Newly cycled tank- fish question

R

ramirezjrj

New member
I have a 90 g tank with a 25 g sump. My tank cycled for 6 full weeks. I finally decided to get two small clown fish last Wed (3/21/2018). My ammonia was at 0 as well as my nitrates. On Fri. the ammonia increased to 2.0 with the API test kit and the nitrates increased around 2.5. I did do a 5 gallon water change as well. The fish seem to be doing well, they are swimming and eating fine. No obvious signs of stress. Should I start to get worried about my levels? I am only feeding the a small amount of the brine shrimp once a day.

Any suggestions?
 
Did you test your levels while it cycled? How long did it set with nothing in it after cycling? If you observed the cycle by testing the water then maybe your test kit is giving a false reading. If you let it set too long after it cycled it's possible your bacteria died. I would take a water sample to your LFS and have them test it for you and while you're there, pick up some bio-spira or some other bottled bacteria as well as some prime or amquel in case things get really bad.

It sounds to me like your tank is not cycled, meaning it doesn't have the proper amount of nitrifying bacteria to handle any fish waste/ammonia.
 
I did take some water to my LFS last Mon. he tested it and all levels were zero. He gave me a little bit of ammonia and asked me to add to my water and test for my levels. My ammonia spiked to 2.5 and within 24 hours it was back to zero. So that's when I decided to get the two clown fish.
 
Yeah, that certainly sounds like your tank is cycled. Take another sample to your LFS and have them cross check your test kit. If they show ammonia as well, try the bacteria in a bottle stuff and get some prime or amquel, just in case. I've never had to use it, but I keep some prime on hand as a CYA thing. I've used bio-spira to quickly cycle a tank and it's worked for me. There are other brands as well but I can only speak for bio-spira since it's the only I've used and has worked each time.
 
ramirezjrj said:
I have a 90 g tank with a 25 g sump. My tank cycled for 6 full weeks. I finally decided to get two small clown fish last Wed (3/21/2018). My ammonia was at 0 as well as my nitrates. On Fri. the ammonia increased to 2.0 with the API test kit and the nitrates increased around 2.5. I did do a 5 gallon water change as well. The fish seem to be doing well, they are swimming and eating fine. No obvious signs of stress. Should I start to get worried about my levels? I am only feeding the a small amount of the brine shrimp once a day.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

How many lbs of live rock do you have in there and have you done a nitrite test as well as ammonia and nitrate? I would ditch the API kit and go with Red Sea or something more accurate. The API is the kit most likely to give false positives if you don't follow the instructions to the letter. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to get some Prime. It won't remove the ammonia from your tank if you have it but it will detoxify it so it won't kill your fish.
 
I have close to 90 lbs of rock in the tank. The API kit I have doesn't test for nitrite. My ammonia level is still around 2.5 today (sunday 3/25) and my nirtate is still around 2.0. I am going to go buy the red sea test kit tomorrow and get some Prime as well. The fish seem to be fine, no obvious signs of distress, I feed them small amount and they eat great. I'll ask the LFS to test my water while I'm there. It does seem odd that I'm getting the same results for 4 days now.
 
I suspect there is a testing error or a bad test kit. Ammonia at 2.0 is a major concern, if accurate I would remove the livestock and see if your local fish store would hold them until your tank is cycled.
 
So I tested my water with a new kit. Now my ammonia is 0, my nitrite is 0 my nitrate is 10. any suggestions to decrease the nitrate?
 
That's better.

The nitrate isn't a concern or a surprise. I would just start a routine of weekly 10gallon changes.
 
Thanks for the advice I will do a water change today. How many months does my tank need to be established before I can start getting some coral? I'm okay with only have two fish in my tank, I am most interested in coral.
 
ramirezjrj said:
How many months does my tank need to be established before I can start getting some coral?
Click to expand...

As long as water parameters for temp, salinity, Ca, alk, (arguably) Mg are within spec,

And as long as lighting and flow are adequate,

You can probably add something now, like a frag as a test specimen.

What corals are you thinking? Are you testing for the above? What is your lighting and flow like?
 
I have two eflux wave pumps one is 2100 flow and the second is 1050 flow rate. For lighting I have the Aquaticlife T5 HO 4 lamp hybrid. I plan to add led lights to the T5 in a few months. As far as coral im starting to do my research, but I want to start with the basic hardy coral.
 
Lighting and flow should be fine.

As long as the parameters that I mentioned are in line, then start with a frag of something hardy...but not too hardy. Stay away from aggressive soft corals like xenia, star/clove polyps, etc.

I would recommend a frag of candycanes, branching hammer, frogspawn, or Duncan.
 
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