Water Change After Cycle

[ReefyCane]

Hi All,

Just curious as to when I would do my first water change after my cycle is over? As it stands now my live rock is being covered with diatoms, but there is still some coralline on some of my rocks (green and purple). Do I perform a water change before I introduce my CUC or do I wait?

Also, my salinity is around 1.027. How can I get this down a little (I am aiming for 1.026)?

Thanks,
RC

 

[fishbait]

do a 20% as soon as ammonia and nitrites are 0, and nitrates are showing up. don't add the cuc is ammonia and nitrites are still present, or if nitrates are high (above 20 or so). it will kill the cuc. this still may not be a good time to add the cuc. it will not have any algae to feed on and will likely starve.

to lower salinity, take a gallon or so of saltwater out and replace with fresh. if you have a small tank.(i dont remember what size you have) you may want to go little lower that 1.026. maybe shoot for 1.024. if 1 gallon of water evaporates in a 20 gallon, the salinity will likely shoot way over 1.026. if one gallon evaporates in a 75 gallon, you may not see any change. keeping a slightly lower S.G. in a small tank will allow for this.

 

[yote]

Im gonna 2nd Fish.

 

[Bifferwine]

By cuc you mean sea cucumber? GAH those creatures are horrible! I had one die in my sand bed once (because they bury themselves) and it went SO FOUL my nitrates got up to like 150, and I couldn't find its body to pull it out because it was buried.

 

[ReefyCane]

By cuc you mean sea cucumber? GAH those creatures are horrible! I had one die in my sand bed once (because they bury themselves) and it went SO FOUL my nitrates got up to like 150, and I couldn't find its body to pull it out because it was buried.

I mean Clean Up Crew....not a cucumber.

~RC

 

[reeffreak]

Once the cycle is complete(zero ammonia,nitrite) and nitrate shows up on a test kit than do a water change.If your having algae problems than after the water change would be a good time to add CUC.You can set your new saltwater salinity lower than your display to lower the salinity.

 

[ReefyCane]

Once the cycle is complete(zero ammonia,nitrite) and nitrate shows up on a test kit than do a water change.If your having algae problems than after the water change would be a good time to add CUC.You can set your new saltwater salinity lower than your display to lower the salinity.

OK I am about a week and a half into cycling my tank. I got 40lbs of live sand in it and about 15lbs of live rock (some uncured) and I bought my saltwater from the LFS just to get started. I have a 30 gallon Oceanic cube and a 10 gallon sump beneath.

Tonite I tested my parameters just for s-n-g. My salinity is now at 1.027, pH was 8.4, ammonia was 0 ppm, nitrite looked to be about 1 ppm, and my nitrates looked to be about 30 ppm.

So are these normal for a week and a half and what should I do next? My LFS isn't that great for giving advice so I am trying to learn as much as possible here and from articles on the net.

Thanks as always.

~RC

 

[stagofdoom]

I went to my LFS and they recommended that I dont do a water change yet.. wait for atleast a little while. He said dont because you are taking good and bad out of the tank and you want the good to build up or whatever.

Should I go ahead and change the water. Ive had the tank running for about 3 weeks and fish in it for like 5 days.

 

[Bifferwine]

ReefyCane -- wait until your nitrites and ammonia are at zero. Then do a water change sufficient to get nitrates below 20. The highest you want your nitrates to ever get is 20. Usually about a 20% water change will do it.

Stag -- If you don't do a water change, you risk killing your fish. Which is why cycling using live fish is not a good idea. If you do a water change, you will prolong the cycle even more. Which is why cycling using live fish is not a good idea. It's up to you -- if you don't care if the fish live or die and want to get the cycle over with quickly, then don't do a water change. If you want them to survive, then try to keep your levels down, but it's going to take a looooong time to complete your cycle.

 

[ReefyCane]

ReefyCane -- wait until your nitrites and ammonia are at zero. Then do a water change sufficient to get nitrates below 20. The highest you want your nitrates to ever get is 20. Usually about a 20% water change will do it.

Stag -- If you don't do a water change, you risk killing your fish. Which is why cycling using live fish is not a good idea. If you do a water change, you will prolong the cycle even more. Which is why cycling using live fish is not a good idea. It's up to you -- if you don't care if the fish live or die and want to get the cycle over with quickly, then don't do a water change. If you want them to survive, then try to keep your levels down, but it's going to take a looooong time to complete your cycle.

OK so my ammonia and nitrites are looking like they are on track. I looked again and I think my nitrates are actually around 50 or 60 ppm. So once my ammonia and nitrates are zero I am going to do a 20% water change and then when would I check my nitrates again?

Also, my heater is in the sump. What should I try to aim for temp wise to get about 78 in my tank? Should I be higher or lower in my sump?

Thanks everyone.

~RC

 

[reeffreak]

It sounds like the cycle is nearly complete,not there yet but getting close.Having nitrates at 50-60ppm,once the cycle is over,it would be better to do a 50% water change.The heater can be anywhere in the the sump.I do prefer it where water passes by with the most flow possible.I keep all three of my heaters at 76,77,78 degrees to keep it at a consistent 78.

 

[Altohombre]

seems like he is at about the same exact spot as me in my cycling process. I am waiting for my Nitrite to drop from 1 to 0 and then will do my water change to get my Nitrates lower (at somewhere between 40-80 now)