Nitrite, should I be worried?

[1Clown]

Ammonia: 0.037, Seneye
Nitrite: 0.1 looking from top, 0.025 looking through side, Salifert.
Nitrate: 5 looking from top, 5 looking through side, Salifert.

Tank has been running for 3 weeks with 2 small fish, started it with ATM Colony.

No skimmer, no filter.

 

[brandon429]

Your tank is cycled and doing fine, nice seneye reading
Please run api ammonia and post so we can compare to your seneye reading
Seneye is correct there, we want to see if api ammonia will show a larger reading

nitrite has no bearing in 2020 reefing it is only a param the hobby thought mattered years ago. Nitrite can’t stall a cycle or affect any degree of your reefing, continue on


you did a successful fish in cycle

source for claims: nitrite in the reef aquarium by Randy Holms Farley

the cycling videos claiming nitrite matters are incorrect, it doesn’t.

those videos help people buy more bottled bac, though. Given your submersion time and ammonia readings we know you have surface area and active bottle bac in play.

nh3 is the only parameter you need under control during cycling

 

[MThorne]

Do you have live rock in the tank? Is there a sump? What size tank is it? Smaller tanks will spike faster due to a lower water volume. It is normal to see ammonia and nitrite during a cycle. It's the bacteria building that convert from ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. If the levels get too high do a moderate water change to bring them back down. Without more information that's the best advice I can give. Good luck and welcome

 

[1Clown]

Your tank is cycled and doing fine, nice seneye reading
Please run api ammonia and post so we can compare to your seneye reading


what does nh3 show on seneye, nh4 we aren’t as interested in

nitrite has no bearing in 2020 reefing it is only a param the hobby thought mattered years ago. Nitrite can’t stall a cycle or affect any degree of your reefing, continue on


you did a successful fish in cycle

source for claims: nitrite in the reef aquarium by Randy Holms Farley

the cycling videos claiming nitrite matters are incorrect, it doesn’t.

those videos help people buy more bottled bac, though. Given your submersion time and ammonia readings we know you have surface area and active bottle bac in play.

I used an ammonia Salifert test 7 days ago and it read 0 or 0.15, a little difficult to tell as usual.

Isn't Nh3 Ammonia, which is currently reading at 0.037 on Seneye, PH is 7.92.

Thanks for the info on Nitrite, seen some people say it's worse than ammonia for fish so got worried.

 

[brandon429]

How neat to have the test kits compared to seneye thats rare to be able to calibrate the two


in freshwater the nitrite does matter I think thats the key detail

 

[1Clown]

Do you have live rock in the tank? Is there a sump? What size tank is it? Smaller tanks will spike faster due to a lower water volume. It is normal to see ammonia and nitrite during a cycle. It's the bacteria building that convert from ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. If the levels get too high do a moderate water change to bring them back down. Without more information that's the best advice I can give. Good luck and welcome

It's just a rectangular plastic container (35 litres) which I set up to see if my rock which I had a bleaching mishap with was usable again after I tried saving it by using something different to sterilise it, rinse it etc.. I should be getting my tank next week and will transfer the fish and rock over and will be using more dry pieces and ATM Colony again so another cycle or whatever will start I guess.

 

[1Clown]

How neat to have the test kits compared to seneye thats rare to be able to calibrate the two


in freshwater the nitrite does matter I think thats the key detail

I thought I'd finally take the plunge with the Seneye and am very glad I did, no guess work with trying to read the color correctly on test kits and can't wait to test it out for PAR readings. Since my computer is 1 foot away from the tank I didn't have to invest in the overpriced wifi module thing Seneye sell and just use the USB cable it's attached to.

 

[brandon429]

I’m actually shocked the nh3 isn’t reading in the thousandths

hundredths still safe zone. It’s why fish are acting normally

if your meter never goes down to thousandths something is off with it, we can give it more time/ newer tank still breaking in

 

[1Clown]

I’m actually shocked the nh3 isn’t reading in the thousandths

hundredths still safe zone. It’s why fish are acting normally

if your meter never goes down to thousandths something is off with it, we can give it more time/ newer tank still breaking in

I didn't soak the slide at all, you're supposed to soak it in tank water for 48 hours prior to installing it in the Seneye. As for reading in the thousandths I don't know if it does that.

 

[brandon429]

Nice detail catch! won’t matter at all we can see it’s working safe zone at least by not rising above hundredths, no new cycle will start when you move over to next tank. Adding dry inert rock won’t uncycle the ready portions.