First Test New Tank

[TankTastic]

The live rock is in and has been now for 24 hours, the test results are exactly the same as before

Ammonia - 1.2
Nitrite - 0.8
Nitrate - 5
Ph low - 7.6
Ph high - 8.1

On advise to kick start further I have just thrown in a Crevette from my fridge its the closest thing I have to a shrimp lol. Still having fun and found a great lfs yesterday only 30 mins drive from home. They have some lovely coral.

 

[redsea]

The tank looks good . Welcome to the site by the way.

 

[Mrc8858]

Looks great imo though 2 or 3 small rubble pieces on the sand would make it look fantastic.. give it a little more of a natural look

Edit* or maybe some coral skeletons instead actually

 

[TankTastic]

Looks great imo though 2 or 3 small rubble pieces on the sand would make it look fantastic.. give it a little more of a natural look

Edit* or maybe some coral skeletons instead actually

We agree, we are thinking of the coral too. But need to get the fish and clean up crew in first. Let then settle then go coral hunting. Just need the tank to cycle.

 

[TankTastic]

How quick can the ammonia spike in the tank? I am going to test it in 24 hours now I have the dead shrimp in but was curious as to how quick it can change?

 

[Mrc8858]

We agree, we are thinking of the coral too. But need to get the fish and clean up crew in first. Let then settle then go coral hunting. Just need the tank to cycle.

I meant coral "skeletons" which can be used as live rock

 

[TankTastic]

I meant coral "skeletons" which can be used as live rock

Cool can I get this from anywhere?

 

[Mrc8858]

I just randomly find it in the boxes of lace rock at my lfs

 

[TankTastic]

For all those that have helped so far I big thanks. With the dead Crevette shrimps in the tank I have finally had my ammonia spike this morning.

Test puts it at or just above 3.7. Finally started to cycle

Thanks again

 

[TankTastic]

My ammonia has now hit the max my tester will show 6.1 but still no change with the trites or trates. Been 48 hours now. Is that normal??

 

[EriksFish315]

Yes give it some time it took me about 4 or 5 days

 

[TankTastic]

I am now maxed out on everything, can't believe how quick everything changes.

Ammonia - 6.1+
Nitrite - 3.3+
Nitrate - 20/50 cant decide.

I assume soon the Ammonia will drop, then the trite but trate will stay high until I do a water change.

One question I have is my salinity has dropped a lot what can cause that? Could it be the introduction of live rock as that's all that I put in there. I did do a small top up with R/O water to replace a small amount of evap water.

 

[nohika]

What test kit are you using, out of curiosity? Those are pretty odd numbers (not in general, but just the decimals).

 

[Mrc8858]

For your salinity one reason you could be getting lower readings now is perhaps when you checked last your water wasn't fully mixed which would leave salt particles in the water giving you a false reading...did you just add newly mixed water when you tested

 

[TankTastic]

What test kit are you using, out of curiosity? Those are pretty odd numbers (not in general, but just the decimals).

It's a Nutrafin master test kit.

 

[TankTastic]

For your salinity one reason you could be getting lower readings now is perhaps when you checked last your water wasn't fully mixed which would leave salt particles in the water giving you a false reading...did you just add newly mixed water when you tested

It's water from the lfs and has stayed stable until yesterday and again today. So 3 weeks of good salinity then a really low reading. It was 28 and now it's 22 quite a drop.

 

[Mrc8858]

Do u mean 1.028 which is a bit high if its for a coral tank try and hit about 1.025 and how much water did you add for the top off and how much water was originally in the tank

 

[TankTastic]

Do u mean 1.028 which is a bit high if its for a coral tank try and hit about 1.025 and how much water did you add for the top off and how much water was originally in the tank

Sorry I meant 1.022 for the last 3 weeks. Yesterday and today it's 1.016 total tank can hold 105 litres and over three weeks have replaced less than a litre with R/O water as not had lights on so not much has evap'd.

 

[Mrc8858]

That's a pretty major jump did you re test it... If your using a hydrometer then you must make sure its rinsed and has no air bubbles on the needle and if you did re test then maybe you could have had a faulty reading the first time which still would be strange since its store bought ocean water which I'm pretty sure should be higher then either of your results..other then a bad reading I'm at a loss, any other opinions out there AA?

 

[TankTastic]

Tested it 3 times now. The first test was done at the shop using their fancy tester. I tested it at home with my hydrometer and it was close enough to the shop reading. I have now three weeks later tested it 3 days in a row with my hydrometer and it's gone down. Might take it to the shop tomorrow for testing.