Is it finally time to do a water change ?!?!?!?!?

[mikegronholz]

Ok, I got the last of the sand in, ph is dropping (8.0-8.1ish), -ites 0, -ates 30ish, ammonia .25 and some WEIRD clowns !!!
Haven't done a change yet and for those that nevr caught my previous posts...you can see the setup below (75g) and all my readings dropped to 0 in about 5 days, then I added 2 percs, then a week later, 2 more percs so my levels went back up.
So, is it time to be done with the "recycle" c#$% that I put myself through !!!

 

[surfnturf]

Mike, do a roll call and make sure none of your inverts are dead somewhere (a turbo on his back probably ), that could be the reason for the ammonia. If your nitrite is 0 then the tank is cycled. Anyway, the LR should take care of the ammonia, make sure you have good water flow directed at the LR. You should get ready to do a water change, just do small 10% changes often enough to keep the nitrate down below the 20 mark. Don't get rid of too much of the nitrate, you want to feed the DSB with some nitrates.

 

[mikegronholz]

I think some of my inverts perished over the last few weeks due to various different things. The starfish have lost a few arms (due to ph drop I've been told) and I'm sure the arms are/were laying around somewhere. Cool, I'll prep some H20 for a 10gal change this weekend.
Unless anyone else out there has any other advise, this will be my course of action ....

 

[clarkiiboi]

Slow down, adding four percs may give you problems. Clowns dont like other clowns, hopefully they will pair off, but I think even at that, IMO 2 pairs wont work. If you feel you need to do a water change then go ahead, but you need to get your PH stable first and foremost. And you have a mini cycle going on, the percs should be ok, dont know enough about starfish to say anything.

 

[mikegronholz]

All of the percs are fine. They nip at each other VERY rarely !!! They all swim around together. Eveyone seems happy. And I know I added them a bit fast, learned that after the fact.
One set is a mated pair, the other two are from the LFS. The "big one" from the pair get a bit jealous when the other ones spend too much time with the mate, but after a little chase around, everyone is content with swimming against the current again.
As for the ph being stable, it dropped from like 8.5 to 8.1 in 1 day and has been at 8.0-8.1 since (about 1.5 weeks).

 

[dazed1]

Originally posted by mikegronholz
As for the ph being stable, it dropped from like 8.5 to 8.1 in 1 day and has been at 8.0-8.1 since (about 1.5 weeks).
You might want to look at getting a PH buffer. Raise to 8.3 and it will be better.