seeding and cycleing need quick answers?

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That looks like a pretty deep sand bed for that tank, you could also reduce the amount of sand in the tank and vacuum it before adding the other system.
 
thats what i thought!! i got the rock and sand from an existing setup i was thinking it seemed to b alot! how would this much sand benifit me or harm me?? dnt kno much about the deep sand bed benefits?? if i do remove some of the sand and add my nano sand and stuff to it then do u think it would disturb the bacteria on the sand bed that im trying to establish??
 
A few 20% water changes might help clean up the water a bit.

Disturbing the sandbed will reduce its filtration capacity, but I'm not sure that's a very important issue in a new tank with a reasonable amount of live rock.
 
A few 20% water changes might help clean up the water a bit.

Disturbing the sandbed will reduce its filtration capacity, but I'm not sure that's a very important issue in a new tank with a reasonable amount of live rock.

do u think i should remove some of the sand then? the sand and LR were already in another established tank b4 i got it so i would think it would get rid of the bacteria. idk whats the benifit from so much LS??
 
A deep sand bed, 5-6" or so, might be able to do some filtration, and can also support a lot of animals that can provide live food for the tank. Some animals (like jawfish) prefer a deep substrate to build their homes. For most systems, I think an inch or so of sand for looks is fine. I'm not convinced that a DSB can do a lot of filtration, but I might be wrong.
 
hmm well im thinking ill prob take out some of the sand and replace it with my nano sand then so it will stay about how it is!
 
Q. . nwhen testing with a liquid test kit u do hold the card and test tube up against the car in good light right? or do u just hold it in fron of the white of the card w/o touching the card? newb q!

ammonia0
nitrates 10 maybe 5 i cant tell the color its so close?
nitrites0
ph 8.2

o noooo . . .
just tested my SG!!!its at 1.016!! can i mix a bucket of high concentrates salt since theres no life in my tank lol. . and bring it up suddenly or will that cause dye off my my bacteria and i have to start again?? important Q? help
 
i think ill do a water change with water SG at like 1.024 but B4 i do. . i need my bacteria Q answered? will my bacteria dye and need to set longer to develop b4 i do a water change or should i just change it now?
 
You'll need to read the test kit instructions to try to decipher how to read the tube of liquid. Are these API kits?

Some water changes might help, and they won't hurt at all. Personally, I'd do 3-4 20% changes, but I'm on the cautious side.

As far as SG, the best way to handle the situation is to let evaporation do the work. Just top off with saltwater. I'd also check the accuracy of the measurement. SG shouldn't be changing for no reason. I'd mix the new saltwater to 1.026 and wait for the SG to match it before using RO/DI for topoff.
 
I had problem with my SG being 1.029-1.030, due to cheap hydrometer measurements. My 1 clown fish and zoas seem to do fine at that SG, but i wanted to change it back down to 1.026, now with a refractometer. First I remove 10% of saltwater, then slowly added in same about of pure RO/DI water; the process of adding in pure RO/DI water took at least 2 hrs. I did this replacement process twice (once per week) to get my SG down to 1.026. The whole process of adjusting the SG of the water didn't seem to harm any fish, snails or corals. I think in your case it wouldn't hurt anything if you just do 10% water adjustment per week. Keep doing it until you reach the SG you wanted, make sure to monitor the SG closely during the replacing process.
 
ok so i wanted to get on the ball with my sg so w/o ne advice at the time i went ahead and jsut made a 5gal bucket of high concentrate salt water and put it in! its now up to 1.022!

will a change in the sg kill bacteria in the tank?? no one seems to kno? if it doesnt then i kno i can stock my tank within a couple days if it DOES kill the bacteria, since ive JUST finish my cycle like today!!. . the small amount of bacteria i had may b dead and i should wait a few days to a week for the bacteria to catch back up??? im unsure?
 
If the bacteria are sensitive to salinity, then it might be best to change the salinity level slowly, IMHO. This will at least give them time to acclimate. My case when changing my SG from 1.030 to 1.026 does not seems to affect ammonia or nitrite level, i.e. indirectly indicating that there are no significant drop in bacteria population that converts ammonia to nitrite.
 
I don't know what magnitude or speed of salinity change will kill bacteria, but there's some limit. I would wait a week or two before stocking, and feed a bit of fish food, to try to ensure that the biological filter is working, but I'm the cautious sort.
 
I don't think a change in salinity is going to kill the bacteria...alot of live rock
survives being shipped wrapped in wet newspaper alone I'd assume there has to be some sort of swings in salinity due to that during shipping...
 
I don't think a change in salinity is going to kill the bacteria...alot of live rock
survives being shipped wrapped in wet newspaper alone I'd assume there has to be some sort of swings in salinity due to that during shipping...

The amount of bacteria initially is not the issue, too sudden a change in salinity may still kill most or all of them.

I don't know if anyone has done some quantative study on how fast nitrification bacteria can adapt to salinity change, but I tend to treat them like fish as far as rate of change. Nitrification bacteria can live well in freshwater, however.

I don't know how fast denitrification bacteria can handle salinity change, but usually this is not an issue.
 
ahh. . well i already did it quick from 1.016 to a sudden 1.022? thats prob a huge jump right? or will they b ok? i prob should of raised it like 2 everyday! uhh o well ill just watch my levels and wait a lil longer till i add my nano
 
ahh. . well i already did it quick from 1.016 to a sudden 1.022? thats prob a huge jump right? or will they b ok? i prob should of raised it like 2 everyday! uhh o well ill just watch my levels and wait a lil longer till i add my nano

Quite possibly I have added freshwater to cycling water during a cycle to effect as much as 0.004 drop in salinity. The cycle continues.

0.006 is a bit too much for me to chance if you are not cycling. The loss may not be recovered in time for you. May be someone had experienced it and finds it OK. I can't say for sure.
 
You'll need to read the test kit instructions to try to decipher how to read the tube of liquid. Are these API kits?

Some water changes might help, and they won't hurt at all. Personally, I'd do 3-4 20% changes, but I'm on the cautious side.

As far as SG, the best way to handle the situation is to let evaporation do the work. Just top off with saltwater. I'd also check the accuracy of the measurement. SG shouldn't be changing for no reason. I'd mix the new saltwater to 1.026 and wait for the SG to match it before using RO/DI for topoff.
its an api test kit! it dnt change for no reason i dnt test it when i got the water the guy said it was fine saltwater that was ro/di water!! but it was only sg of 1.016
 
I would check the accuracy of your SG device. If it's fine, and the SG is 1.016, I'd look for a new place to get seawater.
 
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