Am I doing OK?

jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
Hey there!

Its been a few weeks since my last post. I had everything set up in my tank with the water and skimmer and lights running with base rock for about 2 weeks to see how the temperature, salinity, evaporation and all worked. Everything seems A-OK except maybe the live rock. I started with 50 lbs of base rock, and added about 24 lbs. of Fiji Branch rock to it on Thursday a few days ago, it is now Monday night. Since then I have been testing my water every other day now. The highest I have seen the Ammonia is 1.0 using the "Red Sea" marine Lab test kit. Today I tested Ammonia and it is only .25. I'm using "Ocean Direct" live sand from caribsea 40lb bag. 24 lbs of fiji branch. And I threw in a dead shrimp on thursday when I added the live rock. The shrimp is now in a gross state of almost gelatin..
I'm worried that something is wrong here because my live rock looks pretty gross and is covered with, what looks like, dead brown algae.
My Nitrates are high and a really dark red color using the kit, and my Nitrites are also >1, so they are pretty high too. Is it normal for Ammonia to drop and Nitrate-Nitrite to stay high? I was using the dead shrimp to cause A high ammonia spike to generate a "better" bio-filter.
I just have a weird feeling like i'm doing something wrong. Salinity is at 1.025 temp is around 76-78 degrees. I'm goin to try to figure out how to post pictures to give an idea what i'm working with. Please Help, I need some reassurance or correction, we shall see!!
Thanks in advance.
Oh yeah I have a 55g tank my bad.
 
jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
Am I waiting for a spike because ammonia is dropping? Or should I just wait until everything equals zero?
 
joerdie

joerdie

Member
as far as I know, if your nitrites are up, then the ammonia has cleared the cycle. The trates will continue to rise for the life of the tank. That is one of the reasons for water changes. You need to wait until the trites are cleared.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Whew, it was really difficult reading your post, but I think I got through it.
First, you have to understand what the Nitrogen Cycle is. It's a process by which fish, corals, and other organic waste produces ammonia which then is converted into nitrite by nitrobactor bacteria and then from nitrite into nitrate by nitrosomonas bacteria (in a nutshell.).
What is happening is completely normal, but it depends on how large the shrimp was that you put in there. If you are already seeing a spike in your ammonia and nitrite, you should consider removing the decayed shrimp from the system and then let the cycle continue unabated. Give your system time to balance out, and let your test kits read Ammonia =0, Nitrite =0 and Nitrate =whatever.
Nitrate, even though not wanted in a saltwater aquarium is not harmful in fish only tanks unless it is over 100ppm. Nitrate has to be kept below 10ppm to 5ppm in most reef aquariums for corals to be healthy. In Small Polyp Stony (sps) aquariums, Nitrate and Phosphate readings have to be zero or dang close to zero.
The brown algae that you are seeing on your rocks is most likely diatoms. Diatoms have a silicate shell (glass) when the silicate in the water column is used up, the diatoms will gradually disappear. After the diatoms go away, you should expect to see a green, slimey algae take over for a brief period of time. After that algae goes away, your water chemistry will be stable and ready for corals. (of course, always test your water several times to be absolutely sure.)
If your brown algae looks like it is growing in strings, search for threads on Dinoflagellates. If your algae starts to look reddish black and grows in mats, please search for threads containing the word "cyanobacteria" or "blue-green algae."
Good luck, and keep asking questions! It's the only way you'll truely learn.
By the way, never take anyones advice, not even mine, as 100% true fact. You should always continue your own research on the internet and other forums before making any decisions.
Have fun!
SB
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
The trates will continue to rise for the life of the tank. That is one of the reasons for water changes.
what ?????
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
By the way, your Nitrogen cycle will never end, and you will never want it to end. Organics will constantly be built up in your system and the bacteria will constantly be breaking it down into its constituent parts.
Try to start learning about how to remove Dissolved Organics (DO) from your water column. Start researching: Protein Skimming, Refugiums, Chemical filtration media, Turf Algae Scrubbers, Macroalgae. This is so that you can get a better understanding of filtration and what it takes to keep your aquariums water clean for its inhabitants.
The reason why you do water changes is not just to decrease the amount of disolved organics in the water, but to also balance Alkalinity, pH, calcium, magnesium and other trace elements that are lost when used by the aquarium inhabitants.
Good luck again!
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
By the way, never take anyones advice, not even mine, as 100% true fact.
wow that puts a dent in my learning
come on snake you give good advise
 
jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
Sorry I know I am absolutely horrible at writing I know I know I know.. I never write in these forums because ill fill out a whole sheet with questions then reread it and delete the whole thing because it sounds so aweful. Anyway I have a 10g refuge next to the sump with moderate water flow which has live rock and live sand in it already. This is being fed by 3/4" plumbing on both ends btw.
The problem i'm having is that im not seeing an ammonia spike. Ammonia peaked at 1.0 on Saturday and now it is dropping. The description on the "ocean direct live sand" is that it is used to speed up the initial cycle. Can everyone agree with that?
To me "a novice", I don't SEE any bacteria. TO ME my rock looks BAD. As if nothing at all is living on it. If this were the case would I see my Ammonia go down and my nitrates, and Nitrites stay way up? This is all including that "once was a shrimp" thats decaying rapidly in the tank. I would have thought there would be a significant Ammonia spike with the dead shrimp and already dead organisms on the live rock.. Should I add some more dead shrimp to make the Ammonia really spike??
 
jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
I wish I could show you guys my tank because it looks amazing and all with the PRO plumbing work that SCSI helped me with. I really do owe him a thanks!!
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Ok the only reason I am getting into this is my brother had some land in Doylestown, nice place. Take a breath take a full set of readings ammonia nitrites and nitrates and lets go from there
 
jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33
http:///forum/post/3149271
Whew, it was really difficult reading your post, but I think I got through it.
First, you have to understand what the Nitrogen Cycle is. It's a process by which fish, corals, and other organic waste produces ammonia which then is converted into nitrite by nitrobactor bacteria and then from nitrite into nitrate by nitrosomonas bacteria (in a nutshell.).
What is happening is completely normal, but it depends on how large the shrimp was that you put in there. If you are already seeing a spike in your ammonia and nitrite, you should consider removing the decayed shrimp from the system and then let the cycle continue unabated. Give your system time to balance out, and let your test kits read Ammonia =0, Nitrite =0 and Nitrate =whatever.
Nitrate, even though not wanted in a saltwater aquarium is not harmful in fish only tanks unless it is over 100ppm. Nitrate has to be kept below 10ppm to 5ppm in most reef aquariums for corals to be healthy. In Small Polyp Stony (sps) aquariums, Nitrate and Phosphate readings have to be zero or dang close to zero.
The brown algae that you are seeing on your rocks is most likely diatoms. Diatoms have a silicate shell (glass) when the silicate in the water column is used up, the diatoms will gradually disappear. After the diatoms go away, you should expect to see a green, slimey algae take over for a brief period of time. After that algae goes away, your water chemistry will be stable and ready for corals. (of course, always test your water several times to be absolutely sure.)
If your brown algae looks like it is growing in strings, search for threads on Dinoflagellates. If your algae starts to look reddish black and grows in mats, please search for threads containing the word "cyanobacteria" or "blue-green algae."
Good luck, and keep asking questions! It's the only way you'll truely learn.
By the way, never take anyones advice, not even mine, as 100% true fact. You should always continue your own research on the internet and other forums before making any decisions.
Have fun!
SB
I think the brown algae i'm seeing was once brown algae before it died
It's almost a grayish white color and i'm noticing my water looks a little yellow when viewing the tank from the side. It is crystal clear when viewing from the front though. Alot of sand has been blowing around because of my repositioning of the powerhead.
 
jrse7en

jrse7en

Member
Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/3149308
Ok the only reason I am getting into this is my brother had some land in Doylestown, nice place. Take a breath take a full set of readings ammonia nitrites and nitrates and lets go from there
Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrate- 250 or 50 im not sure I understand the test kit. It is almost blood red with the red sea brand kit.
Nitrite-Also High at >1 on my test kit
I also tested calcium and carbonate and they both seem fairly high so there is a decent amount of calcium in the system, if it matters a bit.
About doylestown... My parents actually have 5 acres here so i'm curious to know where your brother is. I think he may be my neighbor..
 
S

shrimpy brains

Guest
It is quite possible that your ammonia spike is over. You may have missed the higher reading before you started testing, or the live rock you added had enough bacteria to quickly eliminate the ammonia. Sounds like you are doing fine. You will never SEE the bacteria. You only know it is there and working by testing! Just keep testing. Ammonia and trites will reach 0 eventually. various algae blooms are quite common in new tanks.
Yes, SCSI is awesome. I don't think there are many on here that haven't picked his brain!!
 
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