Help!

[gcorona301]

Hello guys so I just started my 40gallon reef tank about 2 weeks ago and I'm having trouble keeping the nitrAtes down. So I'm going to write my process down and if anybody could tell me if I'm doing okay or wrong please let me know
So I did a fishless cycle by dosing pure ammonia into the tank , I used live sand one peice of live cured rock(3pounds) and 40 pounds of caribsea life rock.
Equipment-200 watt heater, one wave maker, one circulating pump, AC 70 I have a sponge, poly filter, chemi pure blue and soon to add GFO and that's about it.
Cycle stage I'm going to list
5-13-16: PH 8.2 dosed pure ammonia 4.0ppm and added IO BS-NitrIte 0- Nitrate 0
5-14-16: PH 8.0-Ammonia .50-Nitrite 5.0+-NitrAtes 30
5-16-16: PH 8.0 Dosed ammonia back to 4.0ppm- NitrIte .25- nitrate 40
5-17: PH 7.8-8.0-ammonia 0-nitrite.50-nitrate 40+
5-19: PH 7.8- ammonia 0-nitrite 0- nitrate 60+
5-20: PH 7.7- ammonia 0-nitrite 0-nitrate 60+-did a water change of 25% nitrates dropped to 20-40ppm
5-22 nitrates are at 40ppm did a 50% water change and PH is 8.0 and nitrAtes at 10ppm rising back up to 20
So should I worry the nitrates r rising so quickly or is that normal cause I Dosed pure ammonia and should get better over time? I also haven't even gotten an algea bloom or any algea? Is that a good or bad thing I run my led lights 9 hrs a day

Livestock: 3 hermit crabs, 1 clownfish , 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 emerald crab, peperminet shrimp and zoas in the tank everything is doing fine. I do feed once a day 1/3 of a cube of my mysis shrimp and about 6 micro pellets aswell as seaweed for the little critters
Any help to a newbie will be appreciated thanks!!

 

[nuttyd]

Seems like you added a lot at a time and the tank is trying to keep up. Generally its best to add an item a week at the beginning to let the bacteria keep up. Cut down on feedings and there really isnt a need to feed the seaweed right now.

 

[Land_shark067]

if you have livestock in the tank you do NOT want to be dosing ammonia!! the goal of an ammonia cycle is to have your tank fully cycled so there is no ammonia or nitrites when you add fish. you are are seeing the the continual rise as fish poop, excess food waste is decomposing into ammonia then being processed into nitrates. also you are also feeding A LOT for only 1 fish in the tank. see if you can get him to eat some marine flakes just do one tiny pinch a day and just feed mysis and any corals foods once or twice a week as a treat. no need to make it the main diet. also you never needed to add ammonia in the first place your live rock is already handling the load in the tank which is why you used live rock not dry rock. read anywhere online about cycling an aquarium but i really recommend watching the BRS 52 weeks of reefing youtube series (probably only the first 13 videos apply to where you are in the hobby) and then pick up this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982026218...TF8&colid=2LG9M1KGPR945&coliid=I31OWUJ4F96AHS

has tons of info you are going to need! keeping doing water changes and keep your nitrates under 10ppm if you can. but reducing what you are feeding is going to help! also you are probably about to have an epic algae and diotam bloom which is going to suck and the lower you keep your nitrates the better that will go.

 

[gcorona301]

if you have livestock in the tank you do NOT want to be dosing ammonia!! the goal of an ammonia cycle is to have your tank fully cycled so there is no ammonia or nitrites when you add fish. you are are seeing the the continual rise as fish poop, excess food waste is decomposing into ammonia then being processed into nitrates. also you are also feeding A LOT for only 1 fish in the tank. see if you can get him to eat some marine flakes just do one tiny pinch a day and just feed mysis and any corals foods once or twice a week as a treat. no need to make it the main diet. also you never needed to add ammonia in the first place your live rock is already handling the load in the tank which is why you used live rock not dry rock. read anywhere online about cycling an aquarium but i really recommend watching the BRS 52 weeks of reefing youtube series (probably only the first 13 videos apply to where you are in the hobby) and then pick up this book:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0982026218...TF8&colid=2LG9M1KGPR945&coliid=I31OWUJ4F96AHS

has tons of info you are going to need! keeping doing water changes and keep your nitrates under 10ppm if you can. but reducing what you are feeding is going to help! also you are probably about to have an epic algae and diotam bloom which is going to suck and the lower you keep your nitrates the better that will go.

Thanks for ur reply! And yeah I made sure ammonia and nitrites were at 0 before I added any livestock in there and will do and definitely gonna cut down on feeding I just want my little fellas to be nice and fluffy lol and should I do a 25-50% water change every week? Till I stop seeing nitrates rise so quickly?

 

[gcorona301]

Seems like you added a lot at a time and the tank is trying to keep up. Generally its best to add an item a week at the beginning to let the bacteria keep up. Cut down on feedings and there really isnt a need to feed the seaweed right now.

Thanks! I just added seaweed bc I thought my shrimp and hermit crabs didn't have anything to eat especially bc I haven't gotten Any algea

 

[Land_shark067]

Every tank is a completely unique eco system that you will have to figure out what works best for you tank which is the biggest joy of the hobby for me and I'm sure many others but ya do water changes. Also research protein skimmers, refugium with cheato are some alternatives. The amount of testing and logging of info your doing is awesome keep doing it and keep asking questions!

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[gcorona301]

Every tank is a completely unique eco system that you will have to figure out what works best for you tank which is the biggest joy of the hobby for me and I'm sure many others but ya do water changes. Also research protein skimmers, refugium with cheato are some alternatives. The amount of testing and logging of info your doing is awesome keep doing it and keep asking questions!

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

Alright cool it's so awesome coming home from work and seeing the beautiful tank. Definitely gonna get a HOB protien skimmer. Any suggestions? And yeah I'm keeping track all the time I made a little chart with my Microsoft Excel to mark down everything. Thanks for your reply

 

[Land_shark067]

since it sounds like you dont have a sump on your tank you have to be careful about what skimmer you use since some do better then others at keeping bubbles out of your tank. I have seen the Reef Octopus Classic 100 HOB filter work super clean and didnt get bubbles in the tank. i have the coral life skimmer and it works well but makes lots of bubbles so i would only recommend it in a sump. you want to find one that has a built in bubble trap like the reef octopus. its a piece of equipment that usually has some sticker shock but you get what you pay for.

 

[Land_shark067]

is that a fake jelly fish? looks kinda cool!

 

[mcgyvr]

welcome to a new tank..
you cycled/added stuff too quickly and you will get an algae bloom and more..
Don't add anything else yet.. cut back on feeding.. continue water changes..

Slow down...