High nitrates in cycling tank?

[lickyricky]

Hey guys,

My ammonia is down to zero and nitrite is 0.5 ppm but nitrates are at 40-50 ppm which concerns me. I'm not ghost feeding or dosing ammonia, only Red Sea Reef Mature. I'm concerned this will continue beyond the cycle and affect my life stock as it did in my previous tank.

My reef octopus has been over skimming for over a week so I haven't been able to skim anything out of the tank. Could this be the cause?

I also recently installed a sump and added about 15 gallons of new water into the system in the process but I'm getting about the same readings.

I held off on my weekly water change because of all the new water volume in the system, but perhaps I should do one still?

 

[Brew12]

Hey guys,

My ammonia is down to zero and nitrite is 0.5 ppm but nitrates are at 40-50 ppm which concerns me. I'm not ghost feeding or dosing ammonia, only Red Sea Reef Mature. I'm concerned this will continue beyond the cycle and affect my life stock as it did in my previous tank.

My reef octopus has been over skimming for over a week so I haven't been able to skim anything out of the tank. Could this be the cause?

I also recently installed a sump and added about 15 gallons of new water into the system in the process but I'm getting about the same readings.

I held off on my weekly water change because of all the new water volume in the system, but perhaps I should do one still?

The skimmer being offline isn't helping.

Red Sea Reef Mature is trying to convert the PO4 and NO3 into an organic mass that can be consumed by corals and coralline. It also makes it easier to remove via skimming. Since your skimmer is dumping everything back into the tank you aren't exporting those nutrients.

I would base doing a water change on your ability to lower the NO3. If you can get your skimmer dialed in you may be able to drop it that way. You may need to do a large water change to be able to get your skimmer dialed in.

 

[lickyricky]

The skimmer being offline isn't helping.

Red Sea Reef Mature is trying to convert the PO4 and NO3 into an organic mass that can be consumed by corals and coralline. It also makes it easier to remove via skimming. Since your skimmer is dumping everything back into the tank you aren't exporting those nutrients.

I would base doing a water change on your ability to lower the NO3. If you can get your skimmer dialed in you may be able to drop it that way. You may need to do a large water change to be able to get your skimmer dialed in.

How large of a water change? People online say that the skimmer takes 2 to 3 weeks to break it so that's why I haven't worried about it

 

[brandon429]

the bacto start is the ammonia portion. no ghost feeding required. since you have added bottle bac, the nitrate registering any amount isn't important regarding your cycle, all you need is 30 days now. nitrate is for algae tuning
skim or don't skim, doesn't matter.
don't rush the 21 days they state, do 30. if you wait 30 days more, then do a huge water change, cycled.

testing before 30 days isn't really helpful, we need that time complement so that the surfaces are doing the nitrification work and not just the bottled bac component of the maturation kit. follow their dosing instructions, wait 30 days, big water change, cycled, no tank will vary from this time frame under the current settings although ability to get accurate test readings sure will vary. we're going to move away from testing altogether in my cycle threads for dry rocks, and focus more on just basic submersion times, if this is a fully dry substrate you are bringing up.

occasionally we still see cycling of totally live rock which is not needed, in this case im assuming you did all dry cycling

 

[lickyricky]

the bacto start is the ammonia portion. no ghost feeding required. since you have added bottle bac, the nitrate registering any amount isn't important, all you need is 30 days now. don't rush the 21 days they state, do 30. if you wait 30 days more, then do a huge water change, cycled.

How huge?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd wait and assess when the nitrite is gone. With some nitrate kits, a little nitrite can read as a lot of nitrate.

 

[lickyricky]

I'd wait and assess when the nitrite is gone. With some nitrate kits, a little nitrite can read as a lot of nitrate.

Good tip! Thanks