Water Chemistry Questions

[UNCCwill]

A little background to get started:

Been out of the hobby for over two years, used an old 29 gallon tank and set it up with sand and cured live rock on 4/5/09. Did my first water test on 4/8/09...

Readings were: SG 1.024, pH 8.2, Ammonia 0.25, Nitrite 0.00, Nitrate 0.00. As I understand this is the beginning of a cycle, evenutually ammonia disappears and then nitrite spikes, then nitrite disappears and nitrates are left over (is this correct?).

Then the next day, 4/9/09, I came home from work to a cracked tank and a flood in progress. Time to start over. Bought a 40 gallon, cleaned up my apartment, and refilled on 4/13/09 with what was left of my water (about 12 gallons) and all my old sand and live rock. I then added some additional fully cured live rock on 4/15/09 due to the larger size of the new tank.

I just did another water test tonight. Readings are: SG 1.024, pH 8.0, Ammonia 0.00, Nitrite 0.00, Nitrate 5.00.

Is this the end of the cycle? Did I not do enough readings to properly document the entire cycle. The guy at the LFS did say that since I bought fully cured live rock that I should have a pretty fast cycle. Also, when my tank cracked I was able to salvage those last 12 gallons and carry that over, so when I set up the new tank I wasn't starting completely from scratch.

So total time my tank has been established is now two weeks.

Is it time to add the cleanup crew, and should I be worried that the pH reading came back a little lower than the first test? I do have some life in the tank that hitchhiked in...a nice little tube worm, a snail, and two aiptasia that need to go asap.

(BTW, this is not going to be a reef tank, no corals.)

 

[kraze3]

To be on the safe side I would wait another week maybe two. Continue monitoring your parameters and wait to be safe. Only bad things can happen fast. Patience is key in this hobby so might as well start now.

 

[drummereef]

Better to be patient with these things. I'd wait a while and keep testing to make sure the cycle has passed. With the crash you had there might be some lingering die-off that can cause mini-cycles. The pH is fine. No worries there. Just take your time, keep testing, and report back in a week or two.

Here's some info to read while you wait.

Reef Aquarium Water Parameters
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.htm

 

[Aquarist007]

I would wait until the nitrates are zero.

At this point take a reading of ammonia and nitrates
Add a piece of raw shrimp to the tank for 12 hours
Remove the shrimp and retake the levels of ammonia and nitrates
If they are still zero then you tank is cycled.

 

[IxLr8]

Waiting a little while longer to see if you go through a bad algae and diatom bloom stage would be worthwhile. All the aquariums that I build all have gone through these stages. After that, I started stocking slowly and continued to test my water parameters and my normal water changes.

 

[Fizz71]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14859645#post14859645 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
I would wait until the nitrates are zero.

At this point take a reading of ammonia and nitrates
Add a piece of raw shrimp to the tank for 12 hours
Remove the shrimp and retake the levels of ammonia and nitrates
If they are still zero then you tank is cycled.

Wa??? I tend to try to avoid disagreeing with somebody who's been around a long time and has obvious experience, but I have to ask.....Wait for nitrates to go to 0?

No disrespect capn_hylinur..really! But I didn't see a mention of a DSB or a fuge, so I'm a little confused how waiting will get his nitrates to go down? I don't see his nitrates going anywhere without water changes and nitrate of 5 is fine for a fowlr.

IMO...Do a small water change and keep testing ammonia for another week or two. If you've got nothing but nitrate after 2 weeks (and it's still 5 or less), get a few cleanup crew critters and start adding small amounts of food to the tank.

I doubt you will see ammonia ever again (unless you overstock your tank) because fully cured rock can actually result in NO cycle if you have enough of it and didn't have too much die off getting it home.

And for a new tank...saving your water really didn't help you...getting more cured rock was your reason for the instant cycle!

Good luck!

 

[Fluid]

+1

You're pretty much looking for nitrates, not looking for them to be 0.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14860917#post14860917 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fizz71
Wa??? I tend to try to avoid disagreeing with somebody who's been around a long time and has obvious experience, but I have to ask.....Wait for nitrates to go to 0?

No disrespect capn_hylinur..really! But I didn't see a mention of a DSB or a fuge, so I'm a little confused how waiting will get his nitrates to go down? I don't see his nitrates going anywhere without water changes and nitrate of 5 is fine for a fowlr.

IMO...Do a small water change and keep testing ammonia for another week or two. If you've got nothing but nitrate after 2 weeks (and it's still 5 or less), get a few cleanup crew critters and start adding small amounts of food to the tank.

I doubt you will see ammonia ever again (unless you overstock your tank) because fully cured rock can actually result in NO cycle if you have enough of it and didn't have too much die off getting it home.

And for a new tank...saving your water really didn't help you...getting more cured rock was your reason for the instant cycle!

Good luck!

thanks Fizz--for catching that. I scanned the first post and saw reef tank but missed the (no corals)

I would still test the the shrimp however due to this particular setup---if the bacteria is not established enough then adding the bioload of a fish 'could" cause an ammonia spike.

As you have so correctly stated fish can tolerate higher levels of nitratate but they still can be hurt by ammonia spikes.