Help for newbie

[Ry1]

Firstly thanks guys for helping us new guys out, this is a great place.

So i have had my tank with fish in a total of a week, it was not cycled first i bought a tank and put bacteria in then added fish few hours later on the advice from my lfs. I didn’t no any better as this is my first tank. A week later and my PH is fine my nitrite is ok and nitrate is fine but my ammonia is around 0.4. The fish seem fine but i read everywhere that there should be 0 ammonia, what are your suggestions?
Secondly i have had this orange,rust looking colour show on my rock and sand, is this normal? Pics below. Once again Thanks

 

[andrewey]

Rust color is diatoms. That's perfectly normal and will go away in time

The ammonia is likely real. It may continue to increase in the interim until the bacteria are able to catch up. I would continue to test and monitor your ammonia levels, but I would add some prime to neutralize the ammonia as a conservative measure. You could also consider doing some water changes to dilute the ammonia until your biological filter is mature enough.

I would also look at finding a new fish store I'm even going to disregard the fact they sold a new reefer fish the same day the tank gets set up. I just wouldn't trust a store that is selling corals to tank less than a week old, let alone one to a very well-meaning new reefer without a biological filter in place. Unfortunately, I think you'll find there are a few different type of fish stores in our hobby- those that want you to succeed long term and those that simply want your money. Unfortunately, many aspects of your story suggest you visited the latter. I hope I'm wrong and that there was a miscommunication somewhere or additional details to the story, but I would absolutely ensure they have your best interest in mind, not just your wallet .

 

[Ry1]

Rust color is diatoms. That's perfectly normal and will go away in time

The ammonia is likely real. It may continue to increase in the interim until the bacteria are able to catch up. I would continue to test and monitor your ammonia levels, but I would add some prime to neutralize the ammonia as a conservative measure. You could also consider doing some water changes to dilute the ammonia until your biological filter is mature enough.

I would also look at finding a new fish store I'm even going to disregard the fact they sold a new reefer fish the same day the tank gets set up. I just wouldn't trust a store that is selling corals to tank less than a week old, let alone one to a very well-meaning new reefer without a biological filter in place. Unfortunately, I think you'll find there are a few different type of fish stores in our hobby- those that want you to succeed long term and those that simply want your money. Unfortunately, many aspects of your story suggest you visited the latter. I hope I'm wrong and that there was a miscommunication somewhere or additional details to the story, but I would absolutely ensure they have your best interest in mind, not just your wallet .

Thank you for your reply andrew i appreciate it. So diatoms will go away thats awesome, nothing to worry about there. Yeah i forgot to mention that i have placed some purigen in a filter bag and placed near my filter to try and bring the ammonia down but it has not gone down or up in the past 4 days. As regard my lfs i am also not happy as I made it very clear this was my first time tank and that i had no prior knowledge. Could i ask you another question if it’s ok? I topped up my tank with RO water as there was some evaporation and when i checked my Salinity today it had dropped from 1.025 to 1.023 is this ok?
thank you

 

[andrewey]

Of course, you can ask a million questions!

It's likely ok. Ideally, you want to avoid large swings in salinity, so in the future, you might consider splitting the amount you top off into two doses or more- such as once in the morning and once in the evening. On certain tanks with a lot of evaporation, those people have top off more frequently to avoid these changes in salinity- certain animals we put in our tank are pretty sensitive and large enough changes in salinity will actually kill them. This is why many hobbyists employ auto top off units, so it will top off continuously throughout the day so you don't get these swings in salinity or temperature. It's not necessary at all, just wanted to explain what they are in case someone suggests them. They're a fantastic piece of equipment and I value them highly for helping to add stability and "automate" an element of my tank, but I also ran some smaller tanks without them for years. As with any piece of equipment in this hobby, you have to decide if provides value to you and fits in your budget. Ultimately, just be mindful to avoid large swings in salinity/temperature by topping off smaller amounts more frequently

 

[Ry1]

Of course, you can ask a million questions!

It's likely ok. Ideally, you want to avoid large swings in salinity, so in the future, you might consider splitting the amount you top off into two doses or more- such as once in the morning and once in the evening. On certain tanks with a lot of evaporation, those people have top off more frequently to avoid these changes in salinity- certain animals we put in our tank are pretty sensitive and large enough changes in salinity will actually kill them. This is why many hobbyists employ auto top off units, so it will top off continuously throughout the day so you don't get these swings in salinity or temperature. It's not necessary at all, just wanted to explain what they are in case someone suggests them. They're a fantastic piece of equipment and I value them highly for helping to add stability and "automate" an element of my tank, but I also ran some smaller tanks without them for years. As with any piece of equipment in this hobby, you have to decide if provides value to you and fits in your budget. Ultimately, just be mindful to avoid large swings in salinity/temperature by topping off smaller amounts more frequently

Thank you for the great advice, my tank is only 100litres so maybe not worth the auto top up and just take my time topping it up. If it was to drop significantly would i top the tank up with RO water and add salt or just top up with salt water?

 

[andrewey]

Outside of doing a water change where you replace the current saltwater with new saltwater, there are very few times you'll need to actually add salt. There are a few exceptions, but it's really not worth going into the weeds here. As a general rule of thumb, you'll spend most of your time bringing your salinity down, not up.

That being said, never add salt directly to the tank. You should always properly mix your salt to the ideal salinity- so if you were running at 1.025, you would mix your salt at 1.025 and exchange the same amount, whether that's just a cup or a gallon. If you're salinity had crept up due to evaporation (say 1.030), I would very slowly lower it with RO water (so as not to shock anything) and only once it was back to normal, I would perform your water change with 1.025 (or whatever you choose to run your tank at).

 

[Ry1]

Outside of doing a water change where you replace the current saltwater with new saltwater, there are very few times you'll need to actually add salt. There are a few exceptions, but it's really not worth going into the weeds here. As a general rule of thumb, you'll spend most of your time bringing your salinity down, not up.

That being said, never add salt directly to the tank. You should always properly mix your salt to the ideal salinity- so if you were running at 1.025, you would mix your salt at 1.025 and exchange the same amount, whether that's just a cup or a gallon. If you're salinity had crept up due to evaporation (say 1.030), I would very slowly lower it with RO water (so as not to shock anything) and only once it was back to normal, I would perform your water change with 1.025 (or whatever you choose to run your tank at).

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Greatly appreciated.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Temporarily, you can reduce white light intensity and siphon lightly every few days.

 

[andrewey]

Absolutely! Every one of us here was new at some point and most had to either read the answer or have someone answer their questions just like you! Some of the members here are some the original trailblazers who taught others from their failures/success. The hobby has always been big on helping each other and giving back.

Just keep in mind the valuable lesson you learned from your fish store- while the hobby is founded on the idea of giving back, not everything you read on here or are told is always the best thing you should do for your reef. I would always invite you to take anything you're told with a grain of salt and make sure to do your own research so you're not unwittingly acting as someone else's "experiment" .