Insane nitrites

[rja]

Side note, but get some Red Sea test kits. They are amazing and very simple to do. I have both them and digital hannas and I generally trust my Red Sea kits over the Hanna's.

I ended up getting every salifert test kit! After these are used up i might move to red sea or hanna for some params like alk, ca, and mg

 

[glb]

I ended up getting every salifert test kit! After these are used up i might move to red sea or hanna for some params like alk, ca, and mg

I like Hanna for alk and phosphates, Red Sea for ca, and salifert for mg.

 

[rja]

Yes I cycled a tank using pure ammonia and it’s easy to overdo it! I don’t think a water change will interfere with your cycle. I agree with everyone else that this will resolve in time. Maybe add some more beneficial bacteria. Like you said, you’ve got experience with other tanks. I’ve learned that every cycle is different. Hang in there!

So as a bit of an update, the tank cycled out just fine using microbacter7. I was able to see the entire cycle finish a week after this post through dosing 5x the recommended amount of MB7. Now things are starting to stabilize and the corals ive added all look good aside from the rescue colonies but even those have seemed to already rebound in less than 12 hours. All looks good! I now dose MB7 and phyto daily for redundancy and to do some dinoflagellate/cyano preventative maintenance while i go through my ugly stages.

Not sure if this is the right path but only time will tell!

 

[Tamale]

I ended up getting every salifert test kit! After these are used up i might move to red sea or hanna for some params like alk, ca, and mg

I've heard good things about salifert as well! I'd avoid the hanna calc/alk as they tend to not always be accurate (they are super dependent on putting in the exact amount of solution and the calc in particular is known to read high). The standard kits from salifert or red sea are great. My Red Sea kits in those elements are super easy to read and use. I do like my hanna nitrate and phos testers!

 

[rja]

I like Hanna for alk and phosphates, Red Sea for ca, and salifert for mg.

My LFS always has used checkers for around $25 so I will just grab what I can. Thankfully I haven’t really had to test much because everything seems very stable with semi frequent water changes using red sea black bucket!

 

[GoVols]

I ended up getting every salifert test kit! After these are used up i might move to red sea or hanna for some params like alk, ca, and mg

On mag, stay with the Salifert kit.

 

[Reef.]

I ended up getting every salifert test kit! After these are used up i might move to red sea or hanna for some params like alk, ca, and mg

Don’t, Hanna has a new mag checker coming out, no idea if it’s good, Aqua Forest I would recommend for mag and then Salifert, Hanna calcium is not good, Salifert is good for calcium, Hanna I would definitely recommend PO4 checker the 774, no other test kit is as good as the Hanna for PO4, alk on the Hanna is good too but so is Salifert and Aqua Forest, nitrate I would go Hanna too, get the high range one tho not the low range.

 

[glb]

My LFS always has used checkers for around $25 so I will just grab what I can. Thankfully I haven’t really had to test much because everything seems very stable with semi frequent water changes using red sea black bucket!

I’d stay away from the Ca checker. I don’t have one but I’ve read over and over again how inconsistent the readings are. But the alk and phosphates I love. I don’t have the new nitrates one but people seem to like it.