Help cycling new tank

mOnsterzOas26 · Jan 20, 2014

Ok so I tested my parameters today and their the same as January 18 except PH it's 8.0 today , should I do a water change or not yet ?

Dalmatia · Jan 20, 2014

What were they on the 18th? Your last test was the 16th? But if it the same as than, that's weird? You should do a 25% water change and retest the next day

mOnsterzOas26 · Jan 20, 2014

Dalmatia said:
What were they on the 18th? Your last test was the 16th? But if it the same as than, that's weird? You should do a 25% water change and retest the next day

Sorry , yea on the 18 were the same as today except the PH was 7.8, so should I do a water change u think than ? Thanks

Dalmatia · Jan 20, 2014

Yes and do a test tomorrow

mOnsterzOas26 · Jan 20, 2014

Sounds good thanks

Dalmatia · Jan 20, 2014

Do you have at least one power head almost at the top? Agitate the top of your water to up your pH. Give it some wavy action to mix your water, power to hydrogen (pH) is very important

tyler1503 · Jan 20, 2014

I'd normally say no to water changes until nitrites are zero, but because your parameters haven't changed in a few days I'd do a 20-25% change and test a couple of hours later and again tomorrow.
What was your nitrite reading?

glb · Jan 20, 2014

It will take a lot of water changes to bring down those nitrates. For example, if you changed 50% of the water, the nitrates would go from 160 to 80, which is still very high. If you change half the water, the nitrates will drop by half. If you're starting with fish only, I'd get it down to 20 before adding anything. Corals need 10ppm or less, with soft corals ok on the high end and sps corals needing almost no nitrates. Good luck!

Dalmatia · Jan 20, 2014

glb said:
It will take a lot of water changes to bring down those nitrates. For example, if you changed 50% of the water, the nitrates would go from 160 to 80, which is still very high. If you change half the water, the nitrates will drop by half. If you're starting with fish only, I'd get it down to 20 before adding anything. Corals need 10ppm or less, with soft corals ok on the high end and sps corals needing almost no nitrates. Good luck!

He's trying to get his cycle, worrie about the bacteria at this point not corals or fish. Agreed his nitrates are high for fish & coral not bacteria. Once he's got a bio load he can add live stock. So making sure your nitrites are getting converted to nitrates is your first step to adding anything

mOnsterzOas26 · Jan 20, 2014

I have a small koralia do u think that's enough ?

mOnsterzOas26 · Jan 20, 2014

Thanks guys for the help , Tyler , my bad Nitrites were 2.0 ppm on the 16 , now their 0.25 , I didn't have a circulation pump , do u guys think that was the problem ?