Next newb question. Water change or leave it

[Adzyhany]

I got my first saltwater tank 2 days ago and am cycling it with liverock. PH 8.2, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0 and nitrate 20 now. My gut feeling is “it’s been two days, just leave it” but should I do a water change and see if everything levels out?

[InAtTheDeepEnd]

I think leave it. You want it so it's the bacteria processing the ammonia and it can't do that if you remove it with a water change. As there's no livestock in there it's best to just leave it be with minimal interference when cycling. 

 

0.25 is quite low for ammonia though. I could be wrong (probably am wrong lol!) But I thought it was recommended to dose to 2ppm with ammonia.

[Adzyhany]

That’s what I was thinking. Just let it do it’s thing until the ammonia is at 0. But because I’m new to all this I was thinking that there’s enough nitrates that after a water change, the ammonia might be gone since it’s so low and the nitrates might level off and everything be stable. I’ll just test it every day or 2 until the ammonia is gone

 

also, will the nitrates come down at all on their own? Or is a water change the only way to bring them down?

[Clown79]

Its cycling. Once ammonia, nitrite have risen and dropped to 0 a waterchange is performed to reduce nitrates to 10.

 

What kind of rock did you use?  Established liverock or dry rock?

[Adzyhany]

4 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Its cycling. Once ammonia, nitrite have risen and dropped to 0 a waterchange is performed to reduce nitrates to 10.

 

What kind of rock did you use?  Established liverock or dry rock?

It was cured, established liverock from the lfs. We picked it from their tank and kept it in a foam cooler with water for the 10 minute drive home. I set up the tank and added the water, got it up to 77 degrees in like 45 minutes and then added the rock and substrate. 
 

I understand the idea of cycling, I’m just new to saltwater and wasn’t sure if the nitrates being so high and ammonia being as low as it is, if a water change would more or less settle it all in

[Adzyhany]

Oh and because the liverock was already established, I wasn’t sure if that meant “good to go” or if there’s still a full cycle needed. Unfortunately the store was out of test kits and I just got one today from another store so I wasn’t able to see what was happening from the start. Do the nitrates eliminate the ammonia as well? Or only nitrites? Like, being that the nitrites are at 0 will I need nitrites to take care of the small amount of ammonia that is present? Or will the nitrates just kill off everything else?

[Clown79]

Sometimes theres a mini cycle just from setting up a new tank, maybe from disturbing the rocks.

 

Its just a wait it out phase.

 

Nitrates at 20 isn't really high. 

[rough eye]

nitrites and nitrates don't take care of anything, except nitrate is basically plant fertilizer. it will feed algae and corals. let the tank run for a while and continue to test it. i don't know about adding ammonia if live rock is present. bacteria convert the ammonia to nitrites, and then other bacteria convert the nitrites to nitrates. this is what establishes the "cycle." the bacteria colonies will live and grow on the live rock and in the sand.

 

i would have the lights on. lights grow algae. pods (copepods, amphipods, etc) will flourish in that environment.

[filefishfinatic]

15 hours ago, Adzyhany said:

I got my first saltwater tank 2 days ago and am cycling it with liverock. PH 8.2, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0 and nitrate 20 now. My gut feeling is “it’s been two days, just leave it” but should I do a water change and see if everything levels out?

leave it, just let the live rock consume the ammonia and nitrate. if you can, dose biospira to boost your liverock. when your ammonia hits 0 you can add fish. 

[Clown79]

5 minutes ago, rough eye said:

nitrites and nitrates don't take care of anything, except nitrate is basically plant fertilizer. it will feed algae and corals. let the tank run for a while and continue to test it. i don't know about adding ammonia if live rock is present. bacteria convert the ammonia to nitrites, and then other bacteria convert the nitrites to nitrates. this is what establishes the "cycle." the bacteria colonies will live and grow on the live rock and in the sand.

 

i would have the lights on. lights grow algae. pods (copepods, amphipods, etc) will flourish in that environment.

You never add ammonia with liverock. 

[filefishfinatic]

i didnt do a water change with my lr and added a fish on day 1. fish was happy and ate well the whole time. obviously, dont get like 10 fish on day one but like 1 fish per 40 gallons is ok to start with. 

[banasophia]

6 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

You never add ammonia with liverock. 

May be good to explain this guidance… and I’m assuming this is the rationale, so please clarify if needed since I’m no expert on starting a tank with live rock (since I use dry rock for my tanks): adding 2 ppm of ammonia shouldn’t hurt the beneficial bacteria on the live rock, but when you get live rock there could be other life on it besides the bacteria that could be harmed by high ammonia levels. So when you start a tank with live rock you don’t add ammonia drops like you might do when fishless cycling with dry rock.

[Clown79]

Ammonia kills living things.

 

The point of liverock is for all the benecicial life you get with it.

 

Its counter productive to spend so much money on established liverock to then add ammonia to kill the beneficial life within it from the critters you get to a portion of the bacteria.

 

We use ammonia to kill bacteria on surfaces, disinfecting/sterilization, that very same thing will happen with a portion of bacteria on liverock and definitely will kill any beneficial critters 

 

If you want to dose ammonia, save the money and get dry rock.

 

Ammonia dosing wasn't always done in this hobby. It was started when dry rock use became popular. It makes sense with dry rock, its rather counter productive with established liverock.

 

Prior to that, ppl had patience to let nature take its course.

[filefishfinatic]

6 minutes ago, banasophia said:

May be good to explain this guidance… and I’m assuming this is the rationale, so please clarify if needed since I’m no expert on starting a tank with live rock (since I use dry rock for my tanks): adding 2 ppm of ammonia shouldn’t hurt the beneficial bacteria on the live rock, but when you get live rock there could be other life on it besides the bacteria that could be harmed by high ammonia levels. So when you start a tank with live rock you don’t add ammonia drops like you might do when fishless cycling with dry rock.

it will and it will hurt everything on the live rock. 

[Clown79]

6 minutes ago, banasophia said:

May be good to explain this guidance… and I’m assuming this is the rationale, so please clarify if needed since I’m no expert on starting a tank with live rock (since I use dry rock for my tanks): adding 2 ppm of ammonia shouldn’t hurt the beneficial bacteria on the live rock, but when you get live rock there could be other life on it besides the bacteria that could be harmed by high ammonia levels. So when you start a tank with live rock you don’t add ammonia drops like you might do when fishless cycling with dry rock.

I also didn't go into this huge explanation because myself and numerous others have gone into detail on the subject numerous times over hundreds of threads.

 

I don't mind helping ppl but sometimes we need to do our own thorough research on subjects

 

 

[banasophia]

26 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

I also didn't go into this huge explanation because myself and numerous others have gone into detail on the subject numerous times over hundreds of threads.

 

I don't mind helping ppl but sometimes we need to do our own thorough research on subjects

 

 

Okay…. that is pretty snarky… not sure why you are being rude when me and another person on this thread that are being helpful don’t know for sure… have a nice day and maybe a cup of coffee ☕️ 

[Jakesaw]

1 hour ago, banasophia said:

Okay…. that is pretty snarky… not sure why you are being rude when me and another person on this thread that are being helpful don’t know for sure… have a nice day and maybe a cup of coffee ☕️ 

Clown79 wasn't being snarky and he is one of the most active and helpful contributors on this site, particularly with newbies.  

 

Maybe hit the pause / reset on judging others.  Coffee sounds good though 

[banasophia]

43 minutes ago, Jakesaw said:

Clown79 wasn't being snarky and he is one of the most active and helpful contributors on this site, particularly with newbies.  

 

Maybe hit the pause / reset on judging others.  Coffee sounds good though 

I know who she is… and that answer was snarky

 

but thanks… 

 

saying you’ve already answered a question “numerous times over hundreds of threads” is snarky 

 

I was legitimately asking a question and asking for her additional expertise and that was, in actuality, a rude reply

 

you are right, she is usually very helpful… not sure what is going on but I think probably a misunderstanding 

[rough eye]

no coffee. i prescribe bourbon.

 

- Dr Rougheye, M.D.*

 

*is not actually a doctor. 

[banasophia]

Just now, rough eye said:

no coffee. i prescribe bourbon.

 

- Dr Rougheye, M.D.*

 

*is not actually a doctor. 

Haha good idea… I may do some bourbon in the coffee 👍😁

[Clown79]

3 hours ago, banasophia said:

Okay…. that is pretty snarky… not sure why you are being rude when me and another person on this thread that are being helpful don’t know for sure… have a nice day and maybe a cup of coffee ☕️ 

I'm not being snarky at all rather explaining. And its unfair to accuse someone who constantly helps others of being so.

 

I think its a little much that those of us who are on here every day helping for yrs are some how expected to continuously and thoroughly document stuff when a simple nano search or google search will get you the thorough explanation.

 

Its not a rare situation, this is very common one.

 

I don't even have tanks anymore and still take the time daily to help others, just because i enjoy it.

 

 

Seems like some on here can be snarky, rude, overly sensitive while some of us have a whole different set of rules.

 

 

 

[banasophia]

I think it was probably just misinterpreting; I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. Sometimes things come across differently in writing and I think that was what happened here. I appreciate all your work helping people in this forum. 🤗😘

[Clown79]

2 hours ago, banasophia said:

I think it was probably just misinterpreting; I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. Sometimes things come across differently in writing and I think that was what happened here. I appreciate all your work helping people in this forum. 🤗😘

No worries. It happens all the time with writing. 

Things sometimes come across completely wrong.🙂

[Murphs_Reef]

5 hours ago, Clown79 said:

No worries. It happens all the time with writing. 

Things sometimes come across completely wrong.🙂

I always thought you where are guy by the way you write... Good to know mam. 

[Clown79]

9 hours ago, Murphych said:

I always thought you where are guy by the way you write... Good to know mam. 

Lol. 

I always wonder about the members because its so hard to tell through writing unless they mention certain things or their name.