when to add or top off

[inspire0522]

hi everyone... my tank is in its second week of cycle. Its a 10g tank 10p of ls and 15p of lr. my readings as of now are amm .5 Nitrite .25 ( dropping)and Nitrate 20... i have not added any water as of yet. My question is- is it the right time to add water to top it off or do a small water change... or should i not do anything at this time. Also i have a brown almost rusty color algae growing on the lr and ls is this ok?
Thanks

 

[Reese]

I don't know about adding water/water changes in a fishless cycle but I can tell you, only because someone else here answered the question for me, diatom algae is part of the cycle and will go away on its own. I think it's a good sign that your tank is close to being fully cycled. Anyone jump in here and correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[TXclownin']

are you running lights during the cycle?

 

[inspire0522]

I am runnung a Mini Aqualight by CoraLife for about 8hrs a day.. should i not be? The lr lost its bad smell and water temp stays about 78 - 80F. The water level has gone down i would say more then 3g. When the time comes to add water should i take some out or just top it off since its already 30% lower? Thanks again

1 yellow clown Goby
1 blue hermit

 

[TXclownin']

The purpose of the water change is to remove nitrates from the water, so just topping it off wont help you. Its probably a better idea to not let it get down in level(keep adding fresh), so that when you do a change its not too drastic. In order to get some nitrates out you would have to pull more water out in addition to the 3g added.

 

[ellisz]

You should add fresh water to account for the evaporation. Don't do a salt water change until the cycle is complete.

If you have livestock in the tank, you could do a water change to keep Ammonia down but it will prolong the cycle. Should wait until after the cycle to add livestock.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

My evaportion takes out alot of water each night.. is this normal? I notice that the water in the sump goes down a good bit, I thought that it was the pump taking more out so I played with the prefilter and it still dropped... my temp stays at around 79* at night.

 

[malkore]

water evaporates, you can't stop it. I have to add nearly a gallon a day to my tank, as its open top and evaporates even faster.

Ideally you should top off twice a day if you have evaporation like that. in the a.m. and again in the evening. This way your SG isn't bouncing around so much, which more sensitive inverts won't like.

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

okie dokie.. my last bit of lr comes today so I will add more water then.. I'm using an eggcrate on my tank so I guess I am getting alot of evaporation.. I just have to topoff with tapwater so that sucks..lol.. when I see my phosphates starting to rise I'm gonna buy a RO/DI unit from Lowes..

 

[hackteck]

should you top off your tank with premixed saltwater or freshwater?

 

[TXclownin']

always fresh because the salt doesnt evaporate with the water. if you were to add salt water you would increase your SG (= bad)

 

[Oceanicsublimat]

saltwater ONLY if u want to raise the SG of the tank..if ur good on SG simply add freshwater

 

[hackteck]

heh i'm glad i asked i was gonna be topping off with saltwater

 

[ellisz]

okie dokie.. my last bit of lr comes today so I will add more water then..

I would add the water first. When you add the rock, water will be displaced and you might not "need" water anymore. I would get the SG right first, then remove water if needed while adding the rock. With a sump, this will not be too big of a deal but you can overfill a sump too.

 

[Kam]

Dont top off with Salt water. Top off with fresh water. When water evaporates, the salt does not.