Add Crushed coral to Live sand now??????

[bwilcox1208]

So I have had my tank in the cycle process for a little over 2 weeks or so. I have about 10 lbs of live rock, and a live sand bed of about 2 inches. I was wondering if I can add some crushed coral to the substrate?

Also I posted on here before, but I used tap water when i first started my set up. It cycled for about 2 weeks and the readings were good execpt for the nitrites were at 1 . So I went and got some sea water from the san deigo bay ( it is in a filter system, very clean and clear). I have heard of alot of people using it so i tryed. I tested the water and ALL the test were more than prefect. This water is great. So I figured I would do a 30% WC or a little more to help get rid of the TAP i put in there. I did it and my nitrites were still at a 1. Should I just keep doing PWC for a few days and the nitrites should go down right?

Thanks for the help again, everyone here is great!

 

[Justin_Toronto]

Just curious, did you test the water from the Bay? What were the readings?

 

[bwilcox1208]

Just curious, did you test the water from the Bay? What were the readings?

yup sure did, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates, 0 ammonia. PH 8.4

Now I didnt just pull it from the ocean, its like a filter system, and lots and lots of people just pull right up and hose it into their containers! Its great! Dont ever have to but SW again! lol

Ive heard a lot of people doing this, so I figured Id give it a shot....

anyways, anybody got the anwser yet! lol

 

[melosu58]

Just let the nitrites go down by themself. Then do your PWC. Your nitrifying bacteria will grow and be able to handle the bioload and then you`ll be OK. Doing your start up with tap is not that bad as I would rather you do RO/DI from the beginning but the problem with tap is that the longer you use it the more of a problem it will be as the bad aspects of tap build up. Dont IMO worry to much about the tap water you used to start up. Just use your filtered SW from now on and you`ll be OK.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

Just let the nitrites go down by themself. Then do your PWC. Your nitrifying bacteria will grow and be able to handle the bioload and then you`ll be OK. Doing your start up with tap is not that bad as I would rather you do RO/DI from the beginning but the problem with tap is that the longer you use it the more of a problem it will be as the bad aspects of tap build up. Dont IMO worry to much about the tap water you used to start up. Just use your filtered SW from now on and you`ll be OK.

Sorry to steal the thread, but does this apply to larger aquariums as well? My RO/DI filter is coming from the U.S. and will take a few weeks to get here... I have most of my equipment already, but have to wait until the water's in the tank before I can purchase the live rock and begin cycling... recommendations?

 

[melosu58]

There might be some that disagree but 10 yrs ago when I started my 55 I initially filled the tank with tap water and never used it again since. I have a 125 now and used the LFS RO/DI water to fill that up minus the water that was in my 55 tank.My problem with tap is the repeated use of it. If you can fill with RO/DI that would be best but I could deal with an intial fill up to get things going. JMO

 

[SWFanAtiC69]

I agree with Mel

 

[roka64]

Welcome to the site!
I agree too. You also may want to reconsider adding CC. I had a CC/sand substrate and liked it about 3 months.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

yup sure did, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates, 0 ammonia. PH 8.4

How about phosphates? Salinity?

5.0 ppm nitrates, in my opinion, is far from "more than perfect." Just realize with that water, you'll never get your nitrates below that number.

[Edit: Sorry for the sea water diversion. Back to your original question though - why do you want to add crushed coral? Most folks that have gone that route seem to end up wishing they hadn't.]

 

[bwilcox1208]

How about phosphates? Salinity?

5.0 ppm nitrates, in my opinion, is far from "more than perfect." Just realize with that water, you'll never get your nitrates below that number.

[Edit: Sorry for the sea water diversion. Back to your original question though - why do you want to add crushed coral? Most folks that have gone that route seem to end up wishing they hadn't.]

yeah I know 5.0 ppm isnt perfect but it is livable.....wouldnt that be acceptable for what I am running. Low light corals, and like 4 fish. Why would I never be able to get my nitrate below that? Also the sea water is 0 nitrites, but when i did the 40% WC the new tank had nitrites when i tested it..they were at a 1. but my old water in my tank had nitrites also, so maybe I just need to keep on doing the WC. how long do you think the sea water will take over and I will have 0 nitrites?

 

[roka64]

Keep in mind, there are nitrItes and nitrAtes, two different things. Kurt is saying of you start with nitrAtes, you will be replacing the water with nitrAtes in it already. 5ppm is livable, you can add a sump and some macroalgaes to reduce the nitrAtes.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Your nitrItes will go away when your tank is cycled, or you've done enough water changes to dilute them to an unmeasurable amount. Again... you NEED nitrites for the cycle to finish out. Don't forget your goal at this point... to get your tank cycled.

Regarding my comment about nitrates, while there are mechanisms that can reduce nitrates (macroalgae, deep sand beds, etc), if you're literally pouring them back in at every water change you're not going to get much below the source water you start with. For reef tanks, the goal is to have as low of nitrates as possible. I think the commonly used "limit" for reef tanks is 10ppm or so, but in reality it's "as close to 0.0 as possible". For fish only, 5ppm is no issue at all. Just for reference, US Federal requirements for treated drinking water allow for no more than 10.0 ppm nitrates. Normally treated drinking water from the tap will have less than 1.0ppm of nitrates.

All I'm saying is that just because it's "natural" ocean water doesn't mean it'd good, and 5ppm nitrates is far from perfect. We dump a LOT of stuff into our rivers/oceans - a lot more than our simple tests can detect.

 

[bwilcox1208]

Your nitrItes will go away when your tank is cycled, or you've done enough water changes to dilute them to an unmeasurable amount. Again... you NEED nitrites for the cycle to finish out. Don't forget your goal at this point... to get your tank cycled.

Regarding my comment about nitrates, while there are mechanisms that can reduce nitrates (macroalgae, deep sand beds, etc), if you're literally pouring them back in at every water change you're not going to get much below the source water you start with. For reef tanks, the goal is to have as low of nitrates as possible. I think the commonly used "limit" for reef tanks is 10ppm or so, but in reality it's "as close to 0.0 as possible". For fish only, 5ppm is no issue at all. Just for reference, US Federal requirements for treated drinking water allow for no more than 10.0 ppm nitrates. Normally treated drinking water from the tap will have less than 1.0ppm of nitrates.


ok i understand what you are saying now. So do you think for a FOWLR and some simple corals ( just a few) that I will be alright.
All I'm saying is that just because it's "natural" ocean water doesn't mean it'd good, and 5ppm nitrates is far from perfect. We dump a LOT of stuff into our rivers/oceans - a lot more than our simple tests can detect.

ok i understand what you are saying now. So do you think for a FOWLR and some simple corals ( just a few) that I will be alright.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

yup sure did, 0 nitrites, 5 nitrates, 0 ammonia. PH 8.4

Now I didnt just pull it from the ocean, its like a filter system, and lots and lots of people just pull right up and hose it into their containers! Its great! Dont ever have to but SW again! lol

Ive heard a lot of people doing this, so I figured Id give it a shot....

anyways, anybody got the anwser yet! lol

What kind of filtering system are they using? I'm more worried about there being some fish-prone diseases or parasites in the water I'm dumping into my aquarium...

 

[bwilcox1208]

What kind of filtering system are they using? I'm more worried about there being some fish-prone diseases or parasites in the water I'm dumping into my aquarium...

haha no, well I thought the same thing you did. I dont know what kind of filter system it is, but its like 3 HUGE white canisters and you just hose it out. I have heard of many people using it. The guy who told me has been using it in his REEF tank forever and he loves it. Its free and there is nothign wrong with it. When I was there, there was at least 5-6 people there getting the water and that was in a 10 min period! Its good stuff, you live in San Diego or something?