need to know things are ok in tank

[donniejr]

i set up a new 60 gal. tank on 1-28-07 with water+salt, 2 power heads,emperor 400 bio wheel filter,heater,seaclone 150 protien skimmer added 50 lbs of live rock and 20 pounds of live sand from swf.com on 2-7-07 since adding lr+ls no ammonia spike
ph is 8.4
nitrite is >1
nitrate is160ppm
alk is 3.0
phosphate is 0
ammonia is 0
i would like to know if everything is ok thanks

 

[stang5_o]

Looks like your cycle is going along just fine. Just wait till the nitrite is 0, they you can do a few water changes to get the nitrates down. After that it would be ok to add some snails andor hermits depending on your preference. I'd ditch the bio wheel filtration. The only filter you really need is your live sand and Live rock. You could keep the filter on the tank for flow and to run carbon if needed, but i'd take the biowheel part off. They get nasty quick and produce nitrates.

 

[taznut]

sounds like you just missed the amm spike since the trites and trates are up that high... thanks stang for the removing bio part of filter, maybe this is the reason my trates are high all the time...

 

[sepulatian]

The only filter you really need is your live sand and Live rock.
This is true only if you have a refugium, a DSB and a whole lot of detrivores. Alot of people run biowheels because there is more water to oxygen contact than regular HOB filters or canister filters. Oxygen is needed for biological filtration.