Cycling a 20 gallon

dib · Mar 9, 2014

I have set up a 20 gallon nano reef. I have ammonia spiking up now. There are no fish just some hitch hikers that came with the live rock. A yellow polyp, a couple snails, and hermit crabs. Should I go ahead and do a partial water change or let it run its course.

Reefing Madness · Mar 10, 2014

Let it runs its course, no reason to freshen it up, you want the ammonia to build up.

dib · Mar 16, 2014

So here are some test results.
3/16 PH 8.2 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 20 Phosphate 2.0 Calcium 360 KH 15
Used api test kits for weekly test. And quick dip strips in between. Ammonia hasn't gotten above .25 should it be spiking more than that? What do you think about the other results....looking good?

Reefing Madness · Mar 16, 2014

Yea, your fine. All tanks run different, nothing wrong those numbers.

dib · Mar 26, 2014

OK ....so what made my salinity spike so high. Its now reading 1.028 with hydrometer. Doing my first water change today. My original reading was at 1.024 I've only done top offs when needed.

Reefing Madness · Mar 26, 2014

Its never going to read correctly, your using a Hydrometer, they aren't even close to accurate.
Also, you should only be doing tops offs with fresh water, not salt water. during evaporation, the water evaps, the salt does not. So if you were doing your tops offs with Salt Water, then it will raise your SG.

dib · Mar 26, 2014

Top offs are fresh water. I've never had my other 2 tanks spike like that. They Still read normal. I don't need exact measure just close enough. Eventually I will get a better one but this has worked for me for over a year