almost 60 days into cycle

Crushed coral RAISES pH............ I fallow now

I am not using any other chemicals at all.

The first time I did a SW mix, my PH came out perfect reading the bucket on the mix, it stated that it would bring your ph up to the right level. I checked my ph on a regular bases for the first month (maybe 4 or 5 times in that period), and it never fluxuated, so I figured I was wasting my time keeping up with ph levels untill I started adding fish and rock to the tank.

I did my first water change (because amonia stayed so high for so long), and never tested my water at all. When I mixed my salt water, I used warm tap water, so I would not have to wait for the temp to come up on cold tap water. I also wanted to see if warm water water would mix the salt any faster. When I tested my ph in my tap water last night, I tested the water warm (just to see if my hot water heater may have any affect on ph).

So, You think I should do another 20% water change?
This will abviously bring my Amonia levels down even more, which last I checked they had increses from .50 to 1.0. I am still showing .25 on nitrites. If the amonia drops to s certain level, is there a point that nitrification stops?

I guess my main question is: If I do a water change to bring ph down, then this will cause a change in amonia, and since nitrification has not accured in my tank yet , am I essentially chasing my tail?
 
I would do the water change.

Ammonia being detectable is not needed for nitrites. The two are independent in some ways. If ammonia drops to an undetectable level, what it means is that the supply of ammonia is adequate for the bacteria population present, not that there is no ammonia. These bacteria will keep producing nitrites, and the bacteria that consume nitrites will keep reproducing to catch up with the available food. This is always happening in our tanks--the "cycle" is not a one time event, but rather an ongoing process that is usually invisible to us, simply because we don't detect the toxins.

Right now, you most likely have a sizable colony of ammonia consuming bacteria, and it's just a matter of getting both colonies to their needed size. If there is still any shrimp decaying, you could remove it, and test in 2 days--I bet you would have no ammonia and no nitrites. But, you would need to add fish right away to avoid starving the colonies.
 
The shrimp finished decaying about 3 weeks ago.

I am going to mix up some Salt water, check out its ph, then I will post what I find.

If the ph of my salt mixture is 8.2, and my existing water is 9, seems to me the ph would come up above 8.2
 
okay, I got my ph down to about 8.4 ish. The color of my water (tested) does not really go with any of the colors on the chart, but it is a little more blue than the 8.2 mark, and way more green than the 9.0 mark.

I am using Dry Tab master test kit.

What I did was take out a few gallons of Salt Water in my tank, and just add fresh water. I figured it would not hurt to drop the salinity anyway, since it was above 1.023.

I guess we will see what this does.
 
I can assure you I'd never, never use warm water from the tap for any of my tanks. Unless you have a very weird piping system in your house, hot water will be heated and sit in a hotwater tank for some hours, and somewhere in there there is some copper. No way do you want leached copper getting into your tank, ever.
If I hold up a glass of hot tap water and cold tap water side by side I can see a difference in gas bubbles, clearness and so on. It's been this way in every house I've lived in and I'm convinced not to use hot tap water.
 
wayne

I am not trying to argue with you, I do see your point. I live in the south in the U.S., and our building codes differ from others. Not to mention that I live out of the city limits on big enough acrage that I do not have to fallow most building codes. 100% of my plumbing is p.v.c. including the casing into my well. The only thing that I am not sure of is the age of the water heater. If it is new enough, it will be stainless, otherwise it will be galvanized steel. I would think that the galvanized steel would be toxic to a cetain degree (I know the fumes it puts of when you cut or weld it are).

I do admit that I was not thinking when I used warm water, as a mater of fact I thought I was being dang clever. Now I think I made a mistake, but that wich does not kill us, makes us stronger............lol. I would have to mesure the temp of my tap water, but I would be willing to bet it is in the uper 50's. I know it takes a water bed about 4 days to heat up just so you can stand it.
 
nothing, I am cycling..... there was shrimp for a fishless cycle, but now they have rotted away.

I have sand, water, powerheads.

I am not running lights, or skimmer
 
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