125g up. no fish in it yet.

mikegray

Member
how come my nitrite wont seem to get exactly 0. or in my salifert test kit. it will never be clear or show no color.. it always has or had a TINY pink tint to it. its been up for 60 days and it still has a TINY pink tint to it. i have like 15hermits and like 5 snails in it. 200lbs LR getting lots of green algae.. ammonia shows no color but milky white from the substance i put in. and nitrate has a some pink. i have chaeto in it but its not bright. its a lil tint also...
 

xtech

Member
i have found some test kits will never show perfectly zero on nitrates.may want to take it to lfs for a test,just to verify
bp
 

caomt

Member
how long have you had the tank... word of advice dont rush to put anything but water and live rocks in there... maybe a few fishes in a month or so.. fishes get boring coral and anemones are cool
 

murph

Active Member
Its unlikely that a tank with that much LR and 60 days old has not fully cycled. If you are using Red Sea salt mix like I do on occasion my nitrites will show slightly detectable even when just testing the change water in my holding tubs. When I use Instant ocean I get a zero reading. Test kits are finicky prone to going "stale" for lack of a better word and readings will vary from brand to brand or as in my case from salt mix to salt mix.
Double check the reading with a different test kit or your LFS. Sounds like its going to be a nice tank. I only wish I could afford that large a set up. Good luck and if it where me I would go to the LFS this weekend and have them test the water. If there kits show the tank is cycled, 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and a reasonably low nitrate level (under say 15) I would look around the shop for my first inexpensive fish to add to the tank.
Some here will disagree with me and maybe even call me cruel but you can test out the ying yang and still the only way to know for sure if all is correct with your tank is to add some life. The fact that your snails and hermits are doing all right is a good indicator that things are on the right track.
 
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