Saltwater 40 g breeder diary

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Criptix

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
320
Location
Nevada
Day 1
Salinity1.020
2 ppm ammonia
7.8 ppm PH
50 lbs sand
50 - 60 lbs of base rock

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Day 3
PH 7.8 ppm
Ammonia .25 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
Added ammonia to 3 ppm
Now testing every day. May have fish ahead of schedule! Is it possible to have ammonia but
0 Nitrite? I am using the rock from my 45 g and put the sponge filters I am using for quarantine tank(I left them in saltwater saved from 45g).

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Day 4 DT

Measured Ammonia,Trite and trate only today.
NH3/NH4+-.5 ppm
NO2 - -0-did test 3 times same result
NO3- -10 ppm
 
What are you using as an ammonia source?
I am using Dr. Timm's Ammonium Chloride solution for Fishless Cycle
I am following the directions on their website.The thing is I am also following the instruction on the tests for API and according to Dr. Timms test kits are inaccurate. So do i adjust the reading or do I not follow their instructions and make the solution match the tests? If I need to adjust the results of the API tests how do I do it?
Right now I am doing a combination of the two.The instructions say to dose to 3ppm but the solution doses to 2ppm if you add a drop per gallon so I added 38(number of gallons)+ half the number of gallons to bring it to 3 ppm.The ammonia tested at 1ppm so I add 2ppm to make three.
 
I am using Dr. Timm's Ammonium Chloride solution for Fishless Cycle
I am following the directions on their website.The thing is I am also following the instruction on the tests for API and according to Dr. Timms test kits are inaccurate. So do i adjust the reading or do I not follow their instructions and make the solution match the tests? If I need to adjust the results of the API tests how do I do it?

The API tests are fine. I would just add more ammonia to match the ppm suggestions.
 
Day 5

NH3/NH4- .25 ppm
NO2- 0 ppm
NO3- 20 ppm
Added more ammonia to 3 ppm 116 drops
I discovered I was not following the instructions for the Nitrate test correctly.i wasn't shaking it for a minute to complete the test.
 
Day 6

NH3/NH4-1 ppm
NO2- 0 ppm
NO3- 20 ppm

I think I need to get a new test kit...I was thinking Seachem. Thoughts?
 
Are you shaking bottle #2 for 30 seconds then the tube for 1 minute when u do trates?

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Yep...I am now.The test that has me puzzled is the trite test.Until today the test yielded 0 ppm.

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My bad..thought it was the other giving you fits
That's okay because until 2 day ago I was doing the trate test wrong.I was shaking bottle 2 for 30 seconds but I was only shaking it for 5 secs not 1 minute.Funny thing about that though.I have been hitting Youtube like crazy and I was watching a video about testing trates with API test kit and they were shaking the test tube for a minute and I was like not only are they holding their finger over the lid like it said not to but they are shaking it for to long.Sure enough, they may have been putting their finger over the top of the test tube but you are supposed to shake it for a minute and then wait five minutes before checking results.
Thanks for your input though. :fish2:
 
Day 8

Well today I tested my water and this was my result:
NH3/NH4- between .25 and .5 ppm
NO 2- 0
NO 3-between 40 - 80 pmm

I added 116 drops of Dr. Timm's and waited about 20 min and the NH3/NH4 between 2 - 4 ppm
I attached pictures of the results.What do yo think?Sometimes they can be hard to read...
 

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Def looks like you are cycling away. It could be 2 ppm for ammonia, but the only thing you want to be sure about is it hitting 0 in 24 hours when you dose ammonia.


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Def looks like you are cycling away. It could be 2 ppm for ammonia, but the only thing you want to be sure about is it hitting 0 in 24 hours when you dose ammonia.


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Do you have any suggestions on how to get better readings? Thank you for your input.:fish1:
 
Better tests will give better results. But for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate API do the job. It doesn't have to be that specific. Just follow the instructions and you'll be fine.


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day 10

NH3/NH4- between .5 and 1 ppm
NO 2- .25 ppm
NO 3-above 80 ppm Its it harmful if you trates get to high during the cycle?
I ended up adding more drops to get the ammonia to read at least 2 ppm
Trite is starting to show now. Is that unusual?
 

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