits for the matter) coz they ran out at the LFS and all i had was a nitrate test kit so i thought what the heck...might as well check that.....

 

Well, results showed that there was about 20mg/l of nitrates present... ??? anyone mind explaining this scenario? i thought i wasn't going to expect any nitrates for at least a week...what gives?....my appologies in advance if this is in actuality a common occurance and i'm just here runnin my mouth off....

 

thanx for listening....

[kennerd]

What type of water did you use to fill the tank? Test that water first.

 

Second, I guess it's possible...there may have been enough bacteria to have the cycle running already.

[Twins Guy]

yep what kennard said-

your water supply could be the source...

 

or you've got significant bacteria there doing their thing...

 

what kind of rock and/or substrate did you use?

 

tg

[southpaw23]

Thanx for the reply guys...

 

With regards to the water i'm using....i highly doubt that the nitrates are coming from my water source...but i guess i can't be too sure..i'm not using RO/DI water but the water is coming from a water treatment system in my home...it has a two part treatment system, the first being a six layer carbon block filter and the second being uv treatment which pretty much makes the water clear of any bacteria or chemicals....but i guess what i'll do is test the treated water for nitrates when i head back later to be sure.

 

One more question tho....if it is true that there is enough bacteria present to start the cycle...and knowing that i've already have traces of nitrates in the water....what do i do next??....is a water change the next step? and is my cycle complete?

 

With regards to your last question Twins Guy....i can't say for certain the exact kinda rock i have simply coz i'm not in the US and we don't go by Fiji, or Tonga etc....i just got the live rock from my LFS...had a guy there help me pick out a good one....had a lot of life in it....i'm doubtful that the rock is fully cured though...i asked one of em if their rocks were cured or uncured and they gave me the blank look....maybe around these parts terminologies aren't the same....

 

But for substrate....i have two layers with the first layer being sand i bought from an LFS which was selling beach sand (was pretty expensive)...but i'm to assume that it's clean etc coz he said it's good to go straight into the tank...and on the top layer i bought a bag of sand from another LFS which is pretty much well...not live

 

I've got pictures on the camera which i need to load onto the computer...will post pics in the members section if pictures help any...but for the meantime....i'm just pretty much interested to know what the next steps are with my current circumstances....

 

Oh and what i'll do later today as well is get the rest of the test kits to test all parameters to give you guys a better gauge on what we're dealing with. so far what i've got on my list of test kits are:

1. Ammonia

2. Nitrite

3. Nitrate (already have that.... )

4. PH

5. Cal

 

Would i need and alk test kit as well?...isn't testing the PH the same? and what about phosphates? lemme know if i'm missing anything important.....thanx again for all y'alls help....

[kennerd]

Well, with the UV in line on your water purification system, I guess it might cause some trates from the die off of the bacteria?!?

 

I'd still test the water from that source anyway.

[southpaw23]

Good point there Kennerd....i was thinking about that for a minute but i figured wouldn't the die off cause an ammonia spike instead of nitrates?