Nirtates & Adding Clean Up Crew

[ClamKnuckle]

So my cycle is done on my tank...nirtates are reading 20 after a 10% PWC yesterday (ammonia and nitrites are 0)
I have never had any issue adding a clean up crew to a tank...I never did a long drip acclimation or anything like that, just floating the bag, adding water slowly and the releasing them.
From what I have read on here lately I feel like I have been lucky in the past and am now paranoid!
Should i do more PWC's and get them lower then 20 before adding the hermits or snails or am i just worrying myself about nothing? If I should get them lower, how low do you think safe would be (besides the obvious 0!)

[tecwzrd]

After a cycle I'd do enough of a pwc to get your no3 at least to 10 ppm or lower which in your case is about 50% at this point.

You did get lucky but could have had a similar sg/ph from where you got the inverts from so they didn't have much of a difference to adjust to.

IME it's best to drip acclimate all inverts for 2+ hours for optimal survival.

[macman7010]

Clam,

20ppm is not really a high nitrate value for most inverts, (Clams, Shrimp, Hermits, Snails, etc.) and it is also not considered high for many LPS and Soft corals so on that front I think you are alright. The only time nitrate values of (10-20ppm) are of severe concern are when you are trying to keep SPS corals.

As for the acclimation of cleaners, HA, I have never even floated the bag, I just toss them right in and have never had any problems!

[ClamKnuckle]

Here's a silly question then...I have a 12 gallon nano, with maybe 10 gallons of water in it but i doubt even that much (22 lbs of rock in the tank, LR rubble in the filter compartments and sand taking up the rest of the volume)...wouldn't dripping for that long use up A LOT of my water volume?

[socalarsen]

what is the conversion of 12.5 mg/l nitrates to how many that is in ppm??? anybody know how to convert that? thanks!

[tecwzrd]

2 drops per second = around 1.25 gal an hour so a 2 hour drip is about 2.5 gal which for a 12 gal nano tanks is about 20% or about the same amount you would do with a pwc.

When I drip acclimate I always have 5+ gal of pre-mixed SW on hand mixed to the same ph/sg as the main and add as needed to the main tank. I discard all water used during the drip and either remove inverts to the main by hand or if it's a sea star I scoop up in a small bowl and place in the main.

Also as a side note if you use a QT you can keep your QT sg/ph the same as the lfs/online site you purchased your stock from which will greatly reduce the amount of time needed to acclimate.

See Updating Marine Fish Acclimation Procedures: Part 1 & Part II for more info.

socalarsen 1 mg/L = 1 ppm so 12.5 mg/L = 12.5 ppm.