Cycling question

[mrtian97]

I used Brightwell XLM to cycle dead sand and rocks, day 17 and Ammonia reading 0, Nitrite 0 but Nitrate between 50-100 ppm using Salifert test kit.
Because of my situation, I have both of my Yellow Tang, Tomini, hammer coral and candy cane from my original reef tank. All doing very well.

question: do I need to do large water change to reduce Nitrate level or can I just change 10% weekly. I am not putting any new fish or coral for another 6 wks (waiting for my tank lid).
I have skimmer running and Nitrate has been showing similar level for about 1 wk. seems it doesn’t bother the 2 corals.
I reduced my Radion light to only 5 hrs/day with only 25% intensity at 20K spectrum color. I have not seen the ugly Algae phase, and I don’t have refugium. My phosphate reading is 0.1 and the only media I use is carbon (no GFO at this time)

alk and Ca are within normal range, 7.0 and 425.

long term, this will be FOWLR tank.

another question, I have a couple rocks that I am cleaning using Citric acid instead of bleach. Once cleaned, I plan to just submerge in old saltwater to dilute any residue of the citric acid, then air dry for awhile in the sun before reuse in the tank. Any issue with this approach?

thanks all

 

[Spare time]

Do a big water change, or get a nitrate reducer (waste away, carbon dosing, biopellets, nitrate removing media). As for the citric acid, I have no clue lol.

 

[PatW]

Your nitrates are pretty high. The easiest method is a big water change. A 50% change will halve the nitrate levels. Better would be a 75% water change which would quarter the nitrate levels. Before a massive water change, be sure that the temperature, salinity and ALK of the water comes close to matching the display. By ”close”, I mean near enough as to not harm the fish and inverts by the shock of the change.

 

[mrtian97]

Thanks, would the Nitrate level comes down naturally over time or there is no bacteria that digest nitrate? Thanks

 

[Spare time]

Thanks, would the Nitrate level comes down naturally over time or there is no bacteria that digest nitrate? Thanks

Bacteria that rids nitrate from a tank into nitrgoen gas has to grow where there is no oxygen and these areas are not very common in our tanks. Other bacterias that scavenge food and waste such as wasteaway, vibrant, etc, will lower nitrate.

 

[Jekyl]

Thanks, would the Nitrate level comes down naturally over time or there is no bacteria that digest nitrate? Thanks

Not as quickly as you need it to. Large water change is best

 

[Azedenkae]

Thanks, would the Nitrate level comes down naturally over time or there is no bacteria that digest nitrate? Thanks

As per others, nitrate reducers need an anaerobic environment to function. It can happen in a marine tank, but well, might just be easier to use algae or something.

If you really wanna establish denitrifiers and want to try a bottled product, Microbacter7 has some: https://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/microbacter7.php

 

[Spare time]

As per others, nitrate reducers need an anaerobic environment to function. It can happen in a marine tank, but well, might just be easier to use algae or something.

If you really wanna establish denitrifiers and want to try a bottled product, Microbacter7 has some: https://www.brightwellaquatics.com/products/microbacter7.php

Continuum has a anaerobic only blend.

 

[Azedenkae]

Continuum has a anaerobic only blend.

Oh yeah, I just suggested Microbacter7 because op used Microbacter Start XLM so I'd thought to just suggest something from the same company.

 

[Spare time]

Oh yeah, I just suggested Microbacter7 because op used Microbacter Start XLM so I'd thought to just suggest something from the same company.

They are owned by the same company and use their product interchangeably but with different names (I have no clue why they do this lol). They don't however have bacter gen md for their brightwell line up.

 

[Azedenkae]

They are owned by the same company and use their product interchangeably but with different names (I have no clue why they do this lol). They don't however have bacter gen md for their brightwell line up.

Oh okay. That, I did not know. Interesting. :3

 

[Spare time]

Oh okay. That, I did not know. Interesting. :3

Seachem does a similar thing with aquavitro. I really don't know why companies do that haha

 

[Azedenkae]

Seachem does a similar thing with aquavitro. I really don't know why companies do that haha

I wonder if it might have been acquisitions or mergers, but they don't want to 'lose' a particular brand lest certain customers are super used to those brand names. So they just added products from each line to the other under a different name to expand each of their brand's offerings or something. Just a theory, have not actually checked this one bit. XD

 

[mrtian97]

Just curious, with my system started with dry rock (bleached) and dry sands, and only 2 fish in an est. 75 gallon water volume, what would cause the spike in Nitrate level to 50 ppm? My ammonia was only around 1 ppm through out the cycle

thanks

 

[Azedenkae]

Just curious, with my system started with dry rock (bleached) and dry sands, and only 2 fish in an est. 75 gallon water volume, what would cause the spike in Nitrate level to 50 ppm? My ammonia was only around 1 ppm through out the cycle

thanks

Ppm in all three cases (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) are measured as mg/L. Because nitrate has a higher mass than ammonia, when we measure ppm as mg/L it ends up that nitrate measures higher than ammonia even if the actual number of molecules of nitrogen is (more or less) the same.