What should my water tests be at?

[Hetts]

I got the API saltwater masters test kit and I tested my water yesterday. It’s a newly cycled tank with 2 clowns and 4 hermits right now. My test results were- Ph (8.1), Ammonia (0.5), Nitrites (0), Nitrates (0). I tried googling stuff on these numbers and I think they’re okay or normal right now but I wasn’t sure and wanted to ask, thank you!

 

[brandon429]

The truth is your animals in place are the meter now. Those kits can’t read cycling params correctly for low level reads as they cross read for the other parameters

they’re better tests for high level reads, spike changes from a baseline.

if your fish have been in the tank beyond 48 hours and you added bottle bac, your whole tank is now cycled, meaning your fish aren’t going to die. What the public likes to do is not factor your fish health, water clarity, no death, and in-factor the api readings no matter the context. I can find all those api numbers above in mature reefs, in one search...

the bottle bac you used is so strong for ammonia control, it works.

post pics of your setup, let’s see if fish look to be near death or perfectly fine since bottle bac works

also interesting: any doubters, try and find a fish-in cycle thread that didn’t work, they all do.


has anyone ever put a bioload in an uncycled all-dry reef tank? Dead cloudy loss, in 48 hours. There is no mid or partial cycle

a set of surface area is either active or it’s not, and no life can be supported. Dr Reefs bottle bac thread has measured how long it takes for bottle bac to adhere to surfaces, a few days.

 

[Hetts]

The truth is your animals in place are the meter now. Those kits can’t read cycling params correctly for low level reads as they cross read for the other parameters

they’re better tests for high level reads, spike changes from a baseline.

if your fish have been in the tank beyond 48 hours and you added bottle bac, your whole tank is now cycled, meaning your fish aren’t going to die. What the public likes to do is not factor your fish health, water clarity, no death, and in-factor the api readings no matter the context. I can find all those api numbers above in mature reefs, in one search...

the bottle bac you used is so strong for ammonia control, it works.

post pics of your setup, let’s see if fish look to be near death or perfectly fine since bottle bac works

also interesting: any doubters, try and find a fish-in cycle thread that didn’t work, they all do.


has anyone ever put a bioload in an uncycled all-dry reef tank? Dead cloudy loss, in 48 hours. There is no mid or partial cycle

a set of surface area is either active or it’s not, and no life can be supported. Dr Reefs bottle bac thread has measured how long it takes for bottle bac to adhere to surfaces, a few days.

My fish have been in the tank for about a week now and have no signs of stress or anything. The water is clear as well, I did a 2.5 gallon water change yesterday and it became cloudy for a bit but eventually cleared right up. My fish eat and move around just fine too. I used turbo start 900 to help cycle my tank quick and I put a little more in yesterday just to add some extra bacteria. Is turbo start and example of what you mean by bottle bac?

 

[brandon429]

Yes, it’s the best bottle bac there is ( I saw on Dr Reefs test thread) I’m certain you are cycled given that timeframe.

Those tests simply measure approximations and can’t be used to guide your system. several threads show api kit readings compared to others, I know of a 50 ppm read difference in one thread for api vs Red Sea nitrate.

 

[brandon429]

You can move past cycling measure and into calcium and alk

get hq kits or it’s still just guessing for those measures

*you don’t need to test for ammonia and nitrite anymore, those don’t drift out of spec. A cycle locks them in. Common testers used going fwd for your system would be hq phosphate nitrate calcium and alk. Tuning for nitrate is ok, for coral health and dinos prevention.

 

[Hetts]

Yes, it’s the best bottle bac there is ( I saw on Dr Reefs test thread) I’m certain you are cycled given that timeframe.

Those tests simply measure approximations and can’t be used to guide your system. several threads show api kit readings compared to others, I know of a 50 ppm read difference in one thread for api vs Red Sea nitrate.

Gotcha! So do you think I’m okay to add another fish, some snails, and a coral this weekend?

 

[brandon429]

Yes. Whatever the max amount of bioload your tank can carry a year from now it can carry now. Fish disease protocols selected control fish input rates and timing, but there is no cycle limitation as long as you have normal amounts of surface area rocks and sand in the tank.

if your tank is big enough to hold that bioload at all, it can hold it now.

although it seems plausible that more bacteria build up over time, allowing for ‘more’ bioload carrying capacity, that’s not the case as once a cycle is closed all the surface area has bac on it, no sterile spaces exist that get filled in later. To close a cycle means the rocks can carry their max intended load.


over years, ridges from coralline and vermetid snails and myriad attachments still increase live rock surface area (that is, if kept clean and not blanketed by algae or cyano) but it’s not going to make a difference in fish carrying ability.

 

[Hetts]

Yes. Whatever the max amount of bioload your tank can carry a year from now it can carry now. Fish disease protocols selected control fish input rates and timing, but there is no cycle limitation as long as you have normal amounts of surface area rocks and sand in the tank.

if your tank is big enough to hold that bioload at all, it can hold it now.

although it seems plausible that more bacteria build up over time, allowing for ‘more’ bioload carrying capacity, that’s not the case as once a cycle is closed all the surface area has bac on it, no sterile spaces exist that get filled in later. To close a cycle means the rocks can carry their max intended load.


over years, ridges from coralline and vermetid snails and myriad attachments still increase live rock surface area (that is, if kept clean and not blanketed by algae or cyano) but it’s not going to make a difference in fish carrying ability.

Sounds good! Thank you so much this has all been very helpful information. I’ve been doing research on this stuff for 6 months before I even setup my tank and I’m still finding things I don’t know lol one last question, where can I buy a test kit for my alkalinity, phosphate, and calcium?

 

[brandon429]

I dont use em, Ill have to defer to others on that but I hear salifert brands are nice. Hanna digital meters are high tech too I read

my reef is small enough that water changes run it all, I don’t test for anything ever. Temp and salinity only, at water change time.

 

[brandon429]

I’m sure someone is wondering why I’d claim a new cycle is as strong as a matured one for fish carrying

consider this analogy for surface area mechanics:

the letter ‘W‘ here is a model for live rock surface area, water flows through the two V channels which side by side make a W and cause good contact area for waste water with ammonia in the center. Water contacts the walls of each channel in a W section of surface area; compared to an O example where no internal contact happens, only on the outside area of the ‘O‘ which is very low surface area (think bioballs surface area vs slick glass)


when a section of W surface area completes its cycle, the biofilm and accumulation are low in the V channels and flow through is high, the filter is very efficient. But as time goes by, what happens to surface area when you pack more things like bacteria and mulm in the W? Does that increase or decrease surface area as W presents it’s channels to wastewater? It lowers it. more bac makes a W have less surface area, not more. It wouldn’t increase filter capacity even if we added more bac, there’s no where they can stick but on top of a buddy pile. Suspended dosed bottle bac is only temporary help, water changes remove them.

adding more bacteria to surface area already used by bac doesn’t make it filter better, it reduces surface area vs keeps it open for pass-through. Since our tanks tend to be high flow and relatively clean, the filter efficiency stays about the same post cycle as it does years into the game. New growths certainly increase surface area over time, and so does mulm and plugging organic waste which offsets gains. It all balances such that post cycle fish carrying isn’t different from year five fish carrying ability of a filter system. Importing disease into non fallow setups is the hidden risk, not ammonia control risks.

 

[Hetts]

I dont use em, Ill have to defer to others on that but I hear salifert brands are nice. Hanna digital meters are high tech too I read

my reef is small enough that water changes run it all, I don’t test for anything ever. Temp and salinity only, at water change time.

My tank is 32 gallons, is that small enough for water changes to run it pretty much?

 

[brandon429]

why yes, I have a direct example Daniels tank! a complete roadmap to non testing 2020: 32 gallon CPR guided nano.

Cycling a new Biocube 32

Hello all! My name is Daniel from Florida and I’m starting to get into the reef hobby. I have been cycling my tank for two weeks now and logging it into an app. I have recently been gifted a live rock with some good amount of coralline on it. I also got some water from and established tank. My...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[flabryth]

I got the API saltwater masters test kit and I tested my water yesterday. It’s a newly cycled tank with 2 clowns and 4 hermits right now. My test results were- Ph (8.1), Ammonia (0.5), Nitrites (0), Nitrates (0). I tried googling stuff on these numbers and I think they’re okay or normal right now but I wasn’t sure and wanted to ask, thank you!

I would only start worrying about most numbers after a couple of months after you have fish in the system. This will give you some indication of what your system is doing in regards to filtration and base numbers. I would start slowly dialing in the chemistry as you prepare to add corals. I don't chase numbers I chase ranges.