What's going on with my cycle?!!

[ask499]

Hey all,

I am jumping back into the hobby after about 3 years with my 90 gallon. in the process of learning everything again while my tank touch the 4 week mark during its cycle, I am a little thrown off by the water parameters. I took my water to my LFS and he said:

Ammonia is 0 (tested with API)
Nitrite is 0 (tested with API)
Alkalinity is 20 (tested with API)

Testing my water at home I got current readings

Ammonia is 0 (tested with API)
Nitrite is between 1.0 and 2.0 (tested with API)
Alkalinity is 7.6 dkh (test with Red Sea)

I am using RO/DI water mixed with Red Sea Coral pro salt. The rock was rock work I used in the tank before I did not scrub it or clean it off. Just left it in the tank after draining the water 3 years ago. Refilled the tank and left all the rock work in place.

He wasn't too friendly and seemed not to want to speak much. So I don't know how he got such high results with alkalinity in the tank when I did not add anything.

I also asked him about these little tube like straws I see growing out of the rocks and his answer to me was "because my alkalinity is so high and to do a water change because my rocks may be carrying the high alkalinity"

So my questions are:

what are tube straw like things and what causes them?

And as far as alkalinity should it be having such a huge change from what is provided by the salt mix when there is nothing consuming the alkalinity or no additives being provided?

I know it seems like a lot silly questions but whatever help I can get to make sense of what's going on will help a lot.

Thanks

 

[ask499]

 

[kfisc]

Well, what a jerk! Welcome back to the hobby. I'd trust your own test results, assuming you have new test kits (they expire). You should also measure calcium and magnesium at this point. Nitrates, too.

The tube growths (if they're new, and not left over from the last iteration of your tank) are just little vermetids, harmless right now and a sign your tank has life in it, if you see little red feather dusters emerge from them.

They could be a possible nuisance and sign of overfeeding down the road if they grow in plague proportions.

Good luck!

 

[tidewater]

Do you ever see anything on the outside of that tube? Looks like a feather duster or a vermetid snail. Feather duster is good the snail can be bad.

 

[ask499]

Nope. Never see anything coming out of it. They look like twigs with holes in the top.

 

[abnercotter]

The look like sponges. I have them in plague proportions in my tank. In a new tank with not much going on I would think that they are a good sign that stuff is growing in there.

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[kfisc]

Nope. Never see anything coming out of it. They look like twigs with holes in the top.

I'll say they're just dead vermetids from your old set up. No worries with them. Just to make sure, you might spring a flashlight on them at night to see if any are out.

 

[ask499]

I'll say they're just dead vermetids from your old set up. No worries with them. Just to make sure, you might spring a flashlight on them at night to see if any are out.

Being that the tank is completely empty and I'm not even feeding the tank can they just die off?

Also, what about the alkalinity? What can be causing such a high alkalinity reading?


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[Sk8r]

DKH Alkalinity good reading is 8.3. BUT there is more than one scale. First it's important to know which scale your result is referring to. DKH is the scale most everyone uses. I personally prefer Salifert tests, since the basic readings are all numerical (dkh alk, calcium, magnesium) and do not require color matching. I find them a lot easier to use and not subject to 'interpretation' of color. But given you have these, the important thing is to establish a baseline, and start a little (very little) logbook...I prefer a tiny physical notebook so I can record the result on the spot and not try to remember it.

First get your baseline numbers, ideal being salinity 1.024 (usually a salt mix will give you that with 1/2 cup per gallon of water, useful math with a big tank). Alkalinity (next most important reading) on the DKH scale --8.3 up to 9.0. Not going to kill you if it's temporarily low or high, but fix it. (Calcium about 420 if you have stony coral. It will deplete rapidly if you have stonies; very slowly if you don't.) and Magnesium 1300, roughly. If you aim to establish a baseline on those numbers, then your in good shape, but don't freak: these are the numbers of a working tank, and your tank during cycle is AIMING for that. Eventually. Write down your result every time you test and look at the TREND, whether it's heading up or down. Every tank is a little different. Learn your'ss behavior. You also eventually would like a nitrate reading of .5 or less, but cycling is an up and down ride trying to get there.

As for method of cycling, the one thing never to do is to use a live fish or shrimp to do it. My own method is to drop a tiny pinch of fishfood into the tank every day and test for ammonia. When I see ammonia, yay! I'm there---if it disappears. Keep on adding that few FLAKES of fishfood. If the ammonia goes away and your daily fishfood is going in and now can't provoke any ammonia at all, yay! again---you're cycled.

Use that logbook every week, sometimes oftener if you have a problem. TRENDS matter. Dose to correct a trend---don't wait for the number to be outright bad. It's like steering a car: you want to correct your drift before you hit the curb, not after.

Hope that helps.

 

[ask499]

DKH Alkalinity good reading is 8.3. BUT there is more than one scale. First it's important to know which scale your result is referring to. DKH is the scale most everyone uses. I personally prefer Salifert tests, since the basic readings are all numerical (dkh alk, calcium, magnesium) and do not require color matching. I find them a lot easier to use and not subject to 'interpretation' of color. But given you have these, the important thing is to establish a baseline, and start a little (very little) logbook...I prefer a tiny physical notebook so I can record the result on the spot and not try to remember it.

First get your baseline numbers, ideal being salinity 1.024 (usually a salt mix will give you that with 1/2 cup per gallon of water, useful math with a big tank). Alkalinity (next most important reading) on the DKH scale --8.3 up to 9.0. Not going to kill you if it's temporarily low or high, but fix it. (Calcium about 420 if you have stony coral. It will deplete rapidly if you have stonies; very slowly if you don't.) and Magnesium 1300, roughly. If you aim to establish a baseline on those numbers, then your in good shape, but don't freak: these are the numbers of a working tank, and your tank during cycle is AIMING for that. Eventually. Write down your result every time you test and look at the TREND, whether it's heading up or down. Every tank is a little different. Learn your'ss behavior. You also eventually would like a nitrate reading of .5 or less, but cycling is an up and down ride trying to get there.

As for method of cycling, the one thing never to do is to use a live fish or shrimp to do it. My own method is to drop a tiny pinch of fishfood into the tank every day and test for ammonia. When I see ammonia, yay! I'm there---if it disappears. Keep on adding that few FLAKES of fishfood. If the ammonia goes away and your daily fishfood is going in and now can't provoke any ammonia at all, yay! again---you're cycled.

Use that logbook every week, sometimes oftener if you have a problem. TRENDS matter. Dose to correct a trend---don't wait for the number to be outright bad. It's like steering a car: you want to correct your drift before you hit the curb, not after.

Hope that helps.

Thanks sk8tr! Once my nitrates come down I will focus on all other water parameters. I want to identify what's in my rock before I add any livestock also and treat that problem first.


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[ask499]

So I stuck my hand in and broke some of them off. They came off pretty easily. It seems like they were remainders from when I had the tank up three years ago. The tubes or shells were completely empty and brittle


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[Sk8r]

agree that the little tube things are not a problem. If you have ANY worry of your rock having picked up any chemical contaminant before use, a snip of PolyFilter stuck in the waterflow in the rockwork should relieve you of worry if it stays white---or identify a problem if it turns a color. WHich color declares which problem.