Big water change after cycle ???

[vdubreefer]

Hey everyone, so I think I'm to just about the end of my cycle , my ammonia is zero, my nitrites are at zero, and have been so for about 3 weeks, my nitrates however have been at over 64 ppm for the same amount of time, I've been doing by weekly 5% water changes,, and nothing seems to have changed my nitrates, my biopellets are online and have been for a while, am I missing something ? I used brs reef saver rock, with sump I'm at about 110 gallons of water (+/-) and I have about 60-70lbs of rock in there , kind of a minimalist aquascape ,, I started my cycle at the first of June like 6/6 I think my record shows ,, why is my nitrates so high ? Am I missing something ? Do I just need to do a giant 80% water change?

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Doing large water changes is fine. The beneficial bacteria are within the rocks not the water. If you plan on adding fish do so very slowly and dont overfeed.

 

[vdubreefer]

Doing large water changes is fine. The beneficial bacteria are within the rocks not the water. If you plan on adding fish do so very slowly and dont overfeed.

Ok thank you! I'm going to try to do a bigger water change to bring those down

 

[vdubreefer]

Ok next question, do I do one large 80% wc or do a couple smaller daily wc of about 10-20% over the course of a couple days ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

While I never did a big change after cycling, many people do.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Ok next question, do I do one large 80% wc or do a couple smaller daily wc of about 10-20% over the course of a couple days ?

Either should work. Just make sure your nitrates are not too high before adding anything.

 

[vdubreefer]

Thanks guys ! I'll let you all know how it goes