hi is my tank just now doing its thing after four weeks?

S

starmom

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May 13, 2004
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Hi
for anyone following what i have been doing I have some uncured figi and tonga rock in my 75 gallon tank.

been doing the water changes and testing pretty regularly.

have a large cannister filter and a protien skimmer meant for a tank twice the size.

i have two powerheads as well, tons of circulation...

for two weeks never got any ammonia the most ive ever gotten was 0.25 and that was a week ago.

my nitrites were 2, then 0.25 and have been 0 for weeks.

my nitrates were l0 on 5-26, then 5 and now we have a nitrate spike of 40 on 6-l8, i added some aragonite substrate about 20 lbs (i washed it in a bucket with plain water, first to get rid of most of the dust) and then did about a 30% water change shortly after.........

I checked the water today to see what was happening and my ph is 8.2, ammonia 0.25, nitrite 0 , nitrate 40, sg l023 temp 78-80
i dumped around 1/4 inch of brown gunk from my protien skimmer as well.

I guess my rock took awhile to get it biological filter going.......

Does this sound about right? or am i totally off.......I just thought it strange that my nitrates were still 40 after a large water change....I checked the chemistry less than 24 hours after the water change, but its not making sense that its unchanged....

I re did the nitrate test 3 times this morning because I didnt beleive the result......

please your input would be very much appreciated, even if not an expert, what have your experiences been with this?

sue
 
Oh, the rock has been in the tank for four weeks friday...

forgot to add that
 
im having problems with high nitrites and nitrates myself on a new tank its only on its second week though ,ive just added a dose of something called cycle which is supposed to be releasing beneficial bacteiria ? and today i bought prime but i am not sure if its going to effect my live rock or not , how many pound of live rock you have?
 
i have 75 lbs of uncured rock and about 30 lbs of argonite substrate

i put the argonite in on june l6 after the tank was cycling for a few weeks.....

Ive read not to add those additives, that you just need to let the rock get its biological filter going from the organisms that already exist.....

it sounds like your tank started its spike faster than mine...im just glad that im waiting it out to add "critters" i would hate to kill something due to my own impatience.............

not fair to a critter...........

sue
 
just looking at my tank now ive been seeing these small shrimp moving around the tank in fact prolly about 20 or so of them and some of the live rock that i had bought had a few anemones on them and they seem to be coping well with the high nitrates and nitrites but im goin to hold off putting fish or anything else in it , prolly goin to go for another 10 pounds of live rock though
 
wow your rock sounds like its great!

where is it from?

i havent seen any critters and ive looked............nor any anemonies...............im jelous......

good luck with it...........
sue
 
If the LR has Anemones that are coping with high nitrates and nitrites, you might have a pest Anemone like a Glass Anemone (Aiptasia)
 
just by guessnig im goin to have to say its a glass anemone since it is clear but there a few other critters floating around aswell, another anemone with a white center and violet outsides and a few small feather duster. and while looking around with a magnifying glass i saw what looked to me like a fire worm, should i worry about it?
 
I wouldn't worry about the bristle worm much most of them are harmless. Unless he gets really big then remove it before it becomes a problem as a matter of fact they are one of the best detritus eaters that you could have. I would get rid of that anemone if its aptapsia though or it will over run you tank in short order.
hth
Chris
 
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