Finally Gonna go Saltwater - 29 Gallon build

[kurtyboh]

Yeah, leave the fish in, and keep testing till your 0 amm, 0 trites and have trates. Dont worry about pwcs unless ammonia goes over 5ppm, the bacteria you want in your tank wants low numbers.

 

[spoonman]

Yeah, leave the fish in, and keep testing till your 0 amm, 0 trites and have trates. Dont worry about pwcs unless ammonia goes over 5ppm, the bacteria you want in your tank wants low numbers.

Here are results of day 4. Looks to me like 2ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrIte and 80ppm nitrAte. Have the rotting fish still in there and the filter and power heads on and lights off. Readings look like what I said? I am partially colorblind so not 100 percent sure.

 

[kurtyboh]

Yep on the right track, certainly have a nitrite spike quickly!

 

[spoonman]

Thanks Kurtyboh, I think the Bacteria may have helped. I dont know for sure, but it seems like it. Very happy, hopefully will be ready for fish in a couple weeks! Getting excited!

 

[spoonman]

New tests for day 5. Looks like 1ppm ammonia, 5ppm nitrIte and 160ppm nitrAte. Not sure what to do now. Leave as it is and wait for the nitrItes to come down? Looks like ammonia is coming down.

 

[kurtyboh]

Yeah, just leave it till you have zero amm, and trite, do a large pwc test the next day, if still 0, 0, less than 20 your done. If trates are still high do another pwc, and you should be gtg

 

[spoonman]

Thanks Kurty, glad someone is following this boring thread!

 

[mfdrookie516]

I'm following it... just trailing behind a bit. I'm surprised at your nitrates. Mine didn't go above 5ppm. Funny how things can be so different in similar setups.

 

[spoonman]

Ya, me too. I don't know if its from the bacteria that I put in or not. Maybe there is more bacteria turning the trItes to trAtes than there is turning ammonia to trItes. I just confused myself......LOL! I just hope the ammonia and trItes go down, then I will just water change the trAtes down. Sound like a plan?

 

[kurtyboh]

Yeah they are pretty high, my guess is that bacteria he added is doing a fantastic job and the siversides are adding a ton of ammonia to be converted.

 

[spoonman]

That is what I thought, but I didn't want to be too quick to think the bacteria in a bottle actually works. I am still skeptical, but we will see how fast the cycle finishes. I expected longer with the little amount of LR that I have.

 

[spoonman]

New results on day 6. Looks like ammonia is about 0ppm, nitrIte is 5ppm and nitrAte is 160ppm. Continue to wait it out or put new silversides in? I still have the fuzzy rotting ones in there now. What to do?

 

[kurtyboh]

Theyre still decomposing, no need to change them. The bacteria is exchanging ammonia at the rate its being produced, which is exactly what you want! Few more days and nitite will drop most likely

 

[spoonman]

Thanks again Kurty. Waiting sucks! Went to the LFS today and they have Occelaris clowns, yellow watchman goby and some of the leathers and other things that I want. It is sooooooo hard to wait!

 

[kurtyboh]

Well as oc clowns and ywg are pretty common ill bet theyll have them when you can get them or at least within a few days.

 

[spoonman]

Test results day 7. Ammonia still at 0ppm, nitrIte somewhere between 2 and 5 and nitrAte at 80. Hopefully just a few more days!

 

[spoonman]

Test results day 8. .5 ammonia, 5ppm nitrItes, 80ppm nitrAtes. More waiting.

 

[spoonman]

Looks like little change today. Looks like the trItes might be down a little. Hope so. Was hoping for fish the weekend.

 

[spoonman]

Looks like little change today. Looks like the trItes might be down a little. Hope so. Was hoping for fish the weekend.

 

[kurtyboh]

How much rodi water can you make in a day? Your going to have to do a couple of large pwcs to get trates down when youre done cycling, so if youre joping to be done soon which looks possible, then youre going to want to be able to knock out those pwcs