sgh360

Hi, I have a 10 gallon SW cycling for 3 weeks with only 1.50 lbs of live rock and CaribSea Florida Crushed Coral Geo-Marine, Penguin 125, Oceanic Salt Water Mix

I have used Jungle strip kit

specific gravity 1.025
ammonia 0
Nitrites 10 or above
Nitrates 40
KH 180
pH 7.4

Idk why i have high nitrites am I doing something wrong?

pepetj

Ammonia 0 with Nitrites spiking means that your tank is cycling. Expect Nitrates to raise even higher. At three weeks I figure you are in the right direction.

IMHO (despite being unsolicited) using strip test kit is a major risk even in FW. Major disaster waiting to happen in SW.

Why are you using only 1.5 lbs of live rock? Do you plan to add inert rock that you expect to seed from your fragment of live rock?

I don't know if using crushed coral as substrate is a good idea. Definitely not safe for soft belly or sand sifter fish. Being a 10gal tank, using this type of substrate restrict your stocking options (e.g. not safe for the small blennies, gobies...).

Are you going to use live rock rubbles inside the HOB or are you using the standard filter media? Be careful so you don't end up with a filter that turns out to be a nitrate factory.

Have you searched for information on the utility of bio-wheels in SW? (I ask because I have no clue)

Some values suggest that your measurements are indeed wrong (not your fault, it's the strip test error). In what I consider a fairly honest review of Salt Mixes, using Oceanic at 35 parts per thousand (ppt) or Specific Gravity of 1.0264 at temperature of 25C, gives around 8.5dKH. KH at 180meq/L, if accurate, means 10 DKH which is OK per se but your Specific Gravity is likely higher than 1.026. To read that review please click here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1714505


Your pH reading is way low for SW but I wonder what is the real value of your tank. pH strip tests are unreliable, no matter who manufactures them. Since pH reagents used in SW are different form those used in FW make sure you have the right kit.

As for detecting Nitrates and Nitrites I have found strip tests to be at their best.

I don't mean to discourage you but to share with you some of the ideas that I consider you should be looking into now when you could afford to reconsider your set-up, that is before adding expensive marine life specimens to your Nano tank. I'm a newby in SW as well.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

sgh360

I want to gradually add live rock to at least 7 lbs. (being all expensive)

Why does the crush coral reduce my stocking options?
My LFS saleman recommended to use this media

I am using standard media, what do you mean by turning into a nitrate factory?

Btw thx for answering so fast. appreciated

ATP

I would just add the rock at one time. If you add more rock after it's cycled, there's a small chance your tank will go into another mini cycle.

Nitrate factory is instead of removing nitrates, it'll cause nitrates. Lots of algae and other life forms will get stuck on the media and will grow there. All so things that die might get stuck which will cause more trouble.

Crushed coral is often not recommended because things get stuck to it easily which would than cause algae if it's food (might also be other stuff) rather than fine live sand which it'll be harder for most things to get stuck.

ATP,

locoyo386

Hi there,

Well did you test the ammonia with the strips if so how high did it go. If you never detected ammonia, than there might be a chance that the strips are not working properly. The only concerne here is that you test positive for Nitrites when in reality there are none. Give it another week or so, if they don't go down than test with liquid test kit or take to a sample to a fish store that can test it for you for free. Other than that you will not have major disasters from using the strips. Once the tank cycles, than you have no need to test unless your fish act weird or something like that. Either case a liquid test kit is recomended. In the long run they are cheaper anyways. Crushed coral is ok, just as long as you vacum it regularly (a third of the tank with each water change). It is thought that "bio-wheel" filters or canister filters or filters with typical media are nitrate factories. This is misleading, as you would imagine that they "produce" nitrates. This is not true, what should be said is that if not cleaned regularly the food and fish waste they trap (which they are supposed to do anyways), breaksdown into nitrates. If cleaned regularly, it will not be an issue anymore than live rock rubble will be. Even with rock you might have to ocationally clean it. It is said that 7.4 pH is a very low level in saltwater fish keeping. My experience has been that at a 7.8 constant value (all my fish tanks have been at this value since started), the fish appear to be fine even in the long run. As far as adding the rock later, just make sure it is cured before you put in tank. Basically what you are doing at the moment. You allow some dieoff to produce ammonia to cycle the tank. If the rock is cured, than adding will not raise your ammonia level, nor will your tank go into a cycle.

sgh360

I really appreciate your tips guys recently i bough API SW master kit here are the results

Ammonia 0.5
nitrite 5.0 or above
Nitrate 20
PH 7.8

I am planning to have only 1 tank raised ocellaris clownfish

2x10w fluorescent lights

15Lbs of crushed coral

Do I need to buy a powerhead?

is the ph good?
If not how do I raise it?

will Live rock Rubble be good for my nano aquarium?

How much LR should i add?

How long should i change filter on HOB?

Is 10% water change weekly using vacuum gravel good?

It has been cycling for 4 weeks, any ideas how longer will it take?

Thx guys appreciate your help

locoyo386

HI there,
Yes, you could add a Hydor Koralia Nano. Something that is that small should be fine.

Not sure, but all my tanks are running at 7.8 and still do not have any noticeable problems.

Depends on how you are goin to use it. If it will be part of a mechanichal filter media for biological media than yes it will be fine. If you are going to use it as part of your diplay rock, than it might not be such a good idea. For that case you might want to go with bigger pieces of rocks.

I only have fish only tanks and I use about 0.5 lb of rock per ICH of fish.

You should clean it about twice before replacing it. Clean everytime you noticed that the area where the filter is, is overflowing or when the filter starts to turn brown. If it gets really bad, than just replace it. Check the filter media once a week and at most replace every 2 months. My tanks are too messy, thus I make my own filter media. It would cost too much to replace as often as I need to.

With that small tank, if you are keeping corals that might notbe enough. When you vacum the crushed coral do not do all the area at once. Do only portions at a time. Usually 10% percent is enough, just keep an eye out for nitrates (if you are going to keep corals).

Honestly it's hard to know for a fact. It all depends on how much ammonia was present when the tank started to cycle. Either way, the tank will be ready to add fish when the tests show zero ammonia and nitrites. If you are going to keep coral, you might want to do a water change after the tank cycles but will depend on the level of nitrates.