New Tank & Prodibio Biodigest

[qasimbotani]

Hello,

Im new to the hobby and I have limited resource with saltwater where I live. Here we have pet shops with limited information. I live in North Iraq so I had to order stuff for my tank from Turkey, I even Ordered my tank from Turkey attached is my tank. I wanted to buy prodibio startup but accidentally bought prodibio biodigest my mistake I admit although it is Nitrifying Bacteria from what i read on prodibios website but I dont know if it works. I have been running my tank for three weeks almost two weeks ago I added a vial of the product, I added another vial yesterday as it says once every two weeks on their website. What should I expect as changes in my water parameters? I will attach photos of my test readings for pros out here. Your help in this regard will help alot.

Thanks a lot,
Qasim

 

[ReefEco]

Hey there, BioDigest will still help with your cycle, so no worries there. From your test kit readings, you are still in the cycle, so keep being patient until your ammonia and nitrite drops. Do you currently have anything in the tank - fish, was your rock live or dry? For your tank to cycle, you need some nutrient input - either a little bit of food everyday, a fish, or some people put a small piece of shrimp in and let it decay. I assume you do, since you have ammonia and nitrite, but just checking. Once your Ammonia and Nitrite drop, your nitrate will likely register a bit higher - at which point you are ready to SLOWLY introduce live stock. There weren't any other details about your tank, but depending on your filtration and water quality, you can go faster or slower with adding livestock.

 

[JUNBUG361]

Yup tank still cycling. Take it slow & be patience. WELCOME TO THE HOBBY

 

[qasimbotani]

Thank you very much for the information, the rock were dry pukani rocks so does the sand.I think some dead organics on the rocks did cause the ammonia to raise I just did another test on ammonia only and my reading was 1 ppm. I have reeflowers bacteria feeder should I use it to introduce food for the bacteria I have added via biodigest?

And thanks I love the hobby I have been studying it for a year now and still asking and will never stop asking as it is the right way not to make mistakes

My tank specs are as follows:
100cm x 60cm x 60cm Display
95x45x40 sump

In total I have approximately 487 liters
Salinity is 1023-1025
Bubble magus curve 9 as skimmer
Newa jet 4500 return pump
Jebao ws8 wave maker
~58lbs of dry pukani rock
I have 3 filter socks in the sump
300 watt heater and there is activated carbon since my water is yellow a little bit.

 

[ReefEco]

Yes, Pukani is notoriously filled with dead sponges, so if you didn't take a pair of tweezers to them to manually remove it, that is likely what is decaying now. If you don't have anything in the tank yet, I would suggest removing the rock piece by piece if possible, and taking a pair of tweezers and get out as much of the stuff as you can that you can see - there will still be more likely in the interior structure of the rock that you can't get to, but removing anything manually is better than not...

 

[qasimbotani]

I did try to clean as much as I can, I also tried to bleach one of the rock for 24 hours and sit it in water for a week then let it dry in the sun. The other rocks that I bough were dirty I was cleaning and removed all the dead matters and extra dirt from them as much as I could and from all the surfaces. I gave them a good shower before putting them into the tank. However, after a week the water turned yellow, which I feel it is the dirt. I tried to rinse the sand as well before adding. I feel one of my biggest issue is having one wave maker to circulate the water in the tank although the return pump is pushing some of the water but I think it is not enough I have been trying to place the only wave pump I have in different locations, but Im afraid to create sand storms and blow all the sand aside. I will wait two more days and then try to see if the bacteria has any affect.

But do you recommend me add reeflowers bacteria feeder to my tank for the bacteria to feed on? or should I just wait and let the tank run for quite a while.

 

[ReefEco]

If your rock has organics on it or in it - the bacteria in the tank has enough food, and you want them to consume that, rather than the extra food you are adding. You don't want to cause a bacteria bloom. I would just give it a little time and let nature take its course - test in a week and see where you are.

 

[ReefEco]

PS - adding more circulation, especially at this stage - might also be a good idea...

 

[qasimbotani]

That is great, I havent added any food for bacteria yet I was asking if I needed to. Since I dont I will not use it. I did a test yesterday I will do another ina weeks time until then I will get my Orbit Marine IC LED light. I have plenty of time I will let the tank run and do its thing in the meantime I will just add water to replace the evaporated amount.
Regarding the circulation I have the wavemaker on the left end pushing water upwards and side and the return pum from sump is shooting at one direction which is from one end to the corner of the aquarium also providing alot of surface movement which I think is good for oxiginating the water.

I will update on this post my reading in a weeks time and hopefully the nitrifying bacteria will do its job and defeat the ammonia

Thanks again for the helpful replies