Cycle coming to an end, am I ready?

S

SteveD

AC Members
Apr 1, 2004
162
0
0
51
Visit site
Hi,
My new 125 is getting near or is at the end of its cycle. I have 100 lbs of base rock and 4 inches of sand that I cycled up to 5ppm of ammonia. The tank now stands at:

ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 15 I have about 2 lbs of macro in the tank hoping to reduce this
PH 8.2ish
Temp 78ish


I have my new ASM G3 going and will be moving over about 90 lbs of seasoned live rock on transition day. I am going to convert my current 55g to a sump which will be ready a few days after T day. I have a few lps corals(brain ,bubble) and some soft corals(xenias,leather, zoos). I also have a tang, flame angel and some chromis. My concern is with the Nitrate. The current tank is at 0 and I would like the new tank to be as well, but I understand that may take months. Am I being unrealistic in waiting for Nitrates to come down to 0? I will do a water change on the day everything moves but I have no reason to believe it won't creep back up.
 
I'd say get those nitrates a little lower. Maybe put one or two<b> hardy</b> fish in and watch them carefully, they could help your biofilter establish itself.

Do a 20% water change to bring those nitrates down before you put in those fish. Ask your LFD which fish are hardy but don't pick anything you're going to regret, a lot of people will use Damsels to help establish their tank but later get rid of them because of their agressiveness and I personally don't think that's a good practice.

Good luck with the new tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom