Biofilter crashed?

[Kthompson00]

Have my denitrifying bacteria crashed?

I bought this tank 2 months ago. It was 2 months old at the time and supposedly fully cycled. Since purchase, I've had persistent ammonia levels and nitrate levels, but no nitrites. The tank is a 32biocube, 4 small fish and I feed minimally. I test fairly frequently, attached is my tank diary. Did the move kill my ammonia->nitrite bacteria? Was it improperly cycled? Or am I over-cleaning? I do weekly 30% water changes and vacuum the sand bed. I added MicorBacer7 to no avail. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Lazydayz]

Welcome to R2R!
We need a little more information to help diagnose what is going on. First what test equipment are you using (Salfiert, Hanna, API)? What salt brand are you using? Do you have a picture of the tank? Are you having algae blooms? Do you have a CUC? Are there any other livestock in the tank?
Your journal is a little hard to read but it looks like your parameters are swinging a lot.
Good news is there is a lot of people here that can help you out with this!

 

[Kthompson00]

Welcome to R2R!
We need a little more information to help diagnose what is going on. First what test equipment are you using (Salfiert, Hanna, API)? What salt brand are you using? Do you have a picture of the tank? Are you having algae blooms? Do you have a CUC? Are there any other livestock in the tank?
Your journal is a little hard to read but it looks like your parameters are swinging a lot.
Good news is there is a lot of people here that can help you out with this!

Thanks for reaching out!
I use an API test kit. Salt is from my LFS. No algae other than what would be expected on the glass. I don't have a cuc. The other livestock are a few inverts (cleaner shrimp, sand sifting sea star, hermits, snails). Coral (mostly soft, LPS), 2 anemones. I'll attach a photo. Everything looks happy.

 

[Kthompson00]

To clarify...

I use API for pH/nitrates. Then Salifert for KH, Ca, Mg

 

[Kthompson00]

And I use an ATO with kalwasser which is why the pH swings. I'm trying to dial in the concentration. Forgive my amateurishness

 

[fcmatt]

Seems to me you are just fine. Api gets you in the right ball park. Api ammonia kit, from memory, is hard to tell at the low levels. You are probably super close to 0.. and any ammonia goes to nitrites to nitrates quite fast. And according to your chart nitrates are declining steadily.

Seems to me your only goal left is to get alk to stop swinging so much which is harder on small tanks in my opinion.

Dont fuss so much. Let the tank mature. You are doing fine. A small bag of carbon would be nice.

 

[Kthompson00]

Seems to me you are just fine. Api gets you in the right ball park. Api ammonia kit, from memory, is hard to tell at the low levels. You are probably super close to 0.. and any ammonia goes to nitrites to nitrates quite fast. And according to your chart nitrates are declining steadily.

Seems to me your only goal left is to get alk to stop swinging so much which is harder on small tanks in my opinion.

Ok good to know. I guess I was under the impression ammonia should be 0. So 0.25-0.5 ammonia is normal?

 

[Lazydayz]

And I use an ATO with kalwasser which is why the pH swings. I'm trying to dial in the concentration. Forgive my amateurishness

I'm new to reefs as well but have had saltwater tanks for a while. Everything looks really happy. I have a Biocube as well, IMO I'd fine tune the kalkwasser and let the rest take its course for now. It's still a fairly new system so it will go through all different phases. Having patience is the hardest part of reef keeping I always want to tinker but know I shouldn't haha.

 

[Kthompson00]

I'm new to reefs as well but have had saltwater tanks for a while. Everything looks really happy. I have a Biocube as well, IMO I'd fine tune the kalkwasser and let the rest take its course for now. It's still a fairly new system so it will go through all different phases. Having patience is the hardest part of reef keeping I always want to tinker but know I shouldn't haha.

Awesome thanks!! Yeah, I always want to tinker in the pursuit of perfection. Guess I just need to relax haha

 

[fcmatt]

Yes ammonia should be 0 but those test kits are sometimes hard to read when you get to those levels. I pretty much used them when cycling my tank and then I dont test anymore. But even my red sea kit can be hard to tell especially if I rush the test. Did I clean the bottle well enough? Did I add too much drops? Etc... but even a sloppy rushed testing is always super close to 0 and I question my eyes now days. Am I in direct sunlight when comparing to the card? Etc.. but it is never a shade showing a true amount of ammonia.

With api .5 is super obvious. That is a problem.