nitrate spike!!! help???

[aquaman84]

i just started my first reef tank for 2 weeks now and still in cycling process. i checked my water today and nitrates has spiked to 20 ppm,ammonia is at .25 and nitrites are at 0. im not really concerned about the ammonia and nitrite but nitrates shot up since yesterday and it was at 5.0 and 2 days before it was at 0. is this a normal part of the cycling process?

 

[Reefing Madness]

All is normal. Not to worry. You want your nitrates to spike, thats the end result of cycling. Once your Ammonia and Nitrites are 0, and you've done a water change to get your Nitrates under 30, then your good to go. Do not worry about anything spiking during a cycle.

 

[aquaman84]

All is normal. Not to worry. You want your nitrates to spike, thats the end result of cycling. Once your Ammonia and Nitrites are 0, and you've done a water change to get your Nitrates under 30, then your good to go. Do not worry about anything spiking during a cycle.

thank you for the good news! "sigh" of relief haha so should i do my water change once my ammonia hits zero? my nitrites already at 0 and i need to do a 50% water change?

 

[Reefing Madness]

No need to do anything until your Ammonia and Nitrites are both 0. Then take a look at your Nitrate readings, at this point your water change is to get that reading down under 30, so your % of a water change is going to vary depending on how high that number is.