Is this normal?!

[dexterie]

Hello!

I filled my new tank last Friday night (so, 5 days ago). Used live rock and live sand.

I just did some tests and the results are strange (I think).

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 10

I repeated the tests. Same results. Is this ok? Shouldn't I be getting more ammonia or, at least, nitrite?

Thank you for your help!

 

[jx.reef]

Pretty normal results since you're using live rock. You can try dosing a little ammonia or throw in some fish food to see if your tank can process the ammonia within 24 hours.

 

[dexterie]

Pretty normal results since you're using live rock. You can try dosing a little ammonia or throw in some fish food to see if your tank can process the ammonia within 24 hours.

OK... I'll try it then. (I'll "feed" some fish food I have from the freshwater tank).

Thank you!

 

[jx.reef]

OK... I'll try it then. (I'll "feed" some fish food I have from the freshwater tank).

Thank you!

No problem. Good luck and happy reefing!

 

[Zoolife xD]

That is a normal reading for a new tank started with live rock.
what has happened here is that you started with live rock which inevitably has some slight die off of bacteria or other biological material, as this die off occurs it turns into ammonia which then feeds the nitrosomonas bacteria still living in your live rock, this brings your ammonia reading to 0 ppm, which does not mean that no more ammonia is being produced, what it actually means is that as soon as the ammonia is being generated it is being consumed by bacteria and being turned into nitrite, the 0.05 ppm nitrite reading means that almost the same is true here, in this case you have a slightly lower population of nitrosbacter bacteria than is needed to immediately transform the nitrite into nitrate creating that small 0.05 ppm surplus of nitrite, as your tank finishes it's cycle your population of nitrobacter bacteria will grow to accomodate the ammount of nitrite being produced by the nitrosomonas bacteria and you will essentially have 0.0 ppm detectable nitrite and thus you will have a fully cycled tank ready for the slow introduction of inhabitants. Each time you add a new organism to the tank a small maybe even undetectable surplus of ammonia will inevitably occur that then turns into a small surplus of nitrite and finally is turned into natrate, which is why it is so important to stock your tank slowly.

 

[dexterie]

That is a normal reading for a new tank started with live rock.
what has happened here is that you started with live rock which inevitably has some slight die off of bacteria or other biological material, as this die off occurs it turns into ammonia which then feeds the nitrosomonas bacteria still living in your live rock, this brings your ammonia reading to 0 ppm, which does not mean that no more ammonia is being produced, what it actually means is that as soon as the ammonia is being generated it is being consumed by bacteria and being turned into nitrite, the 0.05 ppm nitrite reading means that almost the same is true here, in this case you have a slightly lower population of nitrosbacter bacteria than is needed to immediately transform the nitrite into nitrate creating that small 0.05 ppm surplus of nitrite, as your tank finishes it's cycle your population of nitrobacter bacteria will grow to accomodate the ammount of nitrite being produced by the nitrosomonas bacteria and you will essentially have 0.0 ppm detectable nitrite and thus you will have a fully cycled tank ready for the slow introduction of inhabitants. Each time you add a new organism to the tank a small maybe even undetectable surplus of ammonia will inevitably occur that then turns into a small surplus of nitrite and finally is turned into natrate, which is why it is so important to stock your tank slowly.

Thank you for your reply.
Does this mean that - if the readings stay like this, or better - I can start to add the cleaning crew? (Or part of it).

I was thinking to do it only end of next month, so I was sure things were ok. But let's say... next week or in two weeks, the levels are the same. Can I start to bring invertebrates home?

 

[Zoolife xD]

Thank you for your reply.
Does this mean that - if the readings stay like this, or better - I can start to add the cleaning crew? (Or part of it).

I was thinking to do it only end of next month, so I was sure things were ok. But let's say... next week or in two weeks, the levels are the same. Can I start to bring invertebrates home?

No Problem, we are all here to help one another after all.
Ideally I would give it a day or two to see if the nitrite goes to zero before adding a clean up crew, it should go to zero as the nitrobacter bacteria catch up with the surplus of nitrite, after that the clean up crew can be added.

Most of your clean up crew members are pretty hardy, but i would still recommend a drip acclimation, if you don't have a drip line your lfs should have one for pretty cheap, i got mine for 12 bucks at my lfs and to be honest its the best 12 dollar buy I've made for the tank.