5mg/L nitrates ok??

[fishyscientist]

Hi all! We have just gone through a 2 month cycling process on our 125g tank with 55g sump where we saw ammonia peak, followed by a nitrite peak, and then finally a nitrate peak. We did a large water change and now our nitrates are reading at appoximately 5mg/L by a Seachem test (I know there are some issues with other test kits). We also have been ghost feeding the tank all along to keep the bacteria happy. Is it safe to add some inverts at this point? There is brown algae on the rocks and we have to clean the glass every few days because of algae as well. We would like to FINALLY add something visibly live to our tank!! Is it safe to do this, or do we need to get the nitrates down to zero?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Once ammonia and nitrite are zero, you can add fish. There will always be some nitrate.

Add a skimmer to the tank when yall can. It will help with the algae and nutrient issues.

I can't find my test right now to look at the chart, but most hobbyists measure nitrate in terms of ppm or parts per million. Miligrams per liter is for scientific research or European nations.

 

[jay0705]

Agreed, ur good to stock

 

[fishyscientist]

Ha! Well I AM a microbiologist (but not marine-related stuff, more human pathogen-related)! Didn't even think about the units. I need to convert for sure! Thanks. We actually do have a skimmer going. It's been a little finicky all along because the level of the bubbles keeps changing. I figured that once we get an actual bioload in the tank, it will figure itself out. Is that the correct assumption? It's a Reef Octopus.

 

[silverado61]

Once the level of bubbles start to stay the same its time to tweek it a tiny bit at a time.

 

[fishyscientist]

Thanks, Silverado. Hopefully that will be easy to fix. I just looked up the color chart, and it turns out that mg/L=ppm. So I guess I'm ok to start adding some inverts! How long should I give the inverts before adding fish?

 

[fishyscientist]

Oh, and by inverts, I mean a small CUC.

 

[silverado61]

Oh, and by inverts, I mean a small CUC.

Depends on how much of a cuc crew you have and test results.

 

[snakeblitz33]

That's cool to know.

For the other parameters we use Fahrenheit, specific gravity, ppt for salinity, dKH for alkalinity, and pretty much ppm for everything else. That's the standards in the aquarium hobby. There are some aquarists that prefer mEQ/L for alkalinity.

Some people say that you should add 1 snail or one hermit per gallon of aquarium water, but with all the cool gadgets like skimmers and chemical filtration, that number has really decreased. I would say on average 10-20 snails OR 10-20 hermits per 50 gallons would be enough on average. I Say OR because hermits will eventually eat the snails unless you are feeding quite a bit.

I personally prefer snails since they clean more areas than hermits.

One or two green mythrax crabs per 50 gallons would head off bubble algae and hair algae and would help cut down on detritus. A brittle star would also be fun to watch and try to find.

I think a lot of people end up overstocking on inverts because eventually they will fall down to sustainable levels and the dead critters are wasted money and extra nutrients.

 

[silverado61]

That's why you should start low on cuc and increase as needed. Gotta find a good balance between algae control and size of cuc. You need enough algae to feed them but you don't want to overwhelm or starve them.

 

[fishyscientist]

Ok I think I was going to do 2 each of a few types of snails and the same for the scarlet leg hermits. I read they are less aggressive. Is that true? I was also going to add 2 mithrax crabs. A brittle star would be nice too. I was planning on starting small also. Should I add up the total number of snails and crabs or should their be 10-20 of each species per 50 gal?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Add up the total number of snails. Your probably making a wise choice by only getting two of each snail and going from there.

 

[beaslbob]

Hopefully your sump has a refugium and some marco algaes in it.


(ps funny how mg/l=ppm as i remember a gram of water at something like 4 degrees C is 1cc. LOL)

 

[snakeblitz33]

mg=ml=cc as far as I know. But parts per million or ppm is another way of saying mg/l, which is interesting to me. It's good to know all the different measurements and what they mean and how to convert them. When I was in college for Biology, I had to take a lot of Chemistry courses that required all of that conversion information... Never used ppm as a measurement in a lab before though.

 

[fishyscientist]

Ok thanks for the info on the snails! Will be placing my order soon! As far as measurements go, ppm is definitely not a laboratory standard unit, but it doesn't really matter for our purposes. It's all relative! And for water, at least, you are right, snake, it's mg=mL=cc. cc is only used for medical purposes (weirdly enough). Funny how things change from field to field! It's like a different language. Even within microbiology and immunology (which is really my expertise), different fields have different terminology and scientists from each field feel like they are speaking Greek to each other!! Anyway, I've enjoyed learning some of the SW language through this site, and it's fun to think that I'm creating my own microcosm/macrocosm of organisms that work together to make a mini ecosystem within these tanks! So cool (that's the nerd in me )

 

[snakeblitz33]

Lol. Wouldn't it be neat if all the different science fields used the same units of measurement across the board?

Since your in microbio, I have a question for you. I'll PM you when I can.