4 Week Old Tank Question's

[cawsey20]

Hi there,

Well iv'e had my tank up and running for around a month in total now,
I left it for a good 2 week's with live rock and live sand, Cycling and testing all the required level's.

2 week's ago i introduced 2 snail's and a cleaner shrimp after seeing my nitrite level stay at 0 and have my LFS double check it .
1 week ago now i added another cleaner shrimp to the mix , Both are doing brilliant run about alot and munch plenty of food, Also very happy to have a jump on your hand !!.

Last Tuesday i decided to add clown fish into the mix, Did this but he just sat in the corner looking lonely , Ive obviously left him untill now but decided he looked so lonely that he needed a friend !! , Off to the fish shop i wen't and purchased another clown , This time much smaller. Added him to the tank and the original clown is like a new fish !! swimming with the new one, Coming out of the corner , Exploring !!.

Also whilst i was at the shop i purchased a very nice xenia coral..

Now my plan is to simply leave it now, Just keep monitoring level's. And just see how it run's doing a 10% weekly water change.

Today before adding any of the new livestock i completed a 10% change and after letting it settle down my level's are as follow's.

1.025
PH: 8.0
Nitrate : 50ppm
Nitrite : 0ppm

I need to purchase a new ammonia kit as mine has leaked everywhere !!..

Should i be massively concerned about these parameter's ??, Obviously the fact that i have had livestock for over 2 week's is a bonus !!.

What should i continue to do now.

Thank's alot

Jamie

 

[cawsey20]

Update,

Just purchased an API ammonia test kit and am just waiting on result's they look to be at 0ppm bright yellow which i am pleased with.

So

Ammonia : 0ppm
Nitrite : 0ppm
Nitrate : 50ppm
PH : 8

So basically my nitrate is the only high thing currently !!

 

[lljdma06]

You need to not add anything until you can get that nitrate down. Should be below 10ppm before you add anything. At least IMO. Actually below 10ppm is a good amount regardless.

How much are you feeding? And what are you feeding?

Any chance to get a FTS? Full tank shot is what that means.

Oh, and welcome to the salty side.

 

[cawsey20]

Hi there,

Cheer's for the reply ,

Well iv'e been feeding frozen bryne shrimp, Half a cube in the morning and half in the evening ..

So how would you reccommend getting that figure down ??..

Cheers

 

[lljdma06]

Hi there,

Cheer's for the reply ,

Well iv'e been feeding frozen bryne shrimp, Half a cube in the morning and half in the evening ..

So how would you reccommend getting that figure down ??..

Cheers

water changes and don't add anymore livestock until you've brought the number down. You can up the water change to 10% 2x a week. Do you actually see everybody eating everything? How big is this tank?

L

 

[cawsey20]

It's 180litre, And yer there are always a few remaining bit's of shrimp but both fish and both cleaner's fight for it .

Cheers

 

[jeasko]

Second what everyone else has said about nitrates, while 50ppm is not excessively high it is above where you really want to be mine run to around 5-10ppm I get concerned at around 25ppm and 40ppm is absolute max IMO(at this point large frequent water changes are needed) , water changes will help reduce this, but I would think the main culprit will be the food, fish have an ability to eat what's there then pass it out the other end what's not needed and only absorb what they really need, best thing you can do is reduce amount fed or increase the amount of feed times with smaller amounts and keep up the water changes

The main part you have under control by looks of it as the NH4 and NO3 are at 0ppm which are the ones you need to be most concerned with, also don't be to frightened to do a larger water change to bring NO2 down.

Out of curiosity what filtration are you using?

 

[cawsey20]

Hi there !!,

Cheer's , Well filteration wise i have a fluval 205 doing the main work and also a red sea prizm which i guess you can class as a sort of filter !.

Ok so if i start doing water change's twice a week then just monitor the N02 , At what point would you then do a larger 50% water change ??.

And as for feeding so for all 4 of my fish/invert's what would you reccomend doing ??, Obviously i have the byrne shrimp frozen cubes currently . Say a 25% of one morning and evening ?? or more than that ??.

Cheers

 

[jeasko]

Start with the feeding, you really need to monitor how much is being eaten and how much is just hitting the floor, for me it works best if I feed 4 times a day but just very small amounts, so for pair f clowns half a cube a time is IMO too much I'd try less say quarter of a cube 2-3 times a day (3 times is not always easy with work commitments etc) as they won't get to all of the food the left over will be taken by the inverts/CUC as they are scavengers this will reduce the un eaten food breaking down and adding to nitrates.

50% water change is for when things get drastic such as NH4 or NO2 start to increase as they need to be addressed, you can safely do 20-25% water change regularly as long as you heat the water going back in and make sure the SG is correct etc, the bigger the water change the more nutrients are exported, if it were me I would do a slightly larger water change now (20%) to kick start the reduction in NO3 then lower the feeding and monitor what happens with your NO3 levels if the feeding does not reduce the level continue with larger water change until you nitrate level comes good.

Take it the fluval is an external canister filter? If so remember to keep that clean as they can harbour nitrates and become a factory for them, this is not all that common but worth remembering if you struggle to get nitrates under control

Main thing is not to panic nitrates while not desirable are not yet at a level that is a huge panic that said you really want to see them coming down

 

[kj23502]

get a brine shrimp net and rinse the frozen food in cool tap water before you feed.