Yet another cycling question...

Nht · 10-15-2006, 06:00 PM

set up my 29 Gallon OCeanic nano tank about 4 weeks ago using all the live rock and water from my friend's already established tank. I used Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit to test my water. Ammonia and Nitrite are all 0ppm...However, my nitrates are ski high at 150ppm! I was surprised when I saw the test results so I tested 5 times more. It was right.

Are nitrates in a cycling tank usually that high? Ive heard conflicting advise on what to do with my tank at this point in my tanks cycling.

Some have told me to leave the tank alone and the nitrates will go down on its on and that would indicate that it is done cycling.

Others have argued that I should go ahead and do frequent water changes to bring the nitrates down and then Im ready to go.

What do you guys think? Ive also added a small refugium 2 days ago to the back chambers with chaeto. Change the water to bring nitrates down or leave it alone and let the chaeto perform its duties?

Last edited by Nht8134 on 10/07/2006 at 05:52 PM

Fly Guy · 10-15-2006, 06:12 PM

Nitrates at 150 is pretty bad. If you took the rock from an established tank and moved it quickly without letting a bunch of stuff die, im assuming your cycle has been over for weeks now.

Assuming yoiu dont have any corals or fish in there yet, i would recommend doing a huge water change...like 75-100%..... Id do 100% myself in the same circumstance. Let it run for a few days to a week...then test your nitrates again. Assuming the rock is healthy and you havent added anything...you should be left with a much more manageable nitrate number.

What brand of test kit are you using???

Welcome to TRT!! : )

leveldrummer · 10-15-2006, 06:22 PM

welcome to trt, and what type of water are you using? you could be getting high nitrates from tap water. the cheato will help alot, also do you have a skimmer on the tank? that will help later down the road getting your nitrates to stay low.

dobejazz · 10-15-2006, 07:32 PM

Welcome to TRT

BLEEZY · 10-15-2006, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fly Guy

Nitrates at 150 is pretty bad. If you took the rock from an established tank and moved it quickly without letting a bunch of stuff die, im assuming your cycle has been over for weeks now.

Assuming yoiu dont have any corals or fish in there yet, i would recommend doing a huge water change...like 75-100%..... Id do 100% myself in the same circumstance. Let it run for a few days to a week...then test your nitrates again. Assuming the rock is healthy and you havent added anything...you should be left with a much more manageable nitrate number.

What brand of test kit are you using???

Welcome to TRT!! : )

i did a 75percent wc that killed my rock and sand in a smaller tank, i have to reccomend against that. do the changes slowly and be sure you have good water that is the same temp,salinity, ph, and everythings else as the tank water.

Nht · 10-15-2006, 10:53 PM

Im sorry, I meant to say 80-100ppm. I know my friends water was good condition because he has a 180 sps tank thats in very good shape. However, from the time that I took the water and rock from his tank and put into my tank, the water was sitting for about 1.5 hours. Could this also be a factor?

For test kits, I have used 3 different kits

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals 80-90ppm
Instant Ocean 50ppm
Red Sea 0ppm???? I dont know how this could read a 0.

My tank is a 29 gallon. Ive already done a 7 gallon water change and also a 10 gallon water change within the last week but the nitrates have not budged. I use water from my RO/DI.

The only thing that I can think of at this point is that Ive been using Joe's Juice to kill the aiptasia in my tank every other day. Could this be the reason? The Joes Juice or the dying aiptasia is raising the nitrates?

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Fly Guy · 10-15-2006, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLEEZY

i did a 75percent wc that killed my rock and sand in a smaller tank, i have to reccomend against that. do the changes slowly and be sure you have good water that is the same temp,salinity, ph, and everythings else as the tank water.

it wasnt the water change that killed your rock i assure you.....

you can perform a 100% water change in a tank loaded with corals and fish and not lose any of them. It defintely can stress some animals and should only be done in extreme circumstances on a animal loaded tank such as poisoning or contamination....., but again, a water change will not harm your rock unless you changed it to freshwater or extremely off temp water. you had somehting else going on in your circumstance if your rock died

We are not talking about a tank with any corals or fish here i dont believe, if so that does make it something i wouldnt recommend for this particular circumstance myself either

Cycled tank, no animals, but some water quality issues.....lose the water, start fresh and give it a week for the bacteria to get in the new water and see what youve got going on then

pledosophy · 10-15-2006, 11:47 PM

Doing a WC will not harm your tank. If there are existing inhabitants just match temp and PH perfectly and you will be fine.

If you are doing WC's and your nitrates are not budging then there is something wrong with your source water. Test that.

It is possible the rock you received was purchased as dead rock and has never developed the anaerobic bacteria that converts nitrates. IF this is a case you will need to look at other ways to relieve the nirates.

DSB's are effective but might not be your pest option in a 29g.

Seachem makes a product caled De Nitrate which can go into your filter.

Macro algaes will help to use the nitrates but will not cre that large of a problem with that size of refugium.

Just my .02

Nht · 10-16-2006, 03:10 AM

Currently, Im still cycling so there are no inhabitants in my tank. Ive tested my RO/DI water and came up with 0 nitrates. Are there any other tests I should do to the source water?

LEts say that I do a 50-100% water change. Would I have to start my cycle all over again?