Obzidian Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Evening fellow reefers!! 1 month in and tank looks great! Live stocks happy, clowns are weirdo but thats to be expected. (They're pairing 🙂 ) 1/3 Water Change at week 3, tested parameters today: Ph: 8.0ph Ammonia: .25ppm Nitrites: 0ppm Nitrates: 20 - 40ppm??? I will preface that I'm currently using an API test kit... I've read/was told that the kits can be inconsistent But, for science, let's say the data is correct, are the nitrate levels to high or "fine"? Ammonia is up just a tad so I might be over feeding just a little. Thoughts??? Live stock: 24g cube Live Rock + live sand. 2x Ocellaris Clowns 1 Pearly Jawfish 1 Carpenter Wrasse Skimmer is off. Poly filter in for 1 week now + bag of red sea carbon. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Did you cycle the tank before adding livestock? Quote Link to comment
Obzidian Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 Morning... CORRECTION: Yes, basically. Tank was cycled with bacteria additive. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 54 minutes ago, Obzidian said: Morning... CORRECTION: Yes, basically. Tank was cycled with bacteria additive. Basically? So you saw ammonia rise to above 1ppm, process to 0, nitrites did the same, then high nitrates, a waterchange was done, then livestock added? Without giving us detailed info on how the tank was set up(rocks used), how the cycle was done, it's going to be difficult to help. 1 Quote Link to comment
Obzidian Posted June 16, 2020 Author Share Posted June 16, 2020 By basically i meant the next day. ..... Tank set up with live rock/sand and livestock. (2 clowns and a pearly) at the same time. Tank was cycled with MicroBacter7. Water test done weekly during the first 4 weeks. (Start sate was may 9th, fish added may 10th) Nutrients shifted from Ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates. Now tank is around 8ph, under 1ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites and the nitrates in question. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 You're tank is still cycling it seems, high nitrates are common from cycling. Normally once a tank is cycled its advised to do 80-100% waterchange. You can't really do that with livestock in the tank. At this point you need to do more frequent waterchanges to reduce ammonia and nitrate. Quote Link to comment
Obzidian Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 Thanks. I was shooting for ever 3 weeks do the same 1/3rd water change, its much easier in this tanks. You know, I thinking being over concerned due to the reviews on the kit.. im not confident with it. Either way, update later to come. Had a jumper last night so Im lid shopping... wife is a little upset, poor thing she fell in love with the pearly. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 4 hours ago, Obzidian said: Thanks. I was shooting for ever 3 weeks do the same 1/3rd water change, its much easier in this tanks. You know, I thinking being over concerned due to the reviews on the kit.. im not confident with it. Either way, update later to come. Had a jumper last night so Im lid shopping... wife is a little upset, poor thing she fell in love with the pearly. Ammonia present in the tank is risky to the fishes health. So waterchanges need to be performed to reduce the ammonia levels in the tank. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 11 hours ago, Obzidian said: By basically i meant the next day. ..... Tank set up with live rock/sand and livestock. (2 clowns and a pearly) at the same time. Tank was cycled with MicroBacter7. Water test done weekly during the first 4 weeks. (Start sate was may 9th, fish added may 10th) Nutrients shifted from Ammonia to nitrites then to nitrates. Now tank is around 8ph, under 1ppm ammonia, 0 nitrites and the nitrates in question. A cycled tank won't get measurable ammonia on a test kit with overfeeding unless you are dumping in an entire pack. Microbacter didn't cycle your tank. It just added some other strains of bacteria. Nitrate isn't a concern but if it keeps increasing and becomes a problem even with regular maintenance then it is likely from stocking fish too fast and you will need to compensate by doing bigger water changes. Tanks take 6months - 2 years to really settle in. Jawfish will always jump and the flasher will likely follow so get something over the tank asap. If there is ammonia...it increases the chance of jumping. Weekly water changes are pretty standard. Quote Link to comment
Obzidian Posted June 17, 2020 Author Share Posted June 17, 2020 Thanks again. I appreciate the information. Will handle another water change this weekend and test again. 👍 Quote Link to comment
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