need help on Xenia
- Thread starter zkffk90000
- Start date
If your tank was properly cycled, your ammonia would be 0 your nitrites would be zero! IMO your tank is not cycled and those levels of ammonia are probably killing your corals.
0 Ammonia & 0 Nitrites = Cycled tank Anything more than 0 = Not Cycled.
Cycling the tank is the process of building up enough benficial bacteria to process ammonia and nitrites immediately. The fact that you are getting ammonia readings, no nititrite reading means something is wrong. Ammonia levels should go up and then as the bacteria that process ammonia into nitrites build up ammonia starts to come down. The nitrites then start to rise untill the bacteria population that turns nitrites into nitrates build up. When the ammonia and nitrites are at zero you should then do a 50% water change to reduce the nitrates as the only way to remove this is water changes. 10%month minimum. after the water change, you can start to add fish slowly(dont add them all in one day wait a week between fish)
0 Ammonia & 0 Nitrites = Cycled tank Anything more than 0 = Not Cycled.
Cycling the tank is the process of building up enough benficial bacteria to process ammonia and nitrites immediately. The fact that you are getting ammonia readings, no nititrite reading means something is wrong. Ammonia levels should go up and then as the bacteria that process ammonia into nitrites build up ammonia starts to come down. The nitrites then start to rise untill the bacteria population that turns nitrites into nitrates build up. When the ammonia and nitrites are at zero you should then do a 50% water change to reduce the nitrates as the only way to remove this is water changes. 10%month minimum. after the water change, you can start to add fish slowly(dont add them all in one day wait a week between fish)
Last edited:
bro
as everyone here has said take your stuff back to the store get live rock and wait or your stuff will probably die did you even acclimate and bio crap instantly cycles the aquarium but you still dont add fish the same day you REASEARCH no offense but have you ever had a fish tank
as everyone here has said take your stuff back to the store get live rock and wait or your stuff will probably die did you even acclimate and bio crap instantly cycles the aquarium but you still dont add fish the same day you REASEARCH no offense but have you ever had a fish tank
Xenia are very sensitive and prefer an established aquarium with very stable parameters and SG. They like 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and very low nitrates. Xenia are known to be a good indicator of water quality. Sadly you will most likely lose the xenia just because your tank is so new. What is your salinity at? They can be sensitive to high or low salinity too. I would say from here on out....GO SLOW! Only bad thing happen fast (or overnight) in SW. Good Luck.
I'm sorry but did u have a fish tank before? Because if this is going to b ur first, then I would recommend starting with freshwater. You need to leave the tank alone for at least two weeks. This will help build up bacteria. The off the shelf stuff are only used to boost the amnt of bacteria in the tank and to start things off. Even if u do add the stuff you still have to wait. When everything is done, that is, no ammonia, nitrites, and reduced the nitrate level, add ONE fish. But it has to be hardy. Like a clown or damsel. Once everything looks good, you can return the damsel b cuz they r aggresive and start stocking ur tank with fish u like.
I agree with everyone. Your tank is not cycled. All the life you bought will die if you don't bring it back. Ammonia needs to be 0, nitrite needs to be 0, and nitrate needs to be almost 0 with those inhabitants. You cannot set up a tank and put livestock in the next day. Especially with SW, you'll read of people that have had a tank set up and running for a few months and have not yet stocked it because it is not ready to support life. Never mind researching - I've never yet kept a SW tank (to expensive and time-consuming at the moment) but yet I've been researching them for over a year, knowing that eventually in a few years I want to set one up.
Everyone is giving good advice, but you don't seem to be taking it at all. If this is your first tank (I'm going to guess it is), I'd definitely recommend FW over a reef tank - if you keep ignoring everyone's advice, it's going to be a very expensive mistake.
Everyone is giving good advice, but you don't seem to be taking it at all. If this is your first tank (I'm going to guess it is), I'd definitely recommend FW over a reef tank - if you keep ignoring everyone's advice, it's going to be a very expensive mistake.
first , you can cycle a tank with live bacteria.. the use of good cured live rock will also help as well as live sand.
the problem is when adding new rock or sand there will be some die off..even the bacteria (live) needs some time to establish.
corals as not a good choice to add to a tank that has not had time to mature(tough fish like damsels work).
ammonia, nitrites do not instantly go to 0 even in a well established tank it just is not biologically/chemically possible but the amount of waste is dilluted by the volume of water and the bacteria have some time to 'eat'.
in essence they keep the levels low never reaching toxic levels unless something is a wrong.
the ammonia , nitrites etc need to be closely monitored. until you can see that the ammonia is 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates low you should probably refrain from adding corals.
I waited 6 months before adding corals to my tank.
hang in there and keep a watchful eye out on your parameters.
the problem is when adding new rock or sand there will be some die off..even the bacteria (live) needs some time to establish.
corals as not a good choice to add to a tank that has not had time to mature(tough fish like damsels work).
ammonia, nitrites do not instantly go to 0 even in a well established tank it just is not biologically/chemically possible but the amount of waste is dilluted by the volume of water and the bacteria have some time to 'eat'.
in essence they keep the levels low never reaching toxic levels unless something is a wrong.
the ammonia , nitrites etc need to be closely monitored. until you can see that the ammonia is 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates low you should probably refrain from adding corals.
I waited 6 months before adding corals to my tank.
hang in there and keep a watchful eye out on your parameters.
i cam going to try to take the xenia and other things back if they will accept it because i really do not know if they will
you have to make the store take all live stock back because they are the onse that recomended to do everything the way you are doing it and sold your stuff to a tank that's not ready even if they knew it. it's their fault, so they should count for their loses. also, give us more info on what else you have in there, so we can help you with cycling and stuff. as far as Biospira goes, it does work, however, the company lied about its ability to cycle the tank in one day, it takes 14 days, I called the company and that's what they told me. also, as far as cycling goes, I think with new rock the tank will cycle without adding raw shrimp or live fish, due to die off from the rock. it just the process smells pretty bad. and test, test, test...
