Week 4 of New Tank Setup

wesnestor · Oct 9, 2020

Couple questions.
1. Is it normal to not see any ammonia spikes in your tank after 4 weeks? I was testing every day and never saw a spike. After week 3, have brown diatoms in the sand and on rock. It started dying off this week so I am assuming my tank is cycling. Used API test kit and have read it may not be a good kit. I did a 25% water change this last weekend. Tank is 70 gallon and sump about 22(eshopps 100).
2. Where should I expect my tank water level to be? It is about 2" below the top right now. When I try to raise it a little bit, it seems to all wind up in the sump. I have a DC return pump and am pushing about 850GPH right now, if I go any higher it starts sucking air and then I get all those micro-bubbles in the tank. Return line is 5/8 flex hose to a 1" PVC riser if that matters. Drain to sump is 1" PVC.

Reefer5640 · Oct 9, 2020

The tank sounds cycled. you can do a test by throwing something in there that would cause ammonia to build and then test for ammonia to see if it spikes or turns to nitrates. Try throwing some food or a piece of shrimp or something in there. The API test kit isn’t the best but it does the job just fine. I like the salifert kit for ammonia and nitrates personally. As far as the water level is concerned, that is determined by your height of your overflow teeth/weir or drain pipe if you don’t have an overflow. If you want your water level to be higher in your display tank then you need to raise your overflow (or at least the teeth)or drain pipe if you don’t have an overflow. If you have a picture of the overflow I or someone else might be able to give you some ideas.