Newly cycled tank - not sure what I did right lol

rose.little

New member
Hi, I was wondering if anyone could explain what I did “right” with my newly cycled tank.

I had high nitrites (over 5ppm) and trates (80ppm) for two weeks until I added a Nero 3. Nitrites came down in 4 days to 0, and trates are now sitting at 10ppm. Is flow that huge of an impact or is it a coincidence?

I’m taking a sample to my LFS once they open to verify the test results but I used both Nyos and API kit for the nitrates and they both read ~10ppm.
 
Wanted to add: I obviously understand the cycle and the nature of bacterial reproduction = exponential growth. I just didn’t expect my tank to finish cycling this suddenly after waiting almost a month.

I am using dry rock for this cycle when I used live for my last build, and didn’t really register nitrites. So it was just surprising.
 
Welcome to Reef Central Rose.

Nitrite interferes with nitrate tests producing a high result. Nitrite usually comes down very quickly. I just cycled a tank and nitrite went from 1.5 to 0 in 5 days. At that point my nitrate was 15.
 
Hi John,

Thanks for the reply! I'll have a look at that article.

It makes sense for the nitrate reading to come down as dramatically as it did if the nitrite interferes with the nitrate test. I think I was just surprised to have such a "low" nitrate reading after having 5+ppm nitrites for most of the cycle, and for it to just disappear within the space of a week.

My LFS confirmed that my nitrate reading was the same as my home test. I did a 20L water change (~10%, 160L net tank volume), and added my first two clowns.

They're young fish so I've been feeding a couple times a day, and have been testing daily to make sure the cycle is robust enough to support. No ammonia, nitrite or nitrate increase. In fact, I tested nitrate yesterday and it was sitting at 5ppm. Did a 20L water change as it's been a week.

I'm super surprised, as with my first tank (90L) I always struggled with high nitrates and algae. I'm counting myself super lucky this time round, but I think it's down to me having more patience this time round hahaha. Lights are still off, and will be until I am at the point where I want to introduce coral. I feel like if I add light without anything to uptake, I'm going to run out of luck lol.
 
Sounds like you're off to a great start Rose. Best of luck. Perhaps you will start posting some photos for everyone to enjoy.
 
Sounds like you're off to a great start Rose. Best of luck. Perhaps you will start posting some photos for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you! I see you saw my journal post - I'll be updating periodically as I start to get more bits and pieces together :D
 
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