WC for low nitrate qt?

DrBoxedWine · 10/05/2014, 05:43 PM

I'm slowly stocking my 75g reef with about 1 fish every 4 weeks. I keep them in a back room qt for 4 weeks and monitor them before adding to the DT. I'm not dosing any medication. I added an HOB refugium with a little finnex ray led and some chaeto. My nitrates were about 15 before I added it on Thursday (Sunday now), they were 10 by Friday and now they are 1 today. It's a salifert test kit that I'm pretty sure is accurate (have tested it on my DT with as expected results). So, do I need to be doing anything beyond say a 10 or 20% monthly WC? Even less maybe?

wooden_reefer · 10/06/2014, 12:35 AM

I qt fish for at least 12 weeks and often do not do any wc for the duration of the qt.

In order for this to happen, the qt must have enough nitrification bacteria and no drug that harms them.

Since antibiotics is likely the drug that harms nitrification bacteria, when there is no bacterial infection, I often will not need wc during the whole qt that lasts 12 or often more weeks.

If you start will new saltwater and robustly cycled medium to start a qt, you do not generally have to be concerned about nitrate.

wooden_reefer · 10/06/2014, 12:48 AM

Stocking one fish a month does not prevent mini cycling. Mini
Cycling can be completely prevented.

While you are doing qt, you can augment the bacteria population bound for dt.
Take a small amount of rock or other medium out from the dt add new medium and place in a separate container. Then add a pulse of ammina and allow bacteria to grow in large number. If you have a powerhead you can use it. Otherwise just stirring the water inside often daily helps.

Rinse the medium with dt water before adding to dt the day you add fish to dt.

Incremental cycling will completely eliminate mini cycling or the new tank syndrome.

10/05/2014, 05:43 PM	#1
DrBoxedWine Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Denver, CO Posts: 899	WC for low nitrate qt? I'm slowly stocking my 75g reef with about 1 fish every 4 weeks. I keep them in a back room qt for 4 weeks and monitor them before adding to the DT. I'm not dosing any medication. I added an HOB refugium with a little finnex ray led and some chaeto. My nitrates were about 15 before I added it on Thursday (Sunday now), they were 10 by Friday and now they are 1 today. It's a salifert test kit that I'm pretty sure is accurate (have tested it on my DT with as expected results). So, do I need to be doing anything beyond say a 10 or 20% monthly WC? Even less maybe?

10/06/2014, 12:35 AM	#2
wooden_reefer Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 4,670	I qt fish for at least 12 weeks and often do not do any wc for the duration of the qt. In order for this to happen, the qt must have enough nitrification bacteria and no drug that harms them. Since antibiotics is likely the drug that harms nitrification bacteria, when there is no bacterial infection, I often will not need wc during the whole qt that lasts 12 or often more weeks. If you start will new saltwater and robustly cycled medium to start a qt, you do not generally have to be concerned about nitrate. Last edited by wooden_reefer; 10/06/2014 at 12:57 AM.

10/06/2014, 12:48 AM	#3
wooden_reefer Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 4,670	Stocking one fish a month does not prevent mini cycling. Mini Cycling can be completely prevented. While you are doing qt, you can augment the bacteria population bound for dt. Take a small amount of rock or other medium out from the dt add new medium and place in a separate container. Then add a pulse of ammina and allow bacteria to grow in large number. If you have a powerhead you can use it. Otherwise just stirring the water inside often daily helps. Rinse the medium with dt water before adding to dt the day you add fish to dt. Incremental cycling will completely eliminate mini cycling or the new tank syndrome. Last edited by wooden_reefer; 10/06/2014 at 12:55 AM.