questions, someone help!

[jes723ika]

okay, so my tank is in like 9th or 10th day set up... my ammonia when i read it with a testing kit, looks like .25 or .50, i cant really tell the difference between the two... ph is between 8.2 and 8.4, nitrites are 0 and nirtrates are 10... should the nitrates already be 10??? is this normal? am i doing something wrong? I do have a dead raw shrimp in there (someone from this sight suggested that to start the cycle) i have some liverock too..
other question, then on the livesand bed, there is some brown stuff, is this algae starting? wish that i could send a picture but mycamera cord broke and i'm waiting for a new one... but does this sound familiar to anyone? its not like a thick layer, just looks like rust starting on the sand or something?
other question is the liverock i got came out of someone elses tank that didnt want it anymore... there are a few things, what i think are feather dusters.. and they seem to be doing fine, can these die? one looks like it might off, but the others are doing good i think, they are just blowing around and look like wispy little flowers ...
also theres some sacks (look like sacks) on the live rock, it makes me think of cacoons.. is something living and ready to hatch out of that? i can't find any information on those.. thanks x
jessika

 

[jdragunas]

1. The way your tank cycles is ammonia turns into nitrites which turn into nitrates. Therefore it is possible that a small amount of the ammonia already turned into nitrates. Your tank is fully cycled when your ammonia and nitrites are 0, and the nitrates are high. BTW, the dead raw shrimp thing is a great way to kick off your cycle!

2. This sounds like diatoms. This is normal for a tank. Did you use tap water? If so, this might be the cause of it. This should go away, from what i hear, on it's own.
3. If these things are really really small, they may be fan worms. here's a little info on them:
Hitchhiker fan worms: These fan worms usually look like feather dusters, sometimes like tree worms and rarely like coco worms. These fan worms do not need any special care as long as there is a good amount of live rock in the tank, which there should be anyways since, number one , they arrive on live rock, and number two, most tanks except for a few need live rock for proper filtrarion. The number one question that is asked about these fascinating little guy is "will they get bigger like my feather duster", and the answer almost all of the time is NO, but there are always exceptions.
I found this on this website. the link is here. https://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/show...uster+lighting
4. not sure about the sacks, but describe them more. What color, how big, etc.
Jenn

 

[jes723ika]

those sacks are white... look like a faint red or pink things (maybe circles) they are smaller then a dime.. i dont know how to explain them really, theres a few of them, some bigger then the others, but all smaller then a dime..
thanks for all the info .. i appreciate it...
that brown stuff.. well its not tap water in there, its spring water that i used (we went to walmart but they only had 3 gallons of r/o water) so we ended up getting spring instead.. def. not tap, as i knew that was a bad thing...
you siad my nitrates should be high, how high???

 

[jes723ika]

lol its so funny to me... i just went into look at those white sac things.. and i saw a worm.. its like red/orange and the bottom of it is black, i saw that looked like a baby, and one that looked bigger then the baby looking one.. like little centipedes or something.. what are these? are tehy growing in the liverock?

 

[jdragunas]

Nearing the end of my cycle, mine were so high, i couldn't tell what they were because the color of my test sample was darker than the colors on my chart. Were over 160 ppm, though. :scared: :scared: :scared: . At this time, i hadn't found this website, so i was freaking out because i didn't know about cycling either. lol. i ran to my LFS and they were shocked that my nitrates were so high too (they didn't know i was cycling the tank...) i cycled my tank on accident... lol

When the cycle's over, you'll do a few water changes, about once every few days or so to bring the nitrates down to under 20ppm, which is acceptable.
Also, forgot to say before, those worm dusters probably won't survive the cycle, as most inverts are extremely sensative to high ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Sorry, but feather dusters are bigger versions of them, and are fairly cheap. They're neat to look at too. No specific lighting requirements or anything.

Jenn

 

[jdragunas]

about the worm things, they could be nudibranches... basically a seasnail without a shell. They probably won't survive the cycle either for the same reason the worm dusters won't. They're pretty difficult to keep anyway.
Jenn

 

[ppm411]

Are there any low-level ammonia tests out there? Seems like a big complaint from everyone. Amazing it isn't more specific as Ammonia levels are arguably the most important .

 

[jes723ika]

i was just looking at the hitchiker identification board thing here, and i think that what thing i was describing is a sponge! there is a picture on there that look just like it.

 

[jdragunas]

Originally Posted by ppm411
Are there any low-level ammonia tests out there? Seems like a big complaint from everyone. Amazing it isn't more specific as Ammonia levels are arguably the most important .
not quite sure what you mean by this? "low-level"??? :notsure:
Jenn

 

[hot883]

Originally Posted by jdragunas
not quite sure what you mean by this? "low-level"??? :notsure:
Jenn

Got me on this one too! Jenn, so what did ya think?

 

[jdragunas]

OHhhhh, i think i get it. low-level, meaning differentiating 0.25 & 0.5 ppm. I don't think so, but either way, you need to have it at 0. It also depends on what test you're using. Red sea tests are difficult to read, as the directions read as follows "look through the top of the test tube while holding 8" above a white piece of paper in a well-lit area, and find the closest color on the color chart". I have an aquarium pharmaceuticals test kit that's a lot easier to read. Just "hold the tube against the white area next to the chart and find the closest color".

BTW, red sea test kits have been known to be off. Not sure about aquarium pharmaceuticals, but i know that salifert are the best available.
Jenn

 

[jdragunas]

Originally Posted by hot883
Got me on this one too! Jenn, so what did ya think?
I replied my thoughts to your email. "you've got mail"! lol.
Jenn

 

[ppm411]

I actually have an Aquarium Pharm. test kit. Just really hard to differentiate between 0 and .25. Thanks for the tips...