# conflicting messages



## dhubhain (Jan 15, 2012)

New member and a new tank owner with plans on a 30g FOWLR tank. 2-4 inches of live sand (from Petco for what it's worth) and 20 lbs of beautiful Coralline LR from a credible LFS.

Anyway. I'm 2 weeks into cycling. I had a small diatom bloom (nothing to write home about by my sand has a nice rust color hue to it). Again, thanks to books and this tread, all good news (and a bit of a shame on me for using conditioned tap water and not RO/DI).

Problem is I'm now 2 weeks into cycling and I still have high nitrates and nitrites. Some materials I've read suggest a weekly water change and others suggest leave well enough alone and let the cycling process sort itself out.

Thanks to the admins for setting up this great site. Thanks in advance for all you helpful sorts who can help me decide if I need to leave well enough alone or if I should do a 20-30% change.

Also (and this is the idiot du-jour question). Is a 20-30% change based on the 30g tank, or the actual 23g that is in the tank. Probably doesn't matter but I figured I'd ask.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Hello, and welcome to Fish Forums! Congrats on the new tank, and an extra congrats for trying your hand at SW. It really isn't too difficult. 

As for your cycling question, you don't have to do a water change now if you don't want to. One common practice is, as you've stated, to let everything sit until the nitrites hit zero, then do a water change. This works for almost everyone, but occasionally, someone has to do a water change do to crazy high ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate levels. You can le the nitrates get as high as you want during the cycle, but it stalls out if either ammonia or nitrite gets over 5ppm. In that case, the only way to proceed is to do that water change.

The fact that you've already hit the diatom bloom shows that your tank is moving long the average timeline nicely. Could you post the actual values that your tank has? (ammonia - nitrites - nitrates) I wouldn't be surprised if, based on these levels, you could add a clean up crew! (CUC)

Again, congrats on the new tank, thank you for cycling, and welcome to Fish Forums! 

:fun:


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## dhubhain (Jan 15, 2012)

Test strips I have test for nitrates and nitrites. No Ammonia test. I'll grab some different strips tomorrow if its an important measure. Based on the cycling charts that I saw I thought once I saw the nitrogen spiking I would know that Ammonia is decreasing.

Nitrate - about 40 ppm
Nitrite - definitely higher than 5 but less than 10 (I hate these color strips)

And you're right. It's work, but it's not hard thanks to all of the folks who are actually excited to help noobs like me and all the reading material out there. There's so many things you can do to grow and change a SW tank over time that I'm excited by the possibilities. My sights are high (I want one or two green mandarin dragonets in my stock plan) and the 1 year process to get there is kinda exciting.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Do yourself a favor and get some liquid test kits. They're accurate, they take just a bit more time, and they're still relatively cheap. A lot of people just use this kit:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4345+4452&pcatid=4452

And for $30 shipped to your door, why not? Strips just aren't the best means of finding out how your tank is doing. Often times, they give completley false readings! Water quality is the most important aspect of any tank, so it's important to have accurate readings.

All the same, based on those high nitrites, it sounds like you're close to done with the cycle. I'd say to give it another week or so, and you should be done! 

Will you be quarantining new fish? I didn't, and learned the hard way...


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Du jour answer- it doesn't matter.


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## dhubhain (Jan 15, 2012)

I'm planning to upgrade to a 55g or 90g after I get my feet wet with a few cheaper options in the 30g. At that time I'm either going to use the 30g as a refugium or as a quarantine.

I also eventually want to convert to a coral tank (somewhere in that transition) so there's no doubt I'll quarantine.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

An upgrade? Sounds great!


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## dhubhain (Jan 15, 2012)

OK. Got my readings
5ppm NO2
7-8ppm NO3
.5 Ammonia

PH 8.3

I think I'm ready for a CUC. Agree?


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Sounds like you are right in the middle of your cycle. You could add your clean-up crew now, but be prepared for the unexpected NO2 spikes that might happen right now. You are still a little ways from the end of the cycle, but it shouldn't be too much longer.


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

NO! Inverts are much more sensitive & fragile than fish, and your nitrite and ammonia are too high to safely add a cleanup crew.


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## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

Let the ammonia drop down to zero, and wait for the nitrites to get down to less than .5, then you can add your CUC. As soon as the nitrites are gone and you water change your nitrates down to below 20 ppm, you can add a hardy fish, like a royal gramma or clown. 

As bmlbytes said, you are about halfway through, if not farther, the cycle. Once the ammonia drops to zero, the nitrites could take as little as five dyas to follow, so you're getting close!

Oh, just thought you'd like to know, your pH is PERFECT! I'm rather jealous actually...


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