LFS advice??

[Peoplepc3]

So as I have written before, I have been cycling my tank for 6 weeks now (150 gallon, with less than 20 lbs live rock). I have watched as my ammonia levels have gone from a mere 1.0ppm (highest ever) to zero, which is great.

My issue is, for the past 4 weeks, my NITRITES have been stuck at .25ppm and my NITRATES have been at 10ppm. Not a huge spike as one would expect, but as you stated before, this is nothing to worry about.

So I visited my LFS today and the owner said my tank is most likely "stalled" because of the "smart cycle" that I introduced at his recommendation (1st mistake). Apparently, the "smart cycle" got rid of the ammonia quickly, but has done nothing for the nitrites and nitrates (see readings above).

His advice: "I believe you have all the beneficial bacteria to sustain life". He suggests to perform a 20 percent water change, wait a few hours, then check the levels again. He suggests this will reduce the nitrite/nitrate level, leaving the beneficial bacteria to do their job.

Any advice? Does this sound correct as I am now working on week number 7? What to do now???

Smitty? anyone??

 

[marcah]

I do have a question.. is that your only means of filtration on the tank( the liverock I mean) ? I mean other then a skimmer..

 

[Peoplepc3]

I have a wet/dry with about 200 bioballs...I will convert this over to rubble as soon as this cycle is over. I have a protein skimmer that is not running and a 40 watt UV filter that is not running.

My pump is rated at 900gph at 6ft head so, I am turning the water over nicely. Plenty of movement.

 

[marcah]

I am just not sure if you truly going to cycle with such a small amount of liverock or other filtration in the tank.. when you cycle a tank you are really cycling your filter, since that is where your bacteria is going to grow.. there is some growth on the walls and substrate but the filter is where it mostly will be.. i could be wrong and hopefully if I am someone will chime in and help more.. one way to try is to raise the amonia again in the tank to 3 to 4ppm and let it turn to nitrite and see if you can build enough of a level to drop it.. then nitrate will come up then do the 20% waterchange and put fish in :D

 

[Peoplepc3]

Ok, will wait for a few others to chime in....looks like I am in for another long 6 weeks....thanks

 

[little_fish]

If you did see ammonia you did see your cycle start, but you need to wait for the nitrites to go to zero.

Nothing good happens fast in this hobby, so just keep twiddling your thumbs.

If you introduce livestock now, all the ammonia will convert to nitrite and then they will just die of nitrite toxicity instead of ammonia.

And your rock is going to be your filter, no need to add a mechanical one. But i would also remove the bioballs now. There is no point waiting.

 

[x19]

You certainly can cycle with that small amount of rock, but I would add more. You are going to need more in order to have enough bacteria to handle any amount of bioload and if you add a significant percentage of rock later you are just going to cause another cycle.

 

[little_fish]

I think he has a significant amount of dry rock as well

 

[BL1]

If you introduce livestock now, all the ammonia will convert to nitrite and then they will just die of nitrite toxicity instead of ammonia. .

That's actually not true, nitrite is toxic to freshwater fish not marine.

Nitrite
Aquarists' concerns about nitrite are usually imported from the freshwater hobby. Nitrite is far less toxic in seawater than in freshwater. Fish are typically able to survive in seawater with more than 100 ppm nitrite![SIZE=-1]17[/SIZE] Until future experiments show substantial nitrite toxicity to reef aquarium inhabitants, nitrite is not an important parameter for reef aquarists to monitor. Tracking nitrite in a new reef aquarium can nevertheless be instructive by showing the biochemical processes that are taking place. In most cases, I do not recommend that aquarists bother to measure nitrite in established aquaria.

From this article: Reef Aquarium Water Parameters by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com

 

[little_fish]

interesting, i had no idea

 

[BL1]

I agree with everything else everyone's suggested so far though.

 

[marcah]

I didnt realize that he had dry rock in also.. my bad..
what I was getting at was I didnt think with that small amount of liverock that he would be able to create a large enough bacteria load in that size tank to handle bringing the nitrites then nitrates back to 0.. but with dry rock also it definately will.. and I would get the bioballs out now also and put some rubble in there..

 

[jcegt87]

interesting, i had no idea

me neither lol..... learn something new everyday

i always thought trites were just a lethal as ammonia and trates were the lesser of all evils (especially with corals)

 

[wontonflip]

Well, if he had live AND dry rock, it wouldn't matter, since the live rock will quickly seed the dry rock, making it live.

But big +1 to fish -- remove the bioballs NOW before adding livestock. If you introduce livestock before removing bioballs, you will see an ammonia spike, since you'd essentially be removing the nitrifying bacteria that grew on the bioballs.

And yes, be PATIENT.