Help please: Amonia, nitrate, nitrite , GH, PH

[martin3490]

My tank is cycling and I have an ammonia kit and a kit for nitrate, nitrite, general hardness, and PH. I know ammonia has to be zero but what are the other levels suppose to be at? Can someone recommend some good test? I don’t think mine are working very well.

 

[Anak’s Reef]

I have the Red Sea test kit for my calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. And I have the API for ammonia and nitrite, and Salifert for nitrate. Nitrites should be at 0 along with ammonia and nitrate should be preferably in my opinion 5-25, but some people have nitrates at 0 too
I’m also a bit new, so I would wait for some more experienced reefers to answer. My tank only run for about 2 months now.

 

[Oropher]

My tank is cycling and I have an ammonia kit and a kit for nitrate, nitrite, general hardness, and PH. I know ammonia has to be zero but what are the other levels suppose to be at? Can someone recommend some good test? I don’t think mine are working very well.

Congrats on your new tank and welcome to R2R

How did you start the cycling? Fishless cycling or with fish? If fishless, did you use start up bacteria or not? And how about ammonia? And so on. Please elaborate some more.

For cycling there's no need to use a very accurate and expensive test kit. Even with the affordable one you can monitor the progression of cycling.

Happy reefing.

 

[ScottR]

What test kit are you using? GH isn’t used in reef tanks.

 

[PatW]

Many people use the API tests. The problem with them is that their ammonia test reads a low ammonia reading when it is 0. Salifert sells a line of good, functional tests as does Red Sea.

For Ammonia, you want a reading of 0. Ammonia should drop and nitrite should rise followed by nitrate rising. Nitrite should also be at 0 before you add anything. Nitrate should be the only thing left after cycling. Different reefers tolerate different levels of nitrates.

Really high nitrates can produce algae blooms. But some reefers get control with algae eating clean up crew: snails, hermits and so on.

If you are doing fish only below 50 ppm nitrate is probably OK. If you are doing soft corals, below 20 ppm is probably OK. For LPS corals, you want to be below 10-20 ppm. For SPS corals, below 10 and for acropora below 5.

 

[martin3490]

Congrats on your new tank and welcome to R2R

How did you start the cycling? Fishless cycling or with fish? If fishless, did you use start up bacteria or not? And how about ammonia? And so on. Please elaborate some more.

For cycling there's no need to use a very accurate and expensive test kit. Even with the affordable one you can monitor the progression of cycling.

Happy reefing.

I’m fishless cycling but I added live sand and live rock to the tank. Would you recommend to cycle with fish? Every day I add the seachem prime and stability.

 

[martin3490]

Many people use the API tests. The problem with them is that their ammonia test reads a low ammonia reading when it is 0. Salifert sells a line of good, functional tests as does Red Sea.

For Ammonia, you want a reading of 0. Ammonia should drop and nitrite should rise followed by nitrate rising. Nitrite should also be at 0 before you add anything. Nitrate should be the only thing left after cycling. Different reefers tolerate different levels of nitrates.

Really high nitrates can produce algae blooms. But some reefers get control with algae eating clean up crew: snails, hermits and so on.

If you are doing fish only below 50 ppm nitrate is probably OK. If you are doing soft corals, below 20 ppm is probably OK. For LPS corals, you want to be below 10-20 ppm. For SPS corals, below 10 and for acropora below 5.

My ammonia is reading 0ppm but I don’t see any changes in nitrates and nitrites. I’ve been treating the tank with seachem stability and prime. My tanks has only been cycling for about a week now.

 

[Alaeriel]

I picked up an API kit for my cycle as well. Also a week in with live sand, dry rock, and a bacterial culture. I can definitively tell you that everyone who says API is trash is 100% correct. Have you been dosing with ammonia or "ghost feeding"?

 

[martin3490]

I picked up an API kit for my cycle as well. Also a week in with live sand, dry rock, and a bacterial culture. I can definitively tell you that everyone who says API is trash is 100% correct. Have you been dosing with ammonia or "ghost feeding"?

I’ve been dosing with seachem, stability and prime. What food would you recommend for ghost feeding and what ammonia kit would you recommend to get to dose the water ??

 

[Alaeriel]

I've been dosing with pure household ammonia since decaying flakes/shrimp can take months. Hanna tests are pricey but very accurate.That's what I switched to, but others may have other experiences
I have heard good things about Red Sea and Salifert.
Without an ammonia source, the bacteria can't grow and replicate

 

[martin3490]

I've been dosing with pure household ammonia since decaying flakes/shrimp can take months. Hanna tests are pricey but very accurate.That's what I switched to, but others may have other experiences
I have heard good things about Red Sea and Salifert.
Without an ammonia source, the bacteria can't grow and replicate

This is where I get confused I guess. Everywhere I read says ammonia is bad, so I have to add ammonia to cycle the tank?

 

[Twoddler]

You need to add the bad stuff to create the good stuff, eventually you will have enough good stuff to eat the bad stuff and the cycle continues, eventually you will not be able to detect the bad stuff because the good stuff suppresses the bad, That as basic as I can get, but there are is a dedicated thread to cycling your tank and very comprehensive. I,m no expert on this subject just recently cycled my own tank. ( Fishless ) Hope this helps

 

[Oropher]

I’m fishless cycling but I added live sand and live rock to the tank. Would you recommend to cycle with fish? Every day I add the seachem prime and stability.

Please don't add fish just yet...

It's better if you to read up this material for cycling:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

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