Questions about cycling my reef tank

ken6217 · 11/08/2006, 11:28 AM

Hi all,

I had posted this under reef chemistry by mistake, so I moved it to here.

I set up my 90 gallon reef tank two weeks ago tomorrow. It has approx 125 lbs of Fiji rock. The rock was not cured when I got it, but not that bad. The ammonia never got as high as .50 ppm and that was just a couple of days. Nitrite never got past 5 ppm. I had hooked up an MTC calcium reactor at the beginning and followed the instructions. I set the CO2 at 1 bubble per second and the effluent at .02 ml. My tank PH was about 8.15 using a calibrated probe and the effluent was about 6.40. I tested my alkalinity using Lamotte and it was about 24 dkh. I noticed this past weekend that my water was hazy and there was a film on the glass. I then stopped running the CO2. I thought that maybe I should bring the hardness down so I did a 40% water change on Sunday night. Monday night the water was clear and the hardness was about 15.70 dkh. I tested ammonia using fastest and it looked to be zero. Using a Lamotte Colorimeter I got a reading of .14 ppm ( I got zero the night before with this equipment). My nitrite still shows a faint color for nitrite and I also got a small reading (dont remember exactly) using Lamotte. I also tested for nitrate for the forst time with Lamotte and got 7.65 ppm (after I multiplied the results by 4.4).

So my question is: "where am I"? Did I delay the cycle with the water change? My numbers were a little lower on Monday night than Tuesday night. Also, when using the test kits that go by color, is nitrite crystal clear to be zero, or is a faint hint of pinkish color zero? Is it possibel to have ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all at the same time?

Thank you for your help.
Ken

mbbuna · 11/08/2006, 12:46 PM

first off i wouldn't run the calcium reactor untill you have things in the tank that use Ca and Alk. all you are going to do is drive up your Alk as you already did.

i dont know anything about those test kit colors so im now help there but it is possible to have ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at the same time.

for now i would get the alk down in the tank to around 9 and then just let the tank run with out doing water changes(just keep the SG @ 1.026 with top off water) and keep testing ammonia and nitrite untill they are both 0 then do a 25% water change and slowly start adding things. when you start adding things that use Ca & Alk then worry about the Ca reactor

ken6217 · 11/08/2006, 01:24 PM

I had turned off the calcium reactor the other day before doing the water change. Do you think that I should really do another one now even before the cycling is over? Is the 15 dkh detrimental to the live rock as that is all that is in the tank?

Thanks,
Ken

mbbuna · 11/08/2006, 01:47 PM

with nothing to use the Alk it will stay at 15dkh and IMO thats too high and might stress/kill you bacteria, fauna.

i agree that ideally you shouldn't do water changes while cycling but that dkh worries me

why do you ask Randy what he thinks.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...s=&forumid=112

ken6217 · 11/08/2006, 02:56 PM

Thanks. I did just that.
Ken

11/08/2006, 11:28 AM	#1
ken6217 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 2,179	Questions about cycling my reef tank Hi all, I had posted this under reef chemistry by mistake, so I moved it to here. I set up my 90 gallon reef tank two weeks ago tomorrow. It has approx 125 lbs of Fiji rock. The rock was not cured when I got it, but not that bad. The ammonia never got as high as .50 ppm and that was just a couple of days. Nitrite never got past 5 ppm. I had hooked up an MTC calcium reactor at the beginning and followed the instructions. I set the CO2 at 1 bubble per second and the effluent at .02 ml. My tank PH was about 8.15 using a calibrated probe and the effluent was about 6.40. I tested my alkalinity using Lamotte and it was about 24 dkh. I noticed this past weekend that my water was hazy and there was a film on the glass. I then stopped running the CO2. I thought that maybe I should bring the hardness down so I did a 40% water change on Sunday night. Monday night the water was clear and the hardness was about 15.70 dkh. I tested ammonia using fastest and it looked to be zero. Using a Lamotte Colorimeter I got a reading of .14 ppm ( I got zero the night before with this equipment). My nitrite still shows a faint color for nitrite and I also got a small reading (dont remember exactly) using Lamotte. I also tested for nitrate for the forst time with Lamotte and got 7.65 ppm (after I multiplied the results by 4.4). So my question is: "where am I"? Did I delay the cycle with the water change? My numbers were a little lower on Monday night than Tuesday night. Also, when using the test kits that go by color, is nitrite crystal clear to be zero, or is a faint hint of pinkish color zero? Is it possibel to have ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate all at the same time? Thank you for your help. Ken

11/08/2006, 12:46 PM	#2
mbbuna Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 6,847	first off i wouldn't run the calcium reactor untill you have things in the tank that use Ca and Alk. all you are going to do is drive up your Alk as you already did. i dont know anything about those test kit colors so im now help there but it is possible to have ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at the same time. for now i would get the alk down in the tank to around 9 and then just let the tank run with out doing water changes(just keep the SG @ 1.026 with top off water) and keep testing ammonia and nitrite untill they are both 0 then do a 25% water change and slowly start adding things. when you start adding things that use Ca & Alk then worry about the Ca reactor

11/08/2006, 01:24 PM	#3
ken6217 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 2,179	I had turned off the calcium reactor the other day before doing the water change. Do you think that I should really do another one now even before the cycling is over? Is the 15 dkh detrimental to the live rock as that is all that is in the tank? Thanks, Ken

11/08/2006, 01:47 PM	#4
mbbuna Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 6,847	with nothing to use the Alk it will stay at 15dkh and IMO thats too high and might stress/kill you bacteria, fauna. i agree that ideally you shouldn't do water changes while cycling but that dkh worries me why do you ask Randy what he thinks. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/fo...s=&forumid=112

11/08/2006, 02:56 PM	#5
ken6217 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 2,179	Thanks. I did just that. Ken