Do These Results Look Like They Should?

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Just wanting some info on my test results, as I know nothing about cycling a salt water tank! I'm not sure if I should be adding any food or anything like that? Ive just had live rock and sand in there for about 2 weeks.. From what I can tell the ammonia has dropped very slightly, but there should be some trite/trate if so?

test from 11th

And today, 15th

 

[Noahs ark6]

ur ammonia is high your ph is about about 8, is that how you want it? thats high. and your nitrate is high. do a 20 % water change

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

that nitrate is high? I think I need to get some tests that are easier to read! Ive been reading that as 0, as its light yellow.. obviously not light yellow enough?
As for PH, I'm really not sure what I want it at tbh.. someone said it should be slightly higher after my first test of 7.8? Oh this is all confusing! lol

 

[sorgan]

The nitrate is fine, even the ammonia looks good to me. In fact all looks well get your cuc in

 

[Chris_C]

Only just getting started like yourself but the levels all look good to me and ammonia and nitrate are not high


Ammonia i find tricky to read on the API test but yours looks as close to 0 as can be .. no higher than 0.25 anyway. I have just invested in a Salifert ammonia and nitrate test kit today because i want to double check my results and make sure ammonia is definitely at 0.

 

[StandbySetting]

Get hold of some saliferts if you can, the API kits aren't very good for salt water as they're very difficult to read (especially the ammonia) as the baseline 0 doesn't match up with the colour they have printed.

Your results look fine and you're ready to add CUC.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Ok, thanks for the help! Is it safe to add CUC considering Ive not got all the rock I need yet? I dont want to harm anything with mini cycles when I top up my rock! I have 11kg atm, and am aiming for 40kg over the next couple of months.

 

[Chris_C]

Keep checking the aquarist classifieds website for deals on live rock. I managed to get pretty much 40kg of good quality live rock for £110 total off two different sellers. better than paying £440 from a LFS

Here is a link for you


Click Me For Live Rock!!

 

[HappyGeorge]

I personally have always ended up with crabs and snails very early on but that's only because I have always got Live Rock from others tanks and then the CUC is included, not ideal but despite temp, pH and salinity swings I have never lost a crab or snail, I would probably get some in.

As for the results they look fine, pH you are aiming for is 8.2-8.4 ideally, 7.8 would be too low. May look odd to those used to tropicals (but even some of those require a pH of 8+). No need for you to do any water change I'm not convinced you ever want a 20% water change in a marine tank, I used to do 20% on my Malawi tank but that's a different thing entirely, in marines you need stability so less sudden changes the better. If you wanted to do a 20% I would do a twice weekly 10%.
Try and find a tank being broken down and avoid the LFS for rock - cheaper and often come with nice freebies plus people always under estimate how much they have, should cost you about £3-5 a kilo, PM me if you want an idea where to look for it.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

yeah I've been keeping an eye out on the aquarist classifieds website, annoyingly there were 2 people in the next town selling a load a few weeks before I got my tank if you know other places to look george, be sure to let me know coz the cheapest of my 3 LFS charge £10/kg!! and thats where i got all my glass anemones from! the others charge 12.99/kg and one of them even charge you an extra £10 if there is a polyp or something growing on it!

 

[seffieuk]

You are right, dont add anything until you have all your live rock and your stats are stable with nitrAte below 10

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

Ah didn't realise you didn't have all your rock, in that case +1 to seffie.

 

[woody88]

Those results look fine to me tbh.
Ammonia zero, trite zero, trate 5, ph 8.2