Ammonia/ nitrate

[Azedenkae]

No I have a smaller 20 gallon. I wanted a different aquascape so I tore down the tank that I’m current cycling. So this is me getting it back up and running

Ahhhh okay gotcha.

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Ahhhh okay gotcha.

Currently I have some diatoms growing

 

[Lenareef]

I used salifert and it worked well for me

Well i use salifert test too.. And have amonia 0.25 like from the start ‍.. could it be wrong reading?

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Ahhhh okay gotcha.

Do you think I should do a water change even if I have diatoms growing?

 

[Azedenkae]

Do you think I should do a water change even if I have diatoms growing?

Not really. I would only do a water change if there's too much algae and you just manually scrubbed them off, then a water change helps remove a lot of it.

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Not really. I would only do a water change if there's too much algae and you just manually scrubbed them off, then a water change helps remove a lot of it.

Well I wanted to do a water change to bring those nitrates down but I wasn’t too sure considering I have diatoms growing. I wanted to add some coralline algae from algae barn and copepods but I know I can’t do that with such high nitrates.

 

[Azedenkae]

Well I wanted to do a water change to bring those nitrates down but I wasn’t too sure considering I have diatoms growing. I wanted to add some coralline algae from algae barn and copepods but I know I can’t do that with such high nitrates.

Ah gotcha. Yeah feel free to do a big water change then to get nitratea down.

What's your plan for nitrate control long term? Just water changes or something else?

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Ah gotcha. Yeah feel free to do a big water change then to get nitratea down.

What's your plan for nitrate control long term? Just water changes or something else?

Ah gotcha. Yeah feel free to do a big water change then to get nitratea down.

What's your plan for nitrate control long term? Just water changes or something else?

Ah gotcha. Yeah feel free to do a big water change then to get nitratea down.

What's your plan for nitrate control long term? Just water changes or something else?

Yeah probably just water changes. Do you recommend anything else?

 

[Azedenkae]

Ah gotcha. Yeah feel free to do a big water change then to get nitratea down.


Yeah probably just water changes. Do you recommend anything else?

Nah no specific recos. Good luck!

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Nah no specific recos. Good luck!

I’ve basically don’t 100 percent water change over the course of a week and my nitrates are still at 40ppm. Any ideas?

 

[Azedenkae]

I’ve basically don’t 100 percent water change over the course of a week and my nitrates are still at 40ppm. Any ideas?

Over the course of a week? Do you mean like you did multiple smaller water changes that together adds up to 100%?

 

[Codemasterflex1]

Over the course of a week? Do you mean like you did multiple smaller water changes that together adds up to 100%?

More like two big ones

 

[Azedenkae]

More like two big ones

Ah gotcha. Yeah that makes sense then. Say it is two 50% water changes, that just adds up to removing 75% of the original amount of nitrates, so bringing nitrate down to 40ppm after that seems reasonable.

 

[DaddyFish]

More like two big ones

The big problem with using only water changes for nitrate export is dilution. When you remove 50% of the water (huge) you get a 50% reduction in nitrates. But the next 50% water change you might get 25% of the nitrates. In reality you wind up getting about half of the expected nitrates with big water changes.

You really need another export method like a refugium growing chaeto, algae scrubber, carbon dosing & skimmer etc.

 

[Codemasterflex1]

The big problem with using only water changes for nitrate export is dilution. When you remove 50% of the water (huge) you get a 50% reduction in nitrates. But the next 50% water change you might get 25% of the nitrates. In reality you wind up getting about half of the expected nitrates with big water changes.

You really need another export method like a refugium growing chaeto, algae scrubber, carbon dosing & skimmer etc.

Well this is the nitrate left over from my tank cycling

 

[BiggestE222]

So I’m cycling a new tank. My ammonia is .25 ppm my nitrites is 0ppm and my nitrate is either 80 or 160 ppm (kinda hard to read the color a little). I’m just wondering what I should do because my ammonia hasn’t hit zero but my nitrites have. I’m a little confused about it.

You are still cycling. I used Red Sea Reef Mature and it took about 2 weeks for my cycle.

 

[BiggestE222]

its been over a month, on bottle bac

he's all set and complete


Codemaster
google: api false ammonia read

look at what numbers comes up as the false read

If the API test shows ammonia. Then it’s not done. Yeah API is junk but he still needs to be certain before dropping fish IMO

 

[brandon429]

I could post forty pages of proof to the alternative if that would help reconvince you that any reef tank at one month submersion plus added bac controls all its ammonia, all the time

if it wont convince you, no need to repost as its already linked in post #3 but can be reread here if needed, let me know where you get your data from and we can compare notes.

 

[BiggestE222]

So I should just do a large water change to get rid of those high nitrates and I’ll be good to go?

Strange that a new tank would have untra high nitrates. Do you have filtration. Are you using a ice cream scoop when feeding.

 

[brandon429]

its normal that a new tank would have high nitrates, see any reef recently cycled on any forum

many times its a false read caused by the presence of nitrites, which doesnt harm anything in a cycle it just messes up the testing further, like when you mentioned api is known to be problematic. it is for all three major cycling params.

where do you get your cycling info from, can you post it--curious as who is telling you a month old reef can't control free ammonia