Some reassurance needed pls

[pioneer]

I have recently taken the step from FW to Marine and have got the following setup. A 125 litre tank with Eheim Ext filter, Aqau Medic 1000 protein skimmer and Aqua Medic 400 Nitrate reductor. The tank was setup about 5 weeks ago with just salt water (SG1025) and the skimmer. The temperature has always been 26 degrees C. About two weeks later the Eheim external filter was added, and then about 1 week later approx 4 inch of live coral. Yesterday I added about 20Kg of live rock along with the nitrate reductor.
Now I know it is a bit early, but I did a water test this morning, showing Ammonia as 0, but both Nitrate and Nitrate levels where through the roof.
The question is will the bacteria on the rock start to bring down the levels, and if so how long would it normally take. Sorry if I have missed out any crucial info.
TIA
Pioneer

 

[Guest]

If I am not mistaken, you shouldn't use a skimmer during the cycle process and adding LR after will cause a mini cycle because of the die off. The coral guys will have to comment on adding corals too soon if you did, I don't know, I don't keep them yet. The bacteria on the rock as well as in your filter, providing it has matured, will bring down the levels. It takes time...My tank took almost 2 months to cycle fully. Did the tank ever comlplete the cycle before the addition of the LR and Coral?

 

[fishfreek]

when you say

4 inch of live coral

Do you mean crushed coral substrate? Or litrially a 4" living coral ?

What are your nitrite and nitrate readings specificly?

Nitrite is the second phase of your ammonia cycle and it is still toxic to fish. Nitrate is not toxic to fish and comes after the nitrite is converted to a safe form. But nitrate can be harmful to corals and other inverts.

 

[pioneer]

Sorry, I meant 4" thick of crushed coral. The readings were (roughly as they were measeued on a chart), Nitrate 110mg amd Nitrite 1.6mg.
The chap in the shop had said when I first fill the tank with water start the skimmer as it would'nt cause any problems as there are no proteins in the water for it to skim

 

[fishfreek]

There is some minor debate as to when someone should begin skimming. I dont see a problem with skimming from the outset. Sure it MAY increase the lenght of your cycle but it wont hurt your tank.

WOW. 8O 110 Nitrate at this early in the game...

So at this stage there are no fish in the tank? Was your live rock cured? What did it smell like?

 

[pioneer]

Yes the live rock was cured, and it smelled OK (like the ocean), it looks OK too, plenty of red purple green etc. I am going to take another test now just to be doubly sure of my last readings

 

[pioneer]

Forgot to mention that there is no fish or inverts in the tank, just the live sand and live rock

 

[pioneer]

OK, water retest has shown that Nitrate is about 50, and Nitrate about 2

 

[Guest]

Water Chemistry

I take it that the Nitrite is .50 PPM?
An Nitrate 20 PPM?

Or the other way around.

 

[pioneer]

Sorry, Nitrate is 50PPM, and Nitrite is 0.2PPM, which is why I am concerned.

 

[pioneer]

correction Nitrite 1.6PPM

 

[Guest]

That is dangerously high, but not as bad as ammonia being that high... It will subside and when it does, you will see it go down pretty quick.. If you have no Ammonia reading, the process is doing exactly what it should be doing... what kind of de-nitrator are you using? BioZyme? Dolphin Pharm.? Hagen Cycle? I found that the nitrate rose substantially when I used Bio Zyme. However, In time it has fallen to 10 ppm and I have 0 nitrite and 0 ammon. It has been 3 months and quite a few water changes. Water changes will definately decrease nitrates if you use RO/DI water...

 

[pioneer]

OK, well that makes me feel a bit better. The de-nitrator I am using is made by a German Company called Aqua Medic, it contains Deniballs which are biodegradable plastic. It sits under the tank and water is pumped into the reaction chamber, and then pumped back into the tank at about 0.5 pint per hour. I am not familiar with the ones you mention as I presume these are US manufacture. I am in the UK and I have not heard of these makes before. I have not used RO water yet as I wanted to get the tank habitable before trying something new.
Learning something new every minute, so apologises if any of my questions sound stupid. When would be a good time to introduce livestock?.

 

[Guest]

The only stupid question is the one that is not asked....Everyone here to help and all of us here to learn, that is what makes the wheel go 'round.

 

[pioneer]

Thanks, in that casehttp://www.aquariumadvice.com/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif how can I reduce the number of bubbles that my protein skimmer is pushing back in to the tank. I have got the skimmer on the lowest tap setting (i.e. reduced outflow), and it flows through two outflow boxes (on different levels) which also have some foam in them, but it still chucks out more bubbles than you can shake a stick at.

 

[Guest]

When the Nitrite is down to 0 ppm. Using the fishless method is something I did not do, and my fish I am sure went through He$$ and back again until the water got right...Believe me, I wouldn't do it today, if I got a new system. Be patient and wait for the 0 ppm to show. It will be sooner than you think. Mab a week or so, I can't tell. It is nature that takes its course now.

 

[pioneer]

Thanks I will just sit back and relax, can you comment on my Skimmer problem on my last post?

 

[Hara]

Live sand/coral will increase nitrate levels for a little while. I had this experience when I added live coral substrate to my seahorse tank.