uh oh problem

[dustin_P74]

my rites and rates have jumped off the charts and my pH has dipped to 8.0 and my dkh is at 6. what do i do?

 

[Bifferwine]

Water change first. Then try to figure out what caused it. Overstocking, overfeeding, something dying?

 

[dustin_P74]

ill do a water change. it cant be anything else that you mentioned because there is nothing in there yet

 

[Bifferwine]

Oooh is your tank still cycling?

If you have NO animals in the tank, then don't be so worried about it. Parameters will jump around while your tank cycles. If there are no animals in there, then just wait it out.

 

[dustin_P74]

no they tank finished its cycle about a week ago the reason theres nothing in there just havent had a chance to start stocking

 

[Bifferwine]

If I were you, I'd wait until your parameters were stable for at least a week before stocking. If you are still getting fluctuations, things haven't balanced themselves out yet.

 

[dustin_P74]

good thing i havent had time to stock

 

[Doc]

my guess is that it is not quite done cycling. Leave it alone for about 1 week to ten days and check again. A lot of people test parameters daily when cycling, I just leave it alone for 3-4 weeks and then do one test. There isn't anything to harm in there so it will be fine.

Patience is the number one problem with this hobby. We all want our tanks to look amazing and it just takes time. Hell, I love my SPS corals and they drive me nuts with how slow they grow, 3 nubs on a milli in 4 months? CRAZY!!! But, this is the nature of the hobby. You will have your own learning curve and it will revolve around patience. I have killed more things not being patient and not listening to someone wiser about marine tanks than I care to admit. Good luck

-Doc