Hello All! This is by far one of the best forums i've been in. I just registered today and just had a few questions. I recently started a 55 gallon setup about 3 months ago. I added a few pieces of corals(5 medium size) and a fish when the tank was cycled. It wasnt at one shot but gradually. Recently I've added like 15 medium pieces. I noticed a few frags I had died and tested the water last week. I noticed that my nitrites and nitrates were up. Nitirites was around .50ppm and nitrates were around 5ppm. I did a water change on this week Wednesday around 8 gallons. I checked the water and nitrites went down to .25ppm. Yesterday I did a 20 gallon water change and my test showed 0 ammonia, .25ppm nitrite, 20ppm nitrate. Before everything was 0. I've been doing water changes and I cant seem to get rid of nitrites or nitrates. Did I take out too much water and cause the cycle to restart again? I dont even know where to start..... i just dont want anything else to die anymore. Any info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all!
Hello All... Few Questions
- Thread starter NoobieReefer
- Start date
- Location
- Staten Island
Your tank wasn't fully cycled if you have trites.. Welcome though...
if you start adding to much stuff to fast you can cause another cycle.your trites are way to high.what i would do is get rid of the stuff you have in there and let the tank take its course,adding a fish, wait two weeks and then add a fish or a coral,giving the tank time to build its bio-load.
dont add nothing,and i would break the habit of taking lfs advise anyway.im afraid that at some point you will go through a cycle if you move to fast.so slow it dont remove what you have if you can.how many fish,corals.
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- Location
- Forest Hills
can we see pics of the 55 gallon setup and the corals u added?
- Location
- NY
What kind of filtration are you using? Are you running a skimmer? Crossing my fingers on this one......are you running bioballs in a wetdry? Are you using RO/DI water? Are you only feeding what your fish will consume in a couple of minutes? Are you dosing any additives?
BTW, welcome to MR. Glad to see you jump right in with questions. Don't forget to try the search feature. You'll be surprised at how many questions have been asked and answered already.
Russ
BTW, welcome to MR. Glad to see you jump right in with questions. Don't forget to try the search feature. You'll be surprised at how many questions have been asked and answered already.
Russ
- Location
- Bergen County, NJ
You said that you waited 3 and 1/2 months, but you didnt say what you cycled the tank with. You cant just run a tank empty (just water) and have it cycle. You need some sort of biological inhabitants or a raw shrimp and let it rot, to cycle the tank. Adding the fish and corals have started your cycling.
Just like masterswimmer said it is important to know what kind of filtration you are running and specifics on your tank. I dont think just because you added your corals and fish that is what cause your paramaters to go up. Please be specific about you whole setup before we can determine anything your description was too vague.
- Location
- Flushing NY 11355
Adding LS after everything is 0 have very little meaning if the cycle that you completed does not yield a "strong" bio filtration. Cycling a tank could be think of raising correct bacteria to do the filtration but if lets say you only build a filter of 1 million bacteria after everything is zero vs someone build a filter with 100 million bacteria after everything is zero-it's a big difference in nuetralize the toxins. A strong bio filter can hose more animals and a weak one will likely to have mini cycles when you add even a couple of fish. Therefore, adding animal slowly will ensure you to have a gradual build up of the bio filter.
Do a search in about.com you can find a pretty structured way to starting a tank with explanation. Or you can search in MR to see if there's a good thread(in case your are not experienced, I don't know how you can tell what's good or not either.) But the threads here could be a little not organised since it's more a forum than step by step instructions.
It does look to me you are adding too fast without a strong enough bio filter.
Do a search in about.com you can find a pretty structured way to starting a tank with explanation. Or you can search in MR to see if there's a good thread(in case your are not experienced, I don't know how you can tell what's good or not either.) But the threads here could be a little not organised since it's more a forum than step by step instructions.
It does look to me you are adding too fast without a strong enough bio filter.
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- Location
- NY
I cycled my tank and waited AT LEAST three months without adding any livestock. I used uncured LR. As the dieoff from the LR acted as your raw shrimp method, it's not totally accurate to say you can't just run a tank empty and have it cycle. 'Empty' is in the eyes of the beholder so to speak.
swimmer
- Location
- Bergen County, NJ
Well i did say that you need some sort of biological inhabitants to cycle the tank. So the Uncured Rock which is biological does the same thing.
haha yeah i didnt really wait for it to cycle. i used natural seawater to start off. my lr came cured, from another tank. then i found out i had to get rodi so i had to wait a little to get that (end of school present from my parents)
the point is, just take it slowly.
the point is, just take it slowly.
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- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
The guy hasn't posted since his first post. We need to know what he's using as filtration, what he's dosing and what his other params are to descide whats wrong. =0)
sorry for not responding... its been a few days. Anyway, I removed about 8 pieces from my tank and stored those at a friends house same day i put this thread up. Today the tank looked amazingly clear so i decided to do a water test. I do have a skimmer, live rock, and sand in my setup as well as a sump with live rock, sand, and cheato. Parameters came out to:
PH-8.2
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Ammonia-0
How soon can i start adding pieces back?
PH-8.2
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Ammonia-0
How soon can i start adding pieces back?
- Location
- poughquag, ny
tank
what did you use to test the water with ? what kit ?
what did you use to test the water with ? what kit ?
As stated by others the size of your bacteria colony determines how much you can safely add at one time. So even though you went through a cycle there is no way to tell exactly how much of anything you can add safely. Which is the reason to add slowly. And adding Biospira when you add new fish would help since you would be adding more bacteria to handle the bigger load. But if you have a big enough colony of bacteria then adding biospira would be a waste. It wouldn't hurt other than what it costs you.
Another issue is that after your tank is cycled, if you do not have an ammonia load then the bacteria that converts ammonia starts to die off. So now you have less nitrites being produced and you bacteria that converts nitrites start to die. In other words, after a cycle you have to keep providing your bacteria what they need otherwise your colony shrinks and can handle less and less.
Sounds like an improvement but I am surprised you have 0 nitrates. If your tank had nitrites a week ago I think it would be safe to say you should still have some nitrates in your tank.
Regardless, if you need to add your pieces back, do it slowly and keep testing your parameters.
Regardless, if you need to add your pieces back, do it slowly and keep testing your parameters.
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