Help with my ammonia & nitrites

[SSLVRNBLK]

Hi All,
Im in need of some help please.. Here is my story I have had my tank setup for 2 months now and started with seeded Live Rock, Live Sand and Catalina water... Tank has been doing great and never had any issues with it other then this one.. I can not for the life of me get my Ammonia to zero and my Nitrite also.. It seems the nitrite will be zero once in a while but my ammonia almost never is.. they vary from .25 and .50 for the most part.. Now as you can see my tank is doing good and it doesnt appear to be suffering from high ammonia or nitrites.. So I thought well maybe my test kit is no good because it is a API but why when I test the cataline water it is zero on ammonia and nitrites? So thats when I ruled out my test kit... My Biocube 14 is all stock including bioballs... Please help...

 

[brandon429]

Faulty test kits. Its nearly impossible, except for the inclusion of antibiotic treatments, to have ammonia and trites after that long. Simply ignore!

 

[brandon429]

the xenia would be the first to indicate a problem w water quality to you, w shrivel up. darn nice looking tank. Ammonia test kits are the most error prone even when they are new. I read threads all the time of people detecting it in pure distilled water. its hard to tell why you get different readings, but ignore it there is no ammonia in that system unless you have a fish unaccounted for and all your corals are breaking predictable rules. Ammonia is incredibly easy to detect in a system without test kits, all we have to know is the number of fish, age of the tank, a clear tank shot showing potential organic deposits (which you don't have) age of the tank, and whether or not antibiotics have ever been dosed. I trust that over a test kit anyday, for sure. Ammonia is totally predictable its the most stable parameter we have yet it tests wrong so often! Im not sure why you are getting readings different between the two water sources, still Id ignore it until something really shows to be off.

If we assume there is ammonia in the display, where would you guess it would come from?

 

[SSLVRNBLK]

Hey Brandon,
I agree 100% with you and the fact that my tank doesnt show the signs.. But still the fact is these test are driving me nuts, because i dont know why they are off... Im sure its just me worrying about nothing, but I cant help it... Im thinking maybe I dont have enough nutrifying bacteria in the system.. How or why IDK.. Just cant imagine what else it could be????? On another note if I throw copepods in my tank will they multiply to continue to be a food source for my tank?

 

[brandon429]

Probably not. They will reach a steady state between the amount of cover/feed/predation your tank has to offer. Initially their numbers will be higher cuz you added some, but the real balance will be had in several months as their numbers balance out. You got some pods along with the live rock, I like to feed my tank really well to try and build up those numbers vs adding some and losing some of them, either way is fine

The corals you have aren't voracious pod eaters, although the offspring and gametes of some pods are taken as foodstuffs from the water column at times by some coral.

Your best bet would be feeding high quality frozen foods in the right amounts/timing, corals will take to those better than standard clean up crew pods. Certain fish will love the pods depending on your long term goals.

So its a great idea to buy pods, online sources such as ipsf.com sells excellent packs, but it won't show much of a measured effect on your corals compared to good light, water quality and frozen feed.

 

[SSLVRNBLK]

I was asking this for my scooter blenny.. I want to have a continuous food source for him.. Am I on the right track or missing something? I know in time my tank will be a continuous food source for him but I dont think it is at this time? Correct me if Im wrong...

 

[brandon429]

Oh I didnt see you had that fish, pods are great. Give him something to chase lol. it never hurts to add them, I just wanted to point out they won't make a huge impact on your system or your corals compared the manual things we do.