Trace amounts of Ammonia, but 0 Nitrites?

[bReefedBaker]

My first saltwater aquarium!

I’m having some difficulty understanding why I have trace amounts of Ammonia, 0Nitrites and a possible 10ppm for Nitrates. Is it my eyes seeing the faint green for Ammonia or is the API liquid test kit just not going to distinguish a very true yellow for 0?

Aquarium: 40g
The substrate is CaribSea Agra-Alive Live Sand and an abundance amount of Live Rock. Tank is currently on its 21st day as of today.

 

[brandon429]

API over reports natural conversion levels, we think. and then there are card and test prep differences home to home, some using freshwater comparison cards etc. post a pic of your tank, live rock shows up already ready for business with all its bac in tact. no wait time needed if it came wet from a pet store.

for api, those are actually very clean reads above, live rock should read just like that. it means ready/go/can begin. live rock is ready for use the second you set it in your tank, from bringing it home from a pet store.


**if that's bottle bac readings from dead rock seeded, same, they've set up shop. all bottle bac directions are ready before day 21, its on the labels.

 

[brandon429]

small animals and crustaceans and emitting waste in direct contact with cycling bacteria and algae adhere to any rock that has set underwater in a reef holding tank for a while, it'll be evident by these factors:

-it came wet from the store
-the lfs called it live rock
-it has either coralline or some life forms attached, it can't be 100% barren white rock, see any reef pic, live rock has pigments and attached algae or scums or life of some type
-tiny starfish and pods are evident in its holding tank, live rock is obvious when you look at where it came from



if your rock was dry at the pet store its dry rock, not live, and they'd most likely sell you bottled bacteria to add to it. this is ready in about ten days time on most brands.

the most important step for you to consider is fish disease options, you have a start date ready and when to add fish is determined by disease controls cycling was the easy part:

Fish Disease Treatment and Diagnosis

A forum for discussing treatment and diagnosing saltwater reef fish.

www.reef2reef.com

welcome to the world of: "I don't want to fallow that seems terrible, Paul did it without any fallow" and then in two mos we post a thread there asking for help on a swollen fish, still no fallow and QT, then most of the fish dead by September.

its the official newbie wheel try and avoid at all costs. read the disease threads there, what are the top prevention methods used for pages

 

[Azedenkae]

My first saltwater aquarium!

I’m having some difficulty understanding why I have trace amounts of Ammonia, 0Nitrites and a possible 10ppm for Nitrates. Is it my eyes seeing the faint green for Ammonia or is the API liquid test kit just not going to distinguish a very true yellow for 0?

Aquarium: 40g
The substrate is CaribSea Agra-Alive Live Sand and an abundance amount of Live Rock. Tank is currently on its 21st day as of today.

It is very normal, yeah, to seemingly measure some ammonia. Is the tank up and running and is stocked?

 

[brandon429]

The microbiology of reef tank cycling.

You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...

www.reef2reef.com

lastly, give that thread one hour's read it'll advance your reefing microbiology to maximum levels of application.

 

[bReefedBaker]

API over reports natural conversion levels, we think. and then there are card and test prep differences home to home, some using freshwater comparison cards etc. post a pic of your tank, live rock shows up already ready for business with all its bac in tact. no wait time needed if it came wet from a pet store.

for api, those are actually very clean reads above, live rock should read just like that. it means ready/go/can begin. live rock is ready for use the second you set it in your tank, from bringing it home from a pet store.


**if that's bottle bac readings from dead rock seeded, same, they've set up shop. all bottle bac directions are ready before day 21, its on the labels.

 

[brandon429]

if any of those little white dots are an emergent feather worm its true live skip cycle setup. its hard to tell visually now with the painted fake rocks out there, but any rocks that sit long enough in water to have an animal or plant attached are by rule cycled and able to carry a bioload. there is never any time that laying down a base layer biofilm for ammonia control takes longer than the emergence of new benthic creatures or plants.

 

[bReefedBaker]

if any of those little white dots are an emergent feather worm its true live skip cycle setup.

I did start noticing those white spots on the rock, but I didn’t put much thought into what was actually occurring in the tank. Now I want to look more into “emergent feather worm”? Mmmm “It’s true, you do learn something new everyday.”

 

[brandon429]

was that rock dry or wet from the pet store curious to know

 

[bReefedBaker]

if any of those little white dots are an emergent feather worm its true live skip cycle setup. its hard to tell visually now with the painted fake rocks out there, but any rocks that sit long enough in water to have an animal or plant attached are by rule cycled and able to carry a bioload. there is never any time that laying down a base layer biofilm for ammonia control takes longer than the emergence of new benthic creatures or plants.

@brandon429 I def. want to say thanks for all the help and input. Highly appreciated!

 

[bReefedBaker]

was that rock dry or wet from the pet store curious to know

A mixture of both. Some was deep down inside the LFS Rubbermaid container and the cave style rock (bottom left side) was on the shelf dry. The LFS stated all their rock is “Cured Live Rock”.

 

[brandon429]

they rarely mislead on those statements because they know folks are paying them for that ready/curing process. your rock does meet the criteria from the microbiology thread above, nice skip cycle setup.


time for a fish disease choice. if you skip it totally we wont be mad, everyone does the first go round

the only way you'll hone down a choice is two hours read: one hour on microbiology/skip cycling/tank cleaning procedures above and one on the fish disease forum reading stickies and posts from entrants.

when theyre posting about disease help, try and discern from the posts if they used fallow and quarantine or not. heck, for research you can even pop in the thread and directly ask em.

 

[bReefedBaker]

they rarely mislead on those statements because they know folks are paying them for that ready/curing process. your rock does meet the criteria from the microbiology thread above, nice skip cycle setup.


time for a fish disease choice. if you skip it totally we wont be mad, everyone does the first go round

The first I learned in this new hobby is patience. I’ll be happy to read the suggested material you’ve provided. Thanks again!!!!