Orca Tl-450 Anybody?

[leeroysw20]

ah right. ah ye that'll be good thankyou!

 

[seffieuk]

EEek that will teach me not to read the whole thing properly, sorry thought you had live rock in the tank - which of course would then have meant your tank had started it's cycle.

Boy that would be very unlucky to have got water with that high nitrites from your lfs - am very curious let us know what they say

Seffie x



ps just had a thought, did the live sand come from someone else's tank, although that doesn't account for the water out of the tank

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Ok just tested RO water here and its showing zero nitrates so either your test kit is different or its correct.

There could be die off in the live sand but there is nitrates in the RO water which is the main problem.

Edit: unfortunately rubbish RO water from LFS is fairly common. They are normally making tons of it everyday and some places just never bother changing the membrane or pre-filters. Thats one of the other reasons I would always recommend your own RO unit as at least then you know what your getting.

 

[leeroysw20]

lol easy mistake to make!! haha
no it was fresh out the packet from the fish shop.

well what ill do then is take both samples of water to the fish shop and get them to test it for me, and if it is def the water and not the kit then will jus have to start a fresh! making sure to test the water before i put it in my tank!!!!


thanks for the help pple! much appreciated. will let u know tomorrow what they say!

 

[xxBarneyxx]

No problem, hopefully they sort it out for you without too many issues.

 

[SkiFletch]

Gotta dispel misinformation here. Hobby level chemical test kits that are affordable are NOT capable of performing valid tests on RO water. The lack of any solutes makes the water very bipolar which screws up with lots of the chemical tests. The only affordable means for testing the purity of RO water is with a TDS meter which I highly reccomend to anyone who is using RO water (be it home-made or LFS-made).

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Cool, thats very good to know (sorry to leeroy for pointing you wrong). Would explain why the nitrates where detecting as higher in the RO water then in the tank (which was something I couldnt understand).

 

[leeroysw20]

ok have just got back from the fs!
i told him the situation and took a sample of both my ro water and tank water, he tested both of them for me, and both seem fine!
weva or not its true i dont know, not sure how these testin kits work, but he reckons that maybe its been sitting for a while before being sold to me, maybe on his shelf and wherever they are made, and said it maybe caused by that.
he suggested introducing some live rock into my tank soon and continuing the cycle for another week or so, regulary testing the water. but said that everything looks fine.
so just to make sure....guna give the entire kit a dam good shake tonight and try again before doing this! lol

 

[leeroysw20]

ok i purchased just over 5kg of live rock yesterday n placed it in my tank.
(it was cured and came out of an already set up and matured tank)
looks lovely with nice colouring and some lovely looking small pieces of coral in places. and even managed to pick up a hermit crab which was hiding in one piece! although i cant imagine theres much for it to eat, it seems to be running all over the rocks n is looking good!
also tagged along another crab...ordinary looking in shape but is totally black?!

am i right in sayin that i should leave the tank cycling for around 30 days now, keeping an eye on the water etc before i can start adding coral?

a few pics:

 

[seffieuk]

The tank is looking real nice - you need to go by your test results re: cycling - I used cured lr and my tank cycled quickly, within ten days your tests will let you know when you are ready for your cuc. You will get an ammonia and nitrite spike, you then will need to do a water change, then you will get a nitrate spike - do a big water change, keep on testing in the next couple of days and when your nitrates are below 10 you can get your cuc

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

How long was the rock out of water?

looks nice btw

 

[leeroysw20]

ah all sounds good then!
LR was out of the water from the fs to my tank...no more than 30 mins. was that ok?
figured the quicker the better!

 

[rabbut]

I wouldn't expect much of a die-off for 30mins traveling unless it was not boxed up correctly

 

[xxBarneyxx]

looking good, some nice shaped rock there too!

As already said you just need to test your water, once the ammonia and nitrites have gone (which my not be very long at all) you can start thinking about adding your clean up crew. Personally I tend to let a little bit of algae build up before getting them but if you stock them slowly that is ok as well (just make sure that there is enough food for all the cuc).

Personally with corals I would try and hold off for a few weeks just to make sure your tank stays stable.

 

[leeroysw20]

i could watch the lr for hours! lol its amazing just how many things are living in there! am seeing all sorts of creatures/crabs etc popping out of the holes!

ah ok ye that sounds like what i was planning on doin so thats good, will keep an eye on the water then for a couple of weeks and then do a water change and check again before adding any coral. thanks for the advice! with a bit of patience....it'll get there!! ha ha