I have a biocube 32 that’s been up and running for about a month. I’ve got 2 clownfish, 2 cardinal bangghais, 8 snails, and 4 hermits as of right now. Everything seems to be acting fine and healthy but when I tested my water my nitrites seem to be at almost 1.0ppm and my ammonia is at about 0.50. I’m doing a 10 gallon water change soon but what else can I do to get these numbers to 0 and fast?? Thank you!
sergifed91
Valuable Member
you added the fish to soon. I would rehome the clown fish and the cardinals. for nitrates and ammonia I would do a large water change. my dt tank is at nitrates 40 ppm and no ammonia. I would also try prime(i think thats what its called.).
Anchor
Well-Known Member
sounds like you put animals in too soon. what did you do to cycle the tank? A cycle will usually last at least a month.
Get some Prime to bind up what you have. use it as recommended.. Do a water change for immediate need.
One of the biggest things you will hear on R2R is go slow...
Get some Prime to bind up what you have. use it as recommended.. Do a water change for immediate need.
One of the biggest things you will hear on R2R is go slow...
SifuMemphis
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When you say "about a month" seems like the tank is still pretty new. Did you properly cycle your tank? To help it, I would start dosing some bacteria to help jump start your cycling.
There is no "Fast" way, but many people swear by using Fritz Turbo Start or Dr. Tims bacteria. If you have money to burn, I would look into these two
There is no "Fast" way, but many people swear by using Fritz Turbo Start or Dr. Tims bacteria. If you have money to burn, I would look into these two
Well I’m using RO water and I’ve had the fish for a few weeks and before I added them I tested water and nitrites were 0 and I had 0.25 ammonia. My LFS said my water was good for fish and I used turbo start 900 to boost the cycle and get it done in a week
Anchor
Well-Known Member
To try to explain..
Nitrogen compounds, like ammonia, need to be broken down by bacteria that build up in the tank.. If you dont have enough bacteria to handle the load you introduce you will get a large build of ammonia and then nitrites and then nitrates. This "cycle takes about a month to 6 weeks under normal conditions and is based on bio load introduced. To many animals too fast and you essentially burn thier lungs due to them swimming in thier own waste.
Questions: are you using tap water or making RO? If Tap water, have you tested it for ammonia or know if chloramines are added from your city.. provided you dont have well water that is. Well water can often be worse than city water.
When did you add these animals?
10% will WC will be too small can you do more?
Nitrogen compounds, like ammonia, need to be broken down by bacteria that build up in the tank.. If you dont have enough bacteria to handle the load you introduce you will get a large build of ammonia and then nitrites and then nitrates. This "cycle takes about a month to 6 weeks under normal conditions and is based on bio load introduced. To many animals too fast and you essentially burn thier lungs due to them swimming in thier own waste.
Questions: are you using tap water or making RO? If Tap water, have you tested it for ammonia or know if chloramines are added from your city.. provided you dont have well water that is. Well water can often be worse than city water.
When did you add these animals?
10% will WC will be too small can you do more?
SifuMemphis
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Thing's work differently for everyone, but those people are probably wrong as well. When you do a cycle (most do fishless cycle) you dose Ammonia to start the cycling process. You want to keep ammonia stable around .5 - 1ppm to "feed" the bacteria.
As ammonia goes down, Nitrite goes up, then Nitrate goes up as Nitrite goes down. Once your tank is reading ZERO ammonia and Nitrite, your cycle is finish. Do a water change and slowly add fish.
Even if your ammonia/nitrite is reading zero, but you add too many fish too fast, it can shock your bioload, and re-cycle your tank. This is mainly due to the bacteria not being able to keep up with the amount of ammonia the fish produces, which is why people say take things slow.
All I’d think is add nitrifying bacteria and do water changes. Replenish nitrifying bacteria after every water change.
siggy
My Aquariums Going Again
What he or she said.
Yes add bacteria to tank daily. I can tell you have some homework to do. 52 weeks of reefing series @BRS will get you started, also get an rodi setup instead of using prime, this will help to prevent algea blooms.
Since you have a nano you can buy distilled or reverse osmosis water at the grocery store... youtube brs videos on these
subjects. Best of luck
