LEVELS OFF!

[Spchampion2000]

Hello I was just looking for a bit of advice......i'm running a 100 gallon saltwater tank with about 150 pounds possibly a bit more of rock potentially to turn into a reef tank once its ready....its been running for about over a month now and i thought the tank had cycled......it seems as though my latest addition of rock has spiked my water and my levels have gone off the carts....its been about at week and not much change in the weather....my nitrites, nitrates and seem to be sky high the PH is bit below normal but my alkalinity is about right......what should i do.....it shows no sign of decreasing considering i don't have corals yet would it be ok to use some type of chemicals to lower those levels or would this harm future corals?

 

[roka64]

I imagine, if you added more uncured rock, that could have caused the spike, and the rock will have to cure. You could do some PWCs, but that would prolong the curing.
Where did you get the new rock?
Was it base/uncured or cured?
Was it shipped, or did you get it from your LFS?

 

[Ziggy953]

I would venture to say that the latest addition of rock was not as cured as it should have been. Do you have any animals other then what might have come in your rock in the tank? I don't know what everyone else will say but I don't like adding chemicals to my tank if I can avoid it. I would suggest a few PWCs over the next week and see how the levels look. What kind of other filtration do you use, skimmer? sump/fuge? I'm certain that many others will lend their far greater knowledge....but IMO PWCs will help but I don't think your cycle is done yet.

 

[tecwzrd]

Even with a cycled tank adding additional uncurred live rock is going to cause a spike in nh3/no2. Hopefully you don't have any stock in the tank and it will eventually get to 0 again (2-6 weeks). I wouldn't add anything to the tank to lower the levels unless you have stock.

 

[Spchampion2000]

Im running a protein skimmer and 2 canister filters im cycling about 700 GPH better safe then sorry haha.....so i should just do water changes? Should i do about 10% daily til it seems to level? I currently have no live stock in the tank thankfully.....but i was trying to avoid a 2-6 week period.....would water changes help at all?

 

[tecwzrd]

Do you have any stock in the tank? If not I wouldn't do any pwc till your nh3/no2 reach 0 again.

 

[roka64]

Im running a protein skimmer and 2 canister filters im cycling about 700 GPH better safe then sorry haha.....so i should just do water changes? Should i do about 10% daily til it seems to level?

As long as the ammonia has not spiked, PWCs won't be all that effective. I are assuming you don't have live animals in the tank...right? If so, I would do the PWCs. If not, I would let the ammonia spike and drop as the nitrItes spike then drop as the nitrAtes rise, then you can do a decent sized PWC and you will be good to go.

 

[Spchampion2000]

Alright i guess ill just be patient and wait on the levels to drop....thanks for the help and as stated above i dont have any live stock thankfully.

 

[roka64]

Alright i guess ill just be patient and wait on the levels to drop....thanks for the help and as stated above i dont have any live stock thankfully.

Cool! Props on the fishless cycle!

 

[melosu58]

Yes I agree that you`ll just have to let it cure and cycle again. Dont add any chems and dont do any PWC`s till Ammonia and nitrites go to 0. Patience is a virtue.

 

[patman3d]

From my understanding, doesn't your cycle restart all over when uncured rock is added to a tank that is already cycling?

 

[tecwzrd]

Depends on the size of the tank and how much lr is added. If you add 10 more lbs of uncured lr to a 150 gal tank that is in the process of cycling it won't matter much. 10 lbs in a tank less then 55 gal and it's going to add some time to the total cycle.

Key is just waiting till nh3/no2 is 0 no matter what size tank you have.