Cycling new reef tank question

[Fredrxn]

helpful for the future: at any time api can get darker, and it will get lighter over days, ammonia levels range in thousandths ppm nh3 in nature

this specifically does not mean your cycle is fluctuating and you should respond by adding anything. api will take longer to show a reading than a digital kit would show/resolved in minutes no need for action from our part. heavy feeding events may cause it, death of a small animal which harms nothing in the tank at all.

clean water + clean feed circulating is what corals want now, they dont want guess responses to non digital test kits. if you cease testing ammonia for the life of this tank and go solely off visuals as to if your ammonia is controlled you will never doubt the cycle of this tank ever again as long as it runs.

the only thing that can drive up ammonia now is if all the fish die from a disease and are left to rot in the tank. ammonia rising will never precede a fish loss, it will come only after. the ammonia control from here on out is locked in, and any flux noted is part of normal + - cycles in nh3 ranges common to stocked reef tanks.

Decide to pull out the Hanna checker to do some test here is what I got alk 6.4 po4 0.04 nitrate 75.0 should I be concerned with nitrates? Everything in tank is happy heres a few pics.. Gonna get alk up to 8

 

[Fredrxn]

helpful for the future: at any time api can get darker, and it will get lighter over days, ammonia levels range in thousandths ppm nh3 in nature

this specifically does not mean your cycle is fluctuating and you should respond by adding anything. api will take longer to show a reading than a digital kit would show/resolved in minutes no need for action from our part. heavy feeding events may cause it, death of a small animal which harms nothing in the tank at all.

clean water + clean feed circulating is what corals want now, they dont want guess responses to non digital test kits. if you cease testing ammonia for the life of this tank and go solely off visuals as to if your ammonia is controlled you will never doubt the cycle of this tank ever again as long as it runs.

the only thing that can drive up ammonia now is if all the fish die from a disease and are left to rot in the tank. ammonia rising will never precede a fish loss, it will come only after. the ammonia control from here on out is locked in, and any flux noted is part of normal + - cycles in nh3 ranges common to stocked reef tanks.

I read that nitrites still thorw of nitrates by a lot is this true?

 

[brandon429]

yes, and we don't care about nitrites. for the next two months don't react to any measure of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or po4

reason why: your cycle is set, no doubt is permitted regarding cycles we've shown in links. done is complete.

the nitrate and phosphate need time to express as good or bad levels in your tank, I would not begin dosing for them within one day of your setup, algae will take over


by waiting 60 days and hand cleaning the tank to prevent algae vs dosing for it, a crucial control step is learned. your tank hasn't had time to express your current levels as bad... we should leave them alone and concentrate on quality feeding and water changes the next eight weeks. the less you are reacting to small changes in allowable parameters the better it will be, and the more enjoyable

the reason we don't have to know about nitrites affecting nitrate kit (they do) is because we aren't reacting to any measures beyond temp and salinity and maybe calcium and alk if you were already controlling those. the waste/nutrient parameters should not be messed with for at least two months, you'll bring on dinos or GHA battle instantly if we begin parameter detailing. it happens routinely, all day long in the nuisance algae forum.

 

[Fredrxn]

yes, and we don't care about nitrites. for the next two months don't react to any measure of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate or po4

reason why: your cycle is set, no doubt is permitted regarding cycles we've shown in links. done is complete.

the nitrate and phosphate need time to express as good or bad levels in your tank, I would not begin dosing for them within one day of your setup, algae will take over


by waiting 60 days and hand cleaning the tank to prevent algae vs dosing for it, a crucial control step is learned. your tank hasn't had time to express your current levels as bad... we should leave them alone and concentrate on quality feeding and water changes the next eight weeks. the less you are reacting to small changes in allowable parameters the better it will be, and the more enjoyable

Is ok to dose alk? 6.1 is kinda low

 

[brandon429]

only if you were previously dosing for it in your prior setup

you changed only 12 gallons? that left mostly wastewater/processed wastewater in the system at startup is that right?

we have instantly veered off path from all cycle work I do. we don't use testing


we use initial water changes and a clean water start, always


and then no testing, heavy feeding, and water change work to sub in for all testing beyond temp and salinity. if we start going opposite of that method, I must hand over controls to whatever way you want to reef. the cycle part is done

all those details about test and response options should be referenced in continuation to how you ran the tank prior, the corals sure were healthy in that previous system.

 

[Fredrxn]

only if you were previously dosing for it in your prior setup

you changed only 12 gallons? that left mostly wastewater/processed wastewater in the system at startup is that right?

we have instantly veered off path from all cycle work I do. we don't use testing


we use initial water changes and a clean water start, always


and then no testing, heavy feeding, and water change work to sub in for all testing beyond temp and salinity. if we start going opposite of that method, I must hand over controls to whatever way you want to reef. the cycle part is done

all those details about test and response options should be referenced in continuation to how you ran the tank prior, the corals sure were healthy in that previous system.

I was dosing all for reef in other tank... Yea only 12 gallons.... Said 10% after 5 days on the bottle of bacteria... I can do if needed... My plan is to do about 12 gallons weeky

 

[brandon429]

from here on out I'd assess it all visually vs measure, if you start seeing heavier algae growth I'd lower light intensity first of all vs raise it higher and focus on hand cleaning vs parameter reversal then I would step up water change % and get clean water in there vs heavy algae fuel water from the original dark api ammonia read.

we want to avoid dinos at all costs, that's #1 risk in new tanks and keeping things clean by hand vs using parameter testing is the certain best way to avoid them. my recommend is focus on good feeding and water change of the highest % you're willing to do for eight weeks sustained, then test and respond as you will.

 

[Fredrxn]

from here on out I'd assess it all visually vs measure, if you start seeing heavier algae growth I'd lower light intensity first of all vs raise it higher and focus on hand cleaning vs parameter reversal then I would step up water change % and get clean water in there vs heavy algae fuel water from the original dark api ammonia read.

we want to avoid dinos at all costs, that's #1 risk in new tanks and keeping things clean by hand vs using parameter testing is the certain best way to avoid them. my recommend is focus on good feeding and water change of the highest % you're willing to do for eight weeks sustained, then test and respond as you will.

Definitely do not want dinos again will not let nutrients bottom out

 

[brandon429]

I dont believe that's what causes dinos. you can manage as you see fit for them

I believe the cause is importing a given strain from wet materials that arrive from infected tanks, then allowing the mass to take over instead of hand cleaning. the 400 page dinos thread is nearly 90% people suppressing dinos by dosing nitrate and phosphate, and then turning the tank into a GHA farm equally wrecked. I don't consider the notion a viable fix option or they'd have more cures in the thread vs tradeoff invasions. in 400 pages, they actually cured dinos about 5% of the time. the rest were tradeoff invasions lasting months/years.

if I owned a large reef a large UV sterilizer would be hooked to it always.

 

[Fredrxn]

I dont believe that's what causes dinos. you can manage as you see fit for them

I believe the cause is importing a given strain from wet materials that arrive from infected tanks, then allowing the mass to take over instead of hand cleaning. the 400 page dinos thread is nearly 90% people suppressing dinos by dosing nitrate and phosphate, and then turning the tank into a GHA farm equally wrecked. I don't consider the notion a viable fix option or they'd have more cures in the thread vs tradeoff invasions. in 400 pages, they actually cured dinos about 5% of the time. the rest were tradeoff invasions lasting months/years.

if I owned a large reef a large UV sterilizer would be hooked to it always.

I have pentair smartuv 40 watt. It's so big it's like 4 feet long....... But it's not hooked think I should Hook it up?

 

[brandon429]

I sure would its a nice device. after a while you can remove it and see how things fare. i like them because they don't harm anything while running and might zap algae, or dinos cells if lucky

UV is of no concern for the cycle, your surfaces had enough contact time for fritz to adhere to them that rate of transfer is well documented.