chaseg89
New member
So I did my second water change since my tank has finished cycling this past Thursday night. I stirred up the sand bed a small amount, but nothing major. The next afternoon I had ammonia and nitrites showing and my nitrates were borderline positive (I don't know the exact numbers because I had my LFS test my water). The owner there told me that he usually doesn't test the water until 24 hours post water change because sometimes things can get stirred up during a water change, which I have heard before. But, if just the small amount of sand that got stirred up caused that spike how am I supposed to keep my sand bed stirred up periodically? I know that it is beneficial to stir up a small amount at a time to keep dangerous levels of ammonia or nitrates from building up in the sand bed down the road. All I have is a cleanup crew in there right now and none of them seem any worse for wear. Any comments anybody can give me would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to get any other livestock in there and then stir up a small amount of sand and cause a spike. BTW my tank is a nine gallon nano, I do not have a skimmer, but I am running Sea-gel in the stock filter.
