Nirites, Nitrates, Ph Arghhhhh

[jaylam]

Hi,

ok im very confused now, im just starting to cycle my tank. But there are 2 lots of nitrates just spelt differently.
Can anyone tell me A) what I should be testing for and B) what the levels of everything should be.
Im reading so many different things its confusing me.

Thanks in advance.

Jay

 

[ben1987]

first tests should be

Ammonia
NitIte
NitrAte

dont worry about anything else til the first teo have been a steady zero for a few days. then you usually have to do a water change to get rid of NitrAtes

 

[jaylam]

first tests should be

Ammonia
NitIte
NitrAte

dont worry about anything else til the first teo have been a steady zero for a few days. then you usually have to do a water change to get rid of NitrAtes

so these all must be 0 before putting any fish in?

what must I monitor after that just these every week or is there other things to be monitoring as well.

Thanks

Jay

 

[ben1987]

Ammonia and NitrItes need to always be zero as they can kill fish and inverts in fairly little amounts. They 100% deffinatly need to be zero.

NitrAtes arent toxic to fish, corals and inverts til they reach really high levels. But this wants to be a close to zero as you can get it. Nitrates arent broken down by teh bacteria in live rock like ammonia and nitrite, they are removed by water changes or photosynthesis. Thats why once the cycles done you usually have a nitrate reading and you do a water change to remove them before starting to stock.

When your tank is established, you wont test the first two that often, maybe fortnighly just to make sure, then whenever something looks wrong as these are removed by the live rock.

nitrates you will continue to test, how regular depends on wht you will be keeping and how important they are to your stock.

 

[jaylam]

Ammonia and NitrItes need to always be zero as they can kill fish and inverts in fairly little amounts. They 100% deffinatly need to be zero.

NitrAtes arent toxic to fish, corals and inverts til they reach really high levels. But this wants to be a close to zero as you can get it. Nitrates arent broken down by teh bacteria in live rock like ammonia and nitrite, they are removed by water changes or photosynthesis. Thats why once the cycles done you usually have a nitrate reading and you do a water change to remove them before starting to stock.

When your tank is established, you wont test the first two that often, maybe fortnighly just to make sure, then whenever something looks wrong as these are removed by the live rock.

nitrates you will continue to test, how regular depends on wht you will be keeping and how important they are to your stock.

Brilliant that is exactly what I needed to know, thanks mate.

So the ph levels dont really matter then?

 

[ben1987]

Not for now no, and so long as you have decent flow (adjitating the surface allowing for gaseous exchange) and use a good brand of salt with decnt RO will probably never be a probelm.

 

[jaylam]

Not for now no, and so long as you have decent flow (adjitating the surface allowing for gaseous exchange) and use a good brand of salt with decnt RO will probably never be a probelm.

Cool, thanks again