Water Change?

[Ippyroy]

I started cycling my tank on Thursday. I had the Marco Reef Saver rocks in a Brute can for ~4 months with MicroBactor XLM.
Amonia after 36 hrs is 2
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

I know I am not cycled but the nitrates are really high. Should I do a water change to bring them down?

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

@Ippyroy woooooo! Congrats on the start of your tank cycle. And hope you got things all figured out with all your shipping issues you encountered over the winter.

As long as you don't have any livestock in the tank, no issues with 50 ppm. However, I started water changes when my tank hit 50 ppm during the cycle.

 

[Ippyroy]

It only took three tries to get a tank delivered. I currently have a very large broken tank in the middle of my living room right now. Still trying to decide what to do with it. Might try to repair. Shipping is a major challenge but a new LFS opened up only 2 hours away so I feel a lot more comfortable now for emergencies. How big of a water change?

 

[AquaholicAquariums]

Hey bud no water change aslong as there’s no livestock in it! If there is I would highly suggest a bottle of turbostart 900 the refrigerated version or some bio spira might be easier to find in a petco!

 

[Ippyroy]

No livestock. Just very high nitrates.

 

[MnFish1]

I started cycling my tank on Thursday. I had the Marco Reef Saver rocks in a Brute can for ~4 months with MicroBactor XLM.
Amonia after 36 hrs is 2
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 50

I know I am not cycled but the nitrates are really high. Should I do a water change to bring them down?

Curious - its unclear - so you had the rocks in the Brute with saltwater - with or without the 'microbacter'. Its unclear what exactly you did - In reality, your tank has been cycling for 4 months - if you added the bacteria than, Right? I assume you then added that rock to your tank? Did you add the water from the Brute can to the tank? Did you add ammonia while the rocks were in the brute can? Did you change the water during the 4 months? Sorry for the questions - but to answer whether to do a water change and how much they may help to decide. If it were me I wouldn't let the nitrate bother me. I wouldn't add any more ammonia - once the ammonia is down to zero - I would change 100% of the water.

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

It only took three tries to get a tank delivered. I currently have a very large broken tank in the middle of my living room right now. Still trying to decide what to do with it. Might try to repair. Shipping is a major challenge but a new LFS opened up only 2 hours away so I feel a lot more comfortable now for emergencies. How big of a water change?

Uggggh.... sorry to hear that. And great to hear about the LFS!

My tank is a 90g DT and about 100g of water total when including the sump. It was 1.5 years ago, but I recall changing out about 15g at a time every few days to keep it under 20 ppm so that it would be easier to bring it down even lower when I was ready to put in livestock without having to do one massive water change.

 

[Ippyroy]

That's what I was thinking. Thanks

 

[Pau Hana Reefer]

You got it. Good luck and looking forward to watching your tank come together.

 

[Ippyroy]

I added the microbactor and ghost fed while in Brute can. Did 100% water change and redosed micrbactor after 2 months. Used new water and brand for tank. Redosed microbacter and then dosed amonia for first time.